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‘We’ll Manage Our Hunger’ — Tinubu Admits Nigerians Starving Under Buhari

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, has admitted that Nigerians are starving under the current APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking during the official ground-breaking ceremony of the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPLs) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani River II Well on Tuesday, Tinubu however assured that if elected president in 2023, he would lead the country to prosperity.

The APC candidate’s admission of starvation in the country came on the heels of the disclosure by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that over 133 million Nigerians are now living in poverty.

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In its ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index” released last week Thursday, the NBS said the number of poor Nigerians represents 63% of the nation’s population.

The report showed that 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35 percent (nearly 47 million) live in the South.

Tinubu, however, said notwithstanding the hunger in the land, President Buhari deserved to be commended for keeping faith and staying focused in the face of many challenges.

“We may be hungry but we can manage our hunger,” Tinubu said while thanking President Buhari for setting the country on a path to prosperity and success.

He said, “Today is a historic day because you (Buhari) charted a way where they said there is no way. That finding is great, it’s great showing that an unbreakable team can be a team of achievers.

“Finding a way where there is no way is not easy, it’s been a while, historic adventure in this country, to create more opportunities, to discover that technology can be serviceable and make a tool of discovery that will multiply our opportunities…Say what enemies may, you remain who you are. Thank you.”

Speaking further, the former Lagos State Governor described the uncovering of the OPLs 809 and 810 in Bauchi and Gombe States as “a discovery of great magnitude” which he said “will stage and strengthen the dynamics of our country and make you (Buhari) a blessed inheritor of good history.”

Tinubu added, “Thank you (and) congratulations for staying focused and for encouraging many of us. Your various regrets each time we discuss the lack of food and the challenges of terrorism, you will talk about Lake Chad. Okay, let me assure you (that) if I am elected the president, I will recharge Lake Chad.

“You often talk about Mambila and electricity, what a problem we have. Even though you are not within the parameters of arithmetic, you know a circle is a circle, and once drawn, you have to break it in different ways. You’re not a backward person who looks back at history of disappointments and failures, you are always forward-looking.

“That is why while we were debating, I insisted that our title for the manifesto will be a Renewed Hope, not knowing that today will happen and today it is happening. It is renewed hope for the entire Nigeria. Let me assure you, I will continue to hold on to that renewed hope and carry forward where you left the footprint.

“I mentioned the other time that don’t worry sir, whatever they say in their social media, television comments, and writeups, history will be very kind to you because you are in the class of great retired generals who came to rescue their country in the persons of Charles de Gaulle of France, (Dwight D.) Eisenhower of America, Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Buhari of Nigeria.

“No one foreign flag is flying over our country any longer. We may be hungry but we can manage our hunger. We don’t want to kill each other. Today you gave us a path to prosperity and success. The only thing that I may want to exclude and argue is the West and Europe. They’ve used our coal and fossil fuel to develop their economy and they asked us to be cautious. But I like your answer, ‘we cannot stay hungry and be starved to death’. We have to take care of ourselves unless they pay compensation for it, that’s where we stand.”

APCasiwaju bola ahmed tinubuasiwaju bola tinububola ahmed tinubuMUHAMMADU BUHARINATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICSnbs
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