President Buhari Still On “Honeymoon” – Tinubu Says

A leader of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu, Tuesday, said President Muhammadu Buhari was still in the honeymoon period of his office.

The former Lagos state governor explained that the honeymoon is the president’s first 100 days in office. He asked that Mr. Buhari be allowed to go through the period, which is needed to plan, examine, rejig and re-evaluate the situation of the country.

Mr. Tinubu met with Mr. Buhari on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, a day after the president had tried to wade into the crisis in the House of Representatives.

He said the president was taking his time to avoid the mistakes of the past.

“It is an international norm all over the world; there is a honeymoon period, at least minimum of 100 days honeymoon,”

 Mr. Tinubu said.

“And you won’t allow honeymoon at all? You said change is not coming. Change is not by magic, it is driven by the people, the spirit and the character and the planning. 

“You see, we have had so much problem in this country in the past because we run into policy blind folded without adequate and effective planning. You don’t have results unless you plan well. The time it takes you to plan, examine, rejig, re-evaluate is more important than the time you just rush into taking action because you are either being sentimental, being emotional and being driven by other forces that are not expected. There must be time to plan, to review and even listen to people.” 

He said there was a separation between a campaign period, “articulating your vision, expressing the promises to Nigerians,” as well as a “time to look holistically at what you inherited, analyse it, distill and then take action.” 

“Even in 100 meters race, there is a time to say on your mark, set, ready, go,” he said. “So you don’t even want a time to be on your mark, set and go?”

Mr. Tinubu also said Mr. Buhari’s meeting with the APC Representatives on Monday, the reason for which he visited the president, was not deadlocked.

He said it was a political process that needed to develop its own life to be worked upon so as to stabilize and continue to serve the interest of the populace.

“As a matter of fact, when the National Assembly starts the job of lawmaking in earnest, the president needs to step in once in a while as he did to let people to understand the import of the expectations of the public and particularly of the international community on various programmes and institutions,” Mr. Tinubu said.

He said institutions need to be built, made virile and effective for the entire country.

“To step in to douse any conflict is not a wrong thing; or do you think it is wrong?” he asked journalists.

The crisis in the House of Representatives stems from disagreements over the nominations for principal officers.

The matter seemed to have been resolved Tuesday with the emergence of new principal officers.