‘You Are Not Being Transparent’ — Obi Tells Tinubu Over Claims Of Inheriting Bankrupt Nation From Buhari

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has told President Bola Tinubu that he has failed to exhibit transparency in revealing the degree of bankruptcy he claimed he inherited from the previous administration since he assumed power on May 29.

Obi said the Tinubu administration’s claim of inheriting a bankrupt nation fell flat if the government was opaque and disregarded the need to properly channel the available resources to the productive sectors, cut down on frivolous spending and reduce waste.

Obi who made his views known on Thursday via his X account said if the claim of the Tinubu administration that the country was bankrupt was true, then it raised key questions about certain line items in the budget especially the recently passed supplementary budget.

Tinubu had budgeted billions of naira for purchase of presidential yacht and others which Obi and others at the time criticised for being unnecessary and wasteful.

Concerning the latest revelation, Obi argued that any country that’s bankrupt would rather channel its resources into funding critical development sectors like security, healthcare, education, and eradication of poverty by addressing youth unemployment.

“I just read yesterday, a widely publicised story from the present APC-led Federal Government saying that they inherited a bankrupt nation from their predecessor APC administration.

“But the story failed to disclose what they inherited which had qualified us for bankruptcy status,” Obi said.

He pointed out that “one major characteristic of responsible governance is transparency and strict accountability.

“This demands that the government disclose exactly the degree of deficit they inherited.

“What is inherited should be disclosed to enable the public to know where we are and where we are headed,” the former vice presidential running mate of the PDP in the 2019 election said.

He recalled that the previous APC Government made a similar claim in 2015 against the PDP administration that handed over to them without telling the nation what it actually inherited.

He said, “Rather, they took our debt profile from N12.6 Trillion in 2015 to N87 trillion in 2023 when they left office without improving on any indices of development: Education, Health, Poverty eradication, and Security.

“Instead, the condition of the nation on every development index got worse, leading to the present sad state. Nigerians know things are bad, and they experience it daily.

“What they now want to hear regularly are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation.

“Also, the alarm raised by the government about the bad state of our finances raises questions about the rationale behind some expenditure items in the supplementary budget recently signed into law,” the former Anambra State Governor said.

He argued that, “The present revelation also goes to buttress the argument that I have made since electioneering season that the cost of governance is too high and must be drastically reduced.”

Recall Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, NSA, speaking on Monday at the Chief of Defence Intelligence Annual Conference, had said Tinubu had inherited a “bankrupt country.”

Ribadu had also said the federal government was “paying back what was taken.”

He had revealed that, “We are facing very serious budgetary constraints. It is okay for me to tell you. It is fine for you to know. We have a very serious situation,” he said.

“We have inherited a very difficult country, a bankrupt country to the extent that we are paying back what was taken. It is serious.

“But this administration is doing its best to meet our requirements including that of the armed forces.”

But Obi said, “A bankrupt country should channel every available resource into funding critical development sectors like security, healthcare, education, and eradication of poverty by addressing youth unemployment, not spending in non-essential areas.

“So, what we expect are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation.”