Is President Tinubu Killing Our Economy As Dele Momodu Alleges?
Dear Egbon Dele Momodu,
Greetings sir. I listened to your interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief today and must vehemently disagree with you on your assertion that President Bola Tinubu is on the verge of “killing democracy” in Nigeria by his action of declaring a State of Emergency on Rivers State and suspending the Governor and the House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
Amongst other things, you said:
“I’m pleading with President Bola Tinubu, ‘Please don’t kill democracy in Nigeria.’ Everybody who loves him will tell him this.”
In the interview, you also suggested that the President had failed on the economy, and other critical areas of the polity.
You may recall that I have had in the past first privately and then publicly appealed to you not to make assertions like this that lack any factual, empirical or scientific basis, and rely solely on your opinion and emotions. They heat up the polity unnecessarily.
Your opinions and emotions are bias, seeing as you are a member of an opposition party who even contested the Presidential primaries of that party.
Now, let us factually assess your claims.
Egbon, the Rivers State House of Assembly was bombed by as at yet unknown persons on October 29, 2023 a few day following a clash by majority of the Legislators with the State Governor. The bombing was very suspicious and coincidental to a move by the Legislators to sanction the Governor.
After this obvious attack on democracy, you, Egbon Dele Momodu, did not accuse the River State Governor, Simi Fubara of killing democracy.
You also did not raise this fear when Governor Simi Fubara declared that there was no State House of Assembly in Rivers on May 8, 2024, which effectively made him a dictator.
Again, your reaction was missing when a protest rally held against Governor Fubara was bombed on June 25, 2024.
And then on October 7, 2024, multiple secretariats of various Local Governments in Rivers State were either bombed or set ablaze. Again, Egbon Dele, you did not raise an alarm of democracy being killed.
You also held your peace when only four members out of a State House of Assembly with over thirty members passed a budget.
Egbon, your anger was only reserved for the President when he tried to restore order in Rivers State and prevent the State House of Assembly from impeaching the Governor after a series of bombings, arson attacks, impeachment threats and sham local government elections.
Sir, don’t you think this is rather partisan of you, who ought to be a statesman?
And then on the economy, how can you, Egbon Dele Momodu, even suggest that the President has failed on the economy when food prices are dropping slightly, while inflation reduced seismically from 34.80% to 24.48% in February 2025?
Moreover, power generation is at an all-time high of 6,003MW, the highest in our history.
Federal allocations to states have doubled and, in some cases, tripled. Deaths from terrorism and insecurity are at their lowest level since 2014, even as our GDP grew by 3.8% in 2024. Nigeria recorded a 209.6% increase in its trade surplus to ₦18.86 trillion in 2024 from ₦6.09 trillion in 2023.
And it has just been revealed by Forbes that the wealth of the wealthiest four Nigerians (Dangote, Adenuga, Rabiu and Otedola) increased by over 25%, even as Lagos’ economy has almost tripled from a $100 billion GDP to a $259 billion economy.
In conclusion, sir, based on the aforementioned statistics devoid of emotions, I put it to you that your claims are not supported by empirical data and are as such alarmist and a misrepresentation of the true state of Nigeria and the health of our democracy.
Reno Omokri
Gospel let. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019.
