By Taiwo Adeyemi

Former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele has said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has pushed many Nigerians to hunger and poverty. 

Bucknor-Akerele make the remarks while featuring as a guest on popular Yoruba Language News and Current Affairs programme “Ebawa Dasi” on Diamond FM, Ilorin Kwara State on Tuesday.

She said only those eating from this administration are saying the President is trying.

“There is hunger in the land, people don’t have food to eat, we are afraid of traveling because of insecurity, only those eating from this administration are singing its praise”.

She maintained that Nigerians were warned about the All Progressives Congress, APC in 2015 when the party started making different campaign promises to make naira equal dollars. 

“We warmed Nigerians in 2015 about the APC, the party lied to Nigerians, they said they will make naira equal dollars”

“Tinubu is part of the APC, when PDP was in power, we had food to eat, we know how much we are changing dollar to naira”. 

Bucknor-Akerele added that Tinubu’s administration is spending public funds recklessly and distributing palliatives to the masses. 

“This administration spent huge public funds to build the Vice President residence, and bought expensive cars for the lawmakers”. 

“We have told this administration to stop sharing palliatives to the masses, only few people are getting it, people are hungry”. 

On the Supreme Court judgment that grants Local Government financial autonomy, she said Nigeria should embrace restructuring that will promote devolution of power and resource control. 

“The best step for Nigeria to take is to go back to restructuring, let give more power to the State and let each state control their resources”

“We have excess power in Abuja, let State with oil control their oil and pay royalty to the Federal Government”.

“This will promote the creation of state police, you can’t bring someone from the South East to police people living in the South-West, there will be a language barrier”.

Bucknor-Akerele on allegations of Governors using the state police to intimidate political opponents said the existing police structure allows the Federal Government to use police against any perceived opponents. 

“Are they not using the present police structure to harass political opponents? Citizens should hold those in political offices accountable and demand for good governance”. 

“Citizens must be involved in governance and ask political elites questions about how they are being governed”. 

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