The quest by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be recognized in the Guinness World Records over reforms initiated by him since his assumption of office is a misplaced venture.
Comrade Timi Frank, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made this assertion in an Abuja statement in reaction to the President’s recent comment in Germany.
Tinubu, while addressing an audience at the 10th German-Nigerian Business Forum in Germany, said, “Nigeria voted for me for reforms, and from day one of my inauguration, I started the reforms. If you didn’t mention me in the Guinness Book of Records, I’d strive to find a way to insert myself because I did it without expectation.”
But Frank insisted that the only world record the President had set was to have inflicted severe economic pain and unbearable hardship on the people.
“You brandish your removal of fuel subsidy on Inauguration Day as evidence that you ‘hit the ground running’ but you have failed to realise that that singular action has heated up the average citizen with attendant pains, tears, and sorrow.
“Your purported reforms have wrecked the nation’s currency, with $1 now exchanging for over N1,000, up from N600 prior to your swearing-in as president. Yet you claimed to have broken a record capable of earning you global recognition in the GWRs,” he said.
He insisted that even though the President claimed he was in Germany to woo investors, none would be willing to invest in the country because of the negative world records he had already set as a person.
“No investor will want to come to Nigeria when they know the president’s character is questionable because investors will always do background checks before they go anywhere.
“Such background checks would, among others, reveal the negative reputation of the man inviting them as a certificate forger with proven links to drug trafficking.
“Foreign investors will definitely not go to a country with a flawed electoral process or where the judiciary cannot be trusted to guarantee justice to protect their investments.
“So, while investors will not come to Nigeria under your government, your name, if at all, can only be written in Guinness World Records as a certificate forger in line with the ruling of a Chicago Court,” he said.
He also cited some of the president’s false claims as additional reasons why his drive for investors would not yield any positive results.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, said: “He claimed that he had removed fuel subsidy, but fuel is still being subsidised by his administration even though the people now languish under the burden of astronomical increases in the pump price of fuel and other essential petroleum products.
“He claimed that he worked for Deloitte, but Deloitte has since denied having his employment records.
“This is a President who often claims he is from the private sector, but what genuine business has he done that qualifies him to be part of the private sector?
“He went to Saudi Arabia and India and, upon return, claimed he had convinced investors there to invest in Nigeria. But up to this moment, no investor from Saudi Arabia or India has indicated interest in investing in Nigeria.
“If they didn’t corrupt the system, we’re not supposed to look for investors. Investors are supposed to look to Nigeria for its abundant human and material resources that can attract investors.
“These obvious flaws are reasons why we are mobilising Nigerians, both locally and in the diaspora, for a Tinubu-must-go mass protest to resist and stop all these illegalities and deception, targeted at the gradual annihilation of the people through the high cost of food, medicare, goods, and services, among others, in the country.”
