During an interview with SYMFONI, Engineer Yabagi Sani, Chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), criticised the way President Bola Tinubu’s educational records had been handled by those around him.
Sani said the issue should have been carefully examined within the presidency before becoming a subject of wider public discussion.
Sani said Tinubu’s advisers should have been more straightforward with the president about the records and the possible questions they could generate. He argued that proper advice could have helped prevent the controversy from becoming a larger issue.
“Tinubu’s Advisers Should Have Been Honest With Him About His Educational Records Instead of Allowing the Controversy to Further Expose Nigeria to Ridicule,” Sani said.
According to him, the responsibility of the president’s inner circle is not simply to support the president but also to provide honest advice when sensitive matters arise. He said the issue should have been discussed internally before information was presented to the public.
Sani questioned the decision to allow the matter to develop into a public controversy. He said the presidency should have considered how the issue would affect both Tinubu personally and the image of Nigeria.
He said Tinubu was no longer dealing with the matter only as an individual because he was occupying the office of president. According to Sani, whatever the president says or does can have implications for how Nigeria is viewed.
Sani further argued that the president’s handlers should have protected him from unnecessary controversy by ensuring that sensitive questions were properly addressed before they reached the public domain.
“The Way Tinubu’s Presidency Handled the Educational Information Was Not Fair to Him and Has Only Further Exposed Nigeria to Ridicule,” Sani said.
He said the debate should have taken place within the presidency, where the available information could have been examined and a clear position reached before being presented to Nigerians.
Sani said the manner in which the issue was handled had created what he described as a deficit in the credibility and stature expected of a president. He added that whatever the presidency hoped to achieve through its handling of the matter had, in his view, failed badly.
COURTESY: Native_news
