Shehu Sani teams up with Aisha Yesufu to mock Wike’s sycophancy, reject his excuse
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Activist Aisha Yesufu has blasted Bola Tinubu for accepting the renaming of the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja after him by sycophantic Nyesom Wike, describing the President as having “poverty mentality and abandonment issue.”
Former Senator Shehu Sani, another social critic, reminded Tinubu and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister that the ICC “was built by IBB” – former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Indeed, it is rare for Nigerian leaders to name monuments after themselves or get things named after them while in office, the exceptions being Yakubu Gowon and Muhammadu Buhari.
But Tinubu and his wife Remi have torn down such decency guardrails – with airports, barracks, universities, and other monuments named after Tinubu within two years of his reign, and Remi having a primary school, university campus road, and the faculty of a university owned by Mariam Abacha named after her.
Wike on Tuesday renamed the renovated ICC the “Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre” in the presence of Tinubu who commissioned the refurbishment.
“Tinubu has poverty mentality and abandonment issue. This is not normal,” Yesufu wrote in her reaction on X.
Sani, who also chipping in on X, wrote: “The International Conference Centre Abuja was built by IBB. The President should reject renaming the place with his name.”
Wike also renamed a hall each in the ICC after Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
Trying to justify the sycophancy, Wike said: “It’s necessary for people to understand why this is now Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre. This was built in 1991 under the military government and since then, nothing has happened to this international conference centre.
“Last year, you [Tinubu] came here to inaugurate the ECOWAS Parliament and it was an embarrassment for a country to have this as an international conference centre then and you said ‘how can we have this as an international conference centre?’
“That showed leadership and you said look, next time you come here, you want to see a different facility, within eight months this is what we have.
“Without your leadership, it wouldn’t have been possible – you are not the only President who has been here, so many Presidents have come here and none said this is not what Nigeria needs.
“You gave a marching order that this is not the quality to show that Nigeria is the giant of Africa. Today, this Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre can match any other international conference centre.”
Wike warned that everyone, including ministries and government agencies, must pay to use the facility to generate funds to maintain it.
“I want to appeal Mr President, because I know pressure will come. How do we sustain this? I want to let everybody know that whether you are a ministry or agency that wants to use this, you have to pay something.
“That is the only way it will be sustained.
“Pressure came from left, right, and centre but you said go ahead and rehabilitate that place. Our problem is leadership, when we have the right leadership, things will be done and that is what you have shown today.”
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