By Ayodimeji Falade
IkejaBird highlights several goofs made by President Buhari, Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of APC Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu among many other politicians.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The former Governor of Lagos state, has been known for making a number of sensational gaffes:
1. Agbado and Cassava saga:
During his speech at his 12th colloquium held on Monday, March 29, 2021 in Kano state to mark his 69th birthday he stated that 50 million youths be recruited into the army and be fed cassava, corn, and yam.
This led to an uproar in the social media as many said this was a declaration of continued poverty and suffering.
2. El-Rufai – Rotten to bad
The APC presidential candidate goofed while trying to extol the governor of Kaduna, Nasir El-rufai.
“I am openly begging Nasir El-Rufai not to run away for additional degree and excuse. He is going to Cairo—PhD and everything. There are a lot of educated relics. We are not going to let you run away, your vision, creativity, and resilience in turning a rotten situation into a bad one are necessary at this critical time. That is why we are here today,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari
1. Lazy and uneducated youth comment
The president, in February 2016 during a panel appearance with in London, described 60% of Nigerian youths lazy and uneducated.
“More than 60 percent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school, and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free,” he said
2. Answering a question with a climate speech
Also, during a panel discussion at the Climate Action Summit of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, Buhari went off the grid while answering the moderator’s questions.
In his question, The moderator asked: “President Buhari, Nigeria has a very young population; perhaps you might highlight what a pathway for a resilient future looks like?”
Responding, the President swiftly started reading from a prepared speech that detailed Nigeria’s entire policy around climate change.
“Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I share the sentiment expressed by the secretary-general that the world is on the verge of climate catastrophe. Undeniably, climate change is a human-induced phenomenon….”
Atiku Abubakar
Ethnic comment
The PDP presidential candidate and former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar, made his own blunder while addressing Arewa group in Kaduna. He openly pandered to ethnicity, hinging on northern interests.
In his words, “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country.
“This is what the Northerner needs; it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin,” he said.
Peter Obi
Mr. Obi is known to be a verbose speaker, constantly sprouting statistics. In many instances this penchant to quote numbers has led to gaffes.
NBA fact check
Peter Obi claimed that Nigerians dominate the National Basketball Association (NBA) in America, while it was discovered that the Basketball Association only has 5 Nigerians as members.
He said: “If you go into American NBA, out of 150 players, almost 100 are Nigerians.”
It is left to be seen if these blunders matrer to the citizenry and if they will impact the candidates appeal at the ballot box.
