Tinubu should not be held accountable, blame Buhari for economic woes- Sanusi

Tinubu should not be held accountable, blame Buhari for economic woes- Sanusi

Former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has stated that he believes it would be unfair for him to criticize President Bola Tinubu regarding the current economic hardships besetting Nigerians.

Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), spoke during a virtual religious event on Sunday. He stated that he felt compelled to digress from the religious theme of the event in order to reiterate his stance on the poorly executed economic policies of the previous administration under Muhammadu Buhari.

He said the administration overlooked his opinion on how to take Nigeria out of the economic crisis. Sanusi said economists with a fair sense of thinking know that the current administration made the right decision with removal of fuel subsidy, to save the country from pits of debts caused by the past administration.

“I have, over the years, talked about the pending crisis, ahead of the current economic hardship. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this difficult situation.

“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning (if the right decision is not put in place) because Nigeria is not exceptional; such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela.

“The previous administration turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures (on the economic policy). I have said in the presence of the now sitting President in Kaduna State; any politician who tells you that things will be easy, don’t vote for him because he is lying. People merely dismissed my advisory as a political statement.

“If I am to be fair and just to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship; for eight years, we were living on a fake lifestyle with huge debts from foreign and domestic debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent.”

He said: “I can’t join other Nigerians criticising Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint, free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policy of the Tinubu administration in the feature.

“It’s injustice for anyone to blame the Tinubu administration for the current economic hardship because there is no other alternative than removal of the fuel subsidy. After all, Nigeria cannot even afford to pay the subsidy.”

He added: “I can only plead with the people to endure the hardship, and those who have the means to help the downtrodden should do so.

“I am also pleading with commoners to live according to their earnings; we must not peg our lives above our earnings in this difficult situation where people are looking for what to eat.”