Donald Duke, the former governor of Cross River, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s plan to purchase a new presidential jet, calling it a “failure in leadership” considering the current hunger and misery faced by many Nigerians.
Last Monday, the president announced the acquisition of a new Airbus A330 to replace the 19-year-old Boeing B737-700 purchased under previous President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
“There is no elegance in stating that your people are going through difficult times; it is a failure of your leadership. If I’m the head of a family, I want them to have everything. I don’t want their lives to be unpleasant,” he remarked during an appearance on Channels TV’s Inside Sources on Friday.
“If life is challenging, I believe I have failed to provide for them or do what I should have done. I would ask him (Tinubu) to consider the Nigerian people his family. Whatever is good for his family is good for the country.
“Purchasing a new aeroplane, yacht, or living lavishly is a failure. You can’t have starving kids while living lavishly, attending parties, and wearing the largest agbada.” Speaking about the country’s security challenges, Duke asked President Tinubu to hold security agency heads accountable and emphasised the importance of having consequences for poor performance by security officers.
He remarked, “Hold security agencies accountable for security failures. There should be penalties. You cannot sit down and claim to be a DPO, Commissioner of Police, or GOC while crime is done in your jurisdiction.
“Hold them responsible.” The former governor also asked President Tinubu to handle the country’s economic difficulties with indigenous solutions. “The IMF or the World Bank would not provide you with textbook solutions. It must be an indigenous solution to our challenges,” he stated.
