Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologondiyan, said President Bola Tinubu’s aides blaming Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar for the planned hunger protest shows poverty of ideas in the presidency.
Kola Ologbondiyan said neither the former presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi; nor the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Atiku Abubakar, removed fuel subsidy that inflicted economic hardship on Nigerians.
Ologobndiyan said the accusation of Obi and Atiku by presidential aides shows President Tinubu surrounded himself with bad advisers.
In an interview, he posted on his X handle, on Wednesday, the PDP chieftain said aides in the presidency detached themselves from reality of Nigerians and issues affecting the country.
Ologbondiyan said this while reacting to allegation from the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, that Peter Obi and other opposition parties who lost the last presidential election were responsible for the planned hunger protest in August.
He said, “Honestly, It smacks of poverty of ideas. It also shows clearly that those who are surrounding the president are not providing him the right advice. If that is what they are bringing to public space, it then shows what they are telling the president in private. We have a very bad situation on our hands. That is the fact, whether those in government wants to admit it or not.
“Is it Peter Obi that said Nigerians should be hungry? Is it Atiku that removed fuel subsidy and increased fuel price from N187 to over N600? Is it Obi that said the purchasing power of Nigerians should be ridiculously low to the extent that people cannot even eat once a day?
“Is it Atiku or Obi that is responsible for the insecurity in the country where farmers can no longer go to their farms? It is just a lazy way of thinking and it just shows the poverty of ideas of those who are around the president. They don’t know the reality of what is happening in the country. if this is all they can come up with, then it is very embarrassing.”
Recall that the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, backed the hunger protest. He said the protest is a guaranteed right of the citizens enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The PDP 2023 presidential candidate reminded President Tinubu that he led many protests against sitting governments, including ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2012.
