Prof. Itsey Sagay (SAN), the former Chairman of the Presi­dential Advisory Committee on Corruption under former Pres­ident Muhammadu Buhari, has blamed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the current econom­ic crisis plaguing Nigeria.

The human rights activist and legal luminary, while in an interview with Daily Indepen­dent on the state of the economy, said President Tinubus terrible mistakes in his policies have ac­counted to why Nigerians are go­ing through hardship, saying the twin pronouncement of removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira, among other decisions so far, have led to Nigerians living in misery presently.

Prof. Sagay said: Tinubu started on the wrong footing and acted in a haste on his inaugura­tion day. That is what triggered the hardship Nigerians are going through right now. Saying subsi­dy is gone was such a hasty state­ment when he hadnt put up any arrangement, any plan to shore up the economy.

That was the greatest mistake he made so far as the president and it robbed him of the normal enjoyment of one hundred days honeymoon. His decision and how he started has plunged the country into misery. I was interviewed after he won the election to advice on what to do about subsidy and I said I agreed that subsidy should go but it has to stay until we start refining petrol internally. I said we have to wait until Dangote Refinery or one of those refineries starts refining and then subsidy will go. It will go naturally because what makes subsidy is the transport. You carry crude abroad and car­ry same back as refined product with charges and all that.

Those are the things being subsidised. Once we start pro­ducing petrol internally, that will be the end of subsidy. That was my advice and I think the presi­dent started wrongly by that pro­nouncement and till today, the cost of living has gone beyond the ordinary man on account of that. Tinubu gave himself a very terrible welcome into the Nigeri­an presidency by his pronounce­ments and actions, as well as the hardship into which Nigerians were plunged into because of his hasty pronouncement. I also agree that he should not have floated the naira because a very weak currency like ours should not have been floated like that.

You must shore it up; you must support it until the coun­trys economy is strong enough for any floating. That decision was also hasty and premature on his part. I completely lay the blame on him on these two although I will acknowledge that they have been struggling to get the country out of the ugly situation because the naira is gradually gaining more power lately but to be honest, those were the terrible mistakes the president made which I think he should have thought twice in the first place, he said.

The foremost scholar and an­ti-corruption crusader also said the ambition of both the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) presi­dential candidate in the 2023 elec­tion, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, almost crumbled the country, accusing them of not be­ing sportsmanlike after the decla­ration of Tinubu as the winner of last general election.

Sagay noted that both candi­dates resorted to mundane issues in order to find an avenue to un­seat the president.

He said: The certificate of Tinubu might not have emanated from the school but it contained exactly what is recorded in the original school result. That is the first point. The second point is that I am told that it is an Ameri­can convention that third parties have powers to issue certificates for universities and other institu­tions. So those are the two points. What people were saying before was that Tinubu never went to Chicago State University (CSU), that he was lying.

When that was proved that he actually attended the school, then the next desperation from them showed up and they jumped to certificate. For Christ sake why cant Nigerians accept defeat and move on. Those who are desper­ate are the ones opening Nigeria to the whole world in their quest to be in power. I blame the opposi­tion for being so bitter and not ac­cepting defeat so they resorted to fighting to bring the county down through all those accusations.

I thought they (Atiku and Obi) would have insisted on who scored the majority of votes but no, they were not interested in that because they know Tinubu scored the highest votes. They now started looking for techni­calities and certificates and other ridiculous things like Abuja alone determining the fate of Nigerians.

I am happy justice has been done because it would have been so unjust if Tinubu was removed by the court because he won the election. It would have been ter­rible and for those who are bitter, I think it is good for them to start preparing for the next four years instead of deploying all means to want to bring down the country.

I saw a lot of desperations and that is not good for the coun­try. Tinubu won the election and all those anxiety and separations were not necessary. The best thing was to move on and wait for the next election year, he said further.

Source: https://wap.org.ng/read/tinubus-terrible-mistakes-plunged-nigerians-into-misery-says-by-sagay/

There is no terrible mistake made. The terrible error is the person of tinubu himself and his gang.
When elders see evil and criminalities and they support it becos it suits their belly , they become a disgrace to elderhood.

Sagay and his likes should keep quiet before the curse on the land comes quickly for them.

I hope Tinubu has learnt from his mistake.

I see

I'm sure this man wouldn't have said this to Buhari because he was a stakeholder in that government. Elders without morals.

Sagay is a piece of shît I'll never ever take seriously

Who takes Sagay, Tinubu and APC serious

The man is just like ffk, give him food(appointment), he will sing your praise and worship you.

tinubu is a packaged fraud with bloated capacities

Tinubu is INCOMPETENT and can't Lead. 😕

He knows NOTHING about handling the Economy, Security and Improving the Affairs of a country.😏😒

The only thing he is good @ is STEALING, GRABBING PROPERTIES
and Employing/Empowering THUGS and Educated THIEVES to Protect his Interests.🙂🙂

Tinubu and his team destroyed Nigeria economy no be small. And it will take longer years for Nigeria to be restructured. It’s very unfortunate situation

Sagay should close his big mouth. I don't know who made that buffoon a Professor.

The idiot always supports the worst candidates during election (Buhari, Tinubu et al.) and the next month after their inauguration, he is all over the media crying about their asphyxiating policies. Same story every 4 years.

A fool without foresight, who keeps growing old in foolery ad infinitum.

Those mistake shows Tinubu lacks the capacity to lead . How can any sensible person make such pronouncement on the handover day without taking some time to understand what makes up subsidy amount and also explore other options with minimum impact on the economy. He simply acted like a senseless man the history has it that Nigerians started suffering from his day one in office

Just the same way the invasion of Niger would have add to our miseries..

See this man! Can you tell us any good policy laid by the Buhari's administration?

Only if Buhari has done the right thing.......