Former Military Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), has urged Nigerians to give President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ample time to address the challenges in Nigeria.
He made the call while addressing state house correspondents on Wednesday, Feb 21, when he paid a visit to Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
Gowon also said that criticisms being channelled to President Tinubu’s administration were not unusual for any Nigerian leader.
The ex-military ruler said part of his visit to Tinubu centered on the political crisis within ECOWAS, especially with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali now being controlled by military juntas.
He said; “This is my first visit to Mr. President since the inauguration, but I was there at the inauguration to wish him well and all success. If you remember how busy he was after that, visitors, members of the government, various personalities, so it was not possible for me to see him. After that, I had to travel abroad, but from abroad, he was able to reach me on my birthday and after that interesting social media report that I was dead.”
Gowon added; “Well, I was telling him that no Nigerian leader can get there and will not have all the reports of what is being said about him. But certainly, there’s no doubt from what one hears and what one sees on the various media.
“I think the government is trying their best to deal with the various problems of the country, but with Nigerians? Don’t you worry, you will get criticised, but people who get there know better than you know. I think all one can say is that Nigerians, we’ve got to give the president time to get things really done. And it is too early to sort of say absolute result, perfect result will be achieved now. That is my opinion.
“I know and if I can remember, when I was fighting the war I was told I was too slow and that probably Nigeria cannot make it and that we should now seek for discussion. Well, did we do it or not? They probably do not know the problem underground so that is where we are.”
