The acquisition of an aircraft for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was on Friday roundly criticised by Donald Duke, former Governor of Cross River State.
Duke spoke on Friday while featuring on Inside Sources, a programme anchored by Laolu Akande on Channels Television, stating that the decision exhibited “failure of leadership” considering the country’s economic situation.
The presidency, last week, confirmed the purchase of a new Airbus A330 to replace the 19-year-old Boeing B737-700 acquired under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Said Duke: “There is no glamour in saying your people are going through hard times; it is a failure of your leadership. If I am the head of a family, I want my family to have everything. I don’t want life to be difficult for them.
“If life is difficult, then I feel I have failed to provide for them or do the things I ought to have done. I would ask him (Tinubu) to see the Nigerian nation as his family. What is good for his family is good for the nation.
“Buying a new aircraft or yacht or living large is a failure. You can’t have kids who are hungry and you are living lavishly, going to parties and wearing the biggest agbada”.
Speaking on the security challenges facing the country, Duke asked Tinubu to hold heads of security agencies responsible, stressing that there should be consequences for poor performance of duties by security officers.
Stated he: “Hold the security agencies responsible for a failure of security. There should be consequences. You cannot sit down and say you are a DPO, Commissioner of Police or you are GOC and crime is being committed in your domain. Hold them responsible”.
He also advised the President to “completely decentralise” the judiciary.
Noted he: “It may require us having, maybe, three to four times or even 10 times more judges that we have but ensure that whoever is a judge there are consequences for it”.
The former governor asked Tinubu to address the economic challenges in the country by finding local solutions.
Said Duke: “The IMF or the World Bank would not give you those textbook solutions. It has to be an indigenous solution to our problems”.
From 1999 to 2007, Duke Cross River State governor and during the same period Tinubu governed Lagos.
