A Peoples Democratic Party chieftain in Ondo State, Senator Nicholas Tofowomo, has said President Bola Tinubu should not be blamed wholly for the economic challenges currently facing the country.

Mr Tofowomo, who represented Ondo South Senatorial District at the Ninth National Assembly, stated this during an interview on Monday in Okitipupa.

Though the lawmaker noted that though the economic situation was exacerbated by fuel subsidy removal and other economic policies, nevertheless, he said that the President should not be totally blamed for the country’s woes.

He noted that the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari had removed provisions for fuel subsidy in the 2023 budget.

The former senator further stated that Mr Tinubu, who inherited the budget, only announced and took responsibility for the subsidy removal.

He said, “I was part of the ninth national assembly that passed the 2023 budget. There was no provision for fuel subsidy in the budget. So it was the Buhari administration that removed fuel subsidy. The truth is that Tinubu inherited the budget; he only announced it during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023 and took responsibility. So I don’t think we should put all the blame on him for the current economic woes.’’

The PDP chieftain, however, said that Mr Tinubu’s information strategy was defective and that his information handlers were not doing enough on the issue, thus resulting in the nationwide protest.

“I think the Sunday broadcast after four days into the #EndBadGovernance# protest was supposed to have come before the commencement of the protest,” Mr Tofowomo said.

The former lawmaker, however, said that in spite of the late broadcast, the President had acknowledged that he heard Nigerian loud and clear and called on the organisers to halt the protests and embrace dialogue.

Mr Tofowomo urged the protesters to suspend their protests, go back to the drawing board and embrace dialogue to chart a new course for the country, adding that nothing meaningful could be achieved through violent protests.

“There are three ways to solve a problem: consultation, negotiation and confrontation. The protesters should go back to the drawing board and negotiate with the government, because nothing meaningful will come out of any violent protest. The organisers of the protesters must also realise that this democracy must be handled with care and protected jealousy because breaking up the country is not the solution to the myriad of our problems,” the PDP chieftain said.

The protests, which kicked-off on August 1, had resulted in loss of lives and destruction of property in some parts of the country.

(NAN)