Tinubu’s speech empty, worsened protest — Bauchi gov

The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has again hit the President, Bola Tinubu, over his economic policies, which he said have caused more pain, hunger, and anger to the citizens, hence the reason for the #EndBadGovernance protests.

Mohammed said that the President’s broadcast on Sunday to the nation failed to address the grievances of the protesting youths, who took to the streets to protest hunger and hardship.

According to him, the President did not take inputs from governors who are closer to the angry citizens.

Mohammed said this on Wednesday when he flagged off the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) campaign for the August 17 local government election in the state.

He said that the youths are with “us, and we are with them. We have always respected people, especially their opinions. The protests have shown us many things. It has appeared that the (All Progressives Congress) APC leadership has done nothing.

“I listened with all attention to the speech of Mr. President, and I said, with humility and courage, that what he said was empty! It did not agree with the situation. It did not address the problem and challenges. The problems are not youths only, it’s for us as leaders – from the President to subnational levels and to the local government, and we can see the manifestations with different colorations – from the North to the South.

“In the North, there is a very big wake-up call for us to bring good governance, to respect people. There is hunger and anger. We have to really address our problem of development. Unemployment is everywhere, our educational system is not working.

“The new policies of the federal government are not working. They have to understand that. It is their problem. It is their programmes that have caused us these problems, so they have to change.”

The governor said that the state government is ready to change its ways to bring good governance “and not to think it is time to pass the buck and blame the governors or local governments.”

“I have heard, and with regrettable attention, some of the ministers of the federal government that are saying that we have been given 70 trucks, N570bn, how much did the federal government get?

“Why should they bring policies that are causing pain? On your behalf, I’m telling Mr. President, Tinubu, to change his policy because it’s not working. Anything he does affects us in every corner, in every political party, as our leader.

“If he continues like this, in 2027, I will invite him to be our campaign director – because everywhere will be PDP, and we are going to win because it will be a self-inflicted injury. We know it’s time for governance, we as opposition are keeping quiet because we don’t want to overheat the polity because the federal government is doing so many things to cause disaffection, and we want to say with humility, this must stop,” he said.

Mohammed, who is the Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, said that his counterparts in the states controlled by PDP have listened to the protesters, including the APC governors, but the federal government has always given excuses.