Former PDP Chieftain Defends Tinubu's First-Year Performance

By Anietie Edet

2min reads

Former PDP Chieftain Defends Tinubu's First-Year Performance

Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has offered an excuse for President Bola Tinubu's perceived poor performance in his first year in office.

George, a long-time political foe of Tinubu, said the president used his inaugural year to study and correct the failures of the previous Muhammadu Buhari administration. The former military Governor of Ondo State urged Nigerians to give Tinubu one more year to deliver on his electoral promises and turn around the country's fortunes.

Speaking in a television interview on Friday, the PDP chieftain acknowledged that while Tinubu was part of the party that formed the Buhari government, leading the nation as president is a "hell of a different thing."

"To be fair to my conscience, he has had that one-year holiday of trying to study the failures of the past administration. I have given him that one year of grace because now he has seen it and lived there," George said.

The PDP stalwart asserted that Tinubu's lack of prior presidential experience warrants a grace period of one year, drawing a comparison to former President Olusegun Obasanjo's adjustment period in his first year in office.

"Even when Baba (Olusegun Obasanjo) became president in 1999, he was still trying to figure out what happened there or vice versa in his first year. Let's give him more time," George added.

Recall that in May 2024, George had called on President Tinubu to restructure his economic team and provide Nigerians with the true state of the country's affairs.

The PDP chieftain had stated that 25 years after the return of democracy, Nigeria has not lived up to its description as the "Giant of Africa," and can only regain its rightful place through the collective determination of leaders and followers.