The National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Oladipupo Olayokun, has cautioned president Bola Tinubu against appointing mostly ‘Lagos boys’ into key federal positions.
ruling Nigeria with the mindset of how he ruled Lagos when he was the Governor of the state.
According to the NNPP scribe, Lagos is not Nigeria and Tinubu needs to understand he is leading a bigger and more diverse entity at the moment. He called on him to remove from his subconscious, the model with which he ruled Lagos.
Speaking during an interview with Punch, Olayokun questioned the political appointments made so far by Tinubu, stating that the President has been appointing Yoruba people and ‘Lagos boys’ only, which may not augur well for his administration at the end of the day.
On the issue of corruption, the NNPP chieftain urged President Tinubu to carry out a thorough investigation and remove the bad eggs from his government because, at the end of the day, it is the reputation of his administration that is at stake and not that of the individual appointees.
“That’s a very broad one because when you look at President Bola Tinubu’s antecedent, by his training, I mean education, his experience, where he’s coming from. He was once a chartered accountant with Mobil, a former governor. I don’t think we should be in doubt whether he has what it takes to deliver. But Nigeria is not Lagos State. Nigeria is a bigger entity that has various diversities, and you need to underline these diversities because some diversities can be positive. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s diversity, because of the way we carry ourselves, more often than not, is to the negative.
“So, if you look at all these things, I think if the President came with the mindset that Nigeria is Lagos or Lagos is Nigeria, I think he is going to have problems. If he manages Nigeria the way he managed Lagos, he will run into problems. Unfortunately, if you look at his appointments, I am a Yoruba man; they are mainly Lagos ‘boys’. And you don’t run a country as diverse as Nigeria in that kind of manner.
“In the area of corruption, what I think the President should do is let them do a thorough investigation that will know exactly what happened. It’s not only for the benefit of Nigerians, but it is also for the benefit of his image because if after he spends four years or he spends eight years and they want to refer to his government, nobody will mention the ministers, nobody will mention the heads of agencies; they will mention Tinubu’s administration,” Olayokun added.
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