A former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central in the Senate, Senator Sani Shehu, has blamed former President Muhammadu Buhari for the current economic hardship in the country.
Sani mentioned that President Bola Tinubu’s implementation of certain economic policies, which he believes have exacerbated the economic challenges, should have been executed by Buhari. According to him, Buhari’s failure to do so led to the deterioration of the economy.
“We must be very factual and realistic with ourselves; the problem we find ourselves today, originated, was engineered, fabricated and sustained by the Buhari administration.
“The Buhari administration, institutionally, fundamentally destroyed the Nigerian economy,” said Sani, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
Absorbing Tinubu of the blame of the current situation, the ex-lawmaker noted that having said he would implement the policies he has implemented so far during campaign, Tinubu did not deceive Nigerians.
“When Tinubu took over, he knows there is not going to be subsidy and to be realistic, he was very frank during his campaign. He said, ‘I am going to remove subsidy and whatever protest that will come out of it I will not back down’ and then people went ahead and voted for him, so he has not deceived Nigerians.
“Now he is in power, we are paying the price for the mistake of the past, for the failure of the past and for what we have refused to do in the past, so this is the reality,” he said.
Amidst the increasing economic strain stemming from Tinubu’s policies, particularly the removal of petrol subsidies and the unification of the forex rate, citizens in various states have taken to the streets to voice their discontent.
On Tuesday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) also participated in nationwide protests against the prevailing hardships.
However, the Federal Government has criticized the NLC for organizing these protests, arguing that such actions are unnecessary given its efforts to mitigate the impact of economic difficulties on Nigerians.
Sani emphasized the NLC’s right to protest but cautioned that the real concern lies not with organized demonstrations like those of the NLC, but rather with potential unrest from unorganized civil society.