By John Ogunsemore
A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri has said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy was not hasty or rushed as being insinuated in some quarters.
Omokri, who was a social media aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, stated this in a Facebook post on Saturday.
He was reacting to a recent remark by Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, that Tinubu and his predecessors found themselves in power by accident and were therefore not fully prepared before assuming office.
Omokri said Tinubu showed his readiness to govern by removing fuel subsidy at the outset of his administration.
The ex- presidential aide insisted that Tinubu displayed great wisdom in taking action during his honeymoon period, when Nigerians historically gave new administrations the benefit of the doubt because of their euphoria that the old unpopular regime was gone.
He stressed that such decisive action must be taken immediately and by surprise or it will never happen.
“There was absolutely nothing like a rushed or hasty removal of fuel subsidy.
“President Tinubu did the right thing. It was a masterstroke.
“If you want to take such a decisive action in Nigeria, you do it immediately and by surprise, or it will never happen. If you alert people, you, as President, will have paralysis from analysis.
“The day you give notice by announcing that you plan to remove it, you will start receiving calls from the owners of Nigeria.
“Emirs and First Class traditional and spiritual leaders will come to your house and office to pressure you not to remove it.
“Activists will rally Nigerians to take to the streets. The Nigerian Labour Congress will go on strike. The media will exaggerate its effects and paint doomsday scenarios,” he said.
He added, “And the result is that you, as President, would be in a catch-22 position between the devil and the deep blue sea.
“If you go ahead, you will appear insensitive. If you demurred, you look weak,” he added.
Omokri maintained that Tinubu’s actions showed that, unlike Bishop Matthew Kukah claimed, he was ready to be President and had planned ahead.
“That is why he hit the ground running on his first day and week by passing more policies and initiatives than any other administration before him, except Murtala Muhammad’s military government, on his first day, first week, first month and first 100 days.
“In one week, Tinubu has achieved what Buhari would have taken one year to complete. This vindicates what I said during the campaigns, that any of the major Presidential candidates would have been better than Buhari.
“Whether it is the immediate removal of fuel subsidy, flotation of the ,naira, the granting of Local Government autonomy, or the implementation of Student Loans to federal and state universities, all achieved with enthusiastic alacrity in his first year, one thing nobody can accuse President Tinubu of is not being prepared or decisive.”
