- Deji Adeyanju stated that president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, lacks solutions to the nation’s economic challenges
- He criticized Nigeria as a country unfriendly to the poor, particularly under Tinubu’s administration.
Deji Adeyanju, a prominent human rights activist and lawyer, has expressed his concerns about Nigeria’s current economic situation.
He believes that even if President Bola Tinubu was given 300 years in office, he would be unable to alleviate Nigeria’s current hardships.
In a candid interview, Deji Adeyanju criticized the current administration for being unfriendly to the poor, citing the nation’s economic challenges.
Adeyanju described Nigeria as a nation that favors the rich, where the poor are taxed heavily and forced to pay a high price for basic necessities.
He emphasized that the current state of the nation does not favor the average Nigerian in any way.
He highlighted the irony of the government’s response to minors protesting about hunger and insecurity, locking them up for 93 days without food and charging them with treasonable felonies.
Adeyanju also pointed out the contradiction in the government’s approach to integrating Boko Haram members into society while arraigning minors for terrorism and treasonable felony charges.
He said:
“This nation, as currently constituted, can be akin to a concentration camp where citizens are forced to stay. And if you doubt me, if you think that Nigeria is not a concentration camp, let’s run a social experiment.
“Let the United States of America alone make their country visa-free to Nigerians, and let’s count how many of us will remain. So that is what best describes this nation—a nation where the rich are not paying for doing business, for buying private jets.
“But the poor are taxed to pay triple the price, and now quadruple the price of petrol cannot be said to be a nation for poor people. This nation is anti-poor; by and large, it’s an anti-poor people’s nation, so that is my take. In terms of economics and politics, it does not favor the average Nigerian in any way.
“So, a nation where minors are being arraigned for terrorism for saying, “We are hungry; this is the reason why we are protesting; please, government should help us; government should stop insecurity.
“In response, the government says, ‘Come on, lock them up for 93 days without food, starve them,” and above all, slams them with treasonable felony charges and parades them like common criminals.”
“And this is a nation where police chiefs are hustling to take pictures with bandits in Zamfara. They organize an elaborate ceremony, according to them, to integrate Boko Haram members into society. Then you arraign minors in the society for terrorism and treasonable felony charges, so our nation is an irony”.