First 100 days is supposed to be honeymoon for Buhari, says Tinubu

 

National Leader of the All  Progressives Congress (APC) and one time governor of Lagos State Senator Bola Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to give President Muhammadu Buhari the benefit of 100 days honeymoon to enable him to take stock of what he inherited and plan for concrete action rather than trying to rush him.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with the president, on Tuesday, he stated that it was unfair to say that the promised change was not coming barely two months after Buhari assumed office.

Asked what he had to tell those who feel the change they voted for was taking too long to come, he said: "Excuse me! Let us be calm now here. How long ago? May 29th was when this president was sworn in. It is an international norm all over the world.

"There is an honeymoon period, at least minimum of 100 days honeymoon. And won't you allow honeymoon at all? You said change is not coming. Change is not by magic. It is driven by the people, the spirit, the character and the planning.

"You see, we have had so much problems in this country in the past because we run into policies blindfolded without adequate and effective planning. You don't have results unless you plan well.

"The time it takes you to plan, examine, rejig, re-evaluate is more important than the time you just rush into taking action because you are either being sentimental, being emotional and being driven by other forces that are not expected.

"It's not fair to jump into those conclusions. There must be time to plan, to review and even listen to people. There is a separation between a campaign period, articulating your vision, expressing the promises to Nigerians.

"There is a time to look at holistically what you inherited, analyse it, distill and then take action. Even in 100 metre race, there is a time to say on your mark, set, ready, go! So, you don't even want a time to be on your mark, set and go? No no no. You are not bring fair."

The former Lagos State governor said he was at Aso Rock to see the president and to ensure that everything was on track.

"The purpose of this visit is to see my president and our leader. The purpose is to ensure the we are on the right track and coming back from a very successful trip to United States of America," he said.

Tinubu explained that Monday's meeting between the president and APC members of the House of Representatives was not deadlocked as had been widely reported as the party was working on evolving a viable political process.

He added: "That is the conclusion of the press. Deadlock if we are going for literally translation, that is people's opinion. I have not read any comment from the parties whether it was deadlocked or not. That is the media conclusion.

"It is a political process. It needs to develop its own life to be worked upon to really stabilise and continue to serve the interest of the populace.

"As a matter of fact, when the National Assembly's job starts, the job of lawmaking in earnest, the president needs to step in once in a while as he did to let people to understand the import of the expectations of the public and particularly of the international community on various programmes and institutions.

"We need to build the institutions, make it viral and effective for the entire country. To step in to douse any conflict is not a wrong thing."