Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has deplored the verbal attacks on President Bola Tinubu over the relocation to Lagos from Abuja, of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
He said the criticisms against the President were either borne out of political mischief or ignorance since that action did not amount to moving the nation ‘s capital back to Lagos.
Governor Uzodimma, who spoke as a guest of Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, urged Nigerians to focus on the economic benefit of the exercise as it was meant to save cost and engender efficient productivity.
He dismissed the claims of some Northerners that President Tinubu was planning to move the capital of Nigeria back to Lagos, saying such insinuations were totally unfounded. “The President lacked the powers to unilaterally effect such a fundamental change.”
His words: ” it has been made clear that those departments need to be close to the banks CBN is supervising which are in Lagos. We also know that Lagos is the hub of the aviation industry. So, I don’t see anything wrong with what the President has done.”
Governor Uzodimma noted that as a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, he was aware of the huge resources expended in shuttling between Abuja and Lagos for the routine supervision talk less of some staff who do that on a daily basis.
The Governor however commended some Northern personalities and groups, including the Northern Senators Forum and the Emir of Kano, for supporting the planned relocation of those departments.
Describing the exercise as purely administrative, Governor Uzodimma accused the opposition of blowing it out of proportion to score cheap political points.
He described President Tinubu as a first class patriot and nationalist who will never promote any policy to endanger the unity of Nigeria and urged Nigerians to support the programmes and policies of the President.
On his plan for Imo State during his second tenure, Uzodinma reiterated that his achievements in the second tenure will dwarf those of the first tenure.
He declared that in spite of the politically motivated insecurity that tended to distract him during his first term, he was able to achieve more than 75 per cent of his electoral promises.
He emphasised that his massive infrastructural development and human capital development were the cardinal issues that won him reelection, which he will continue to pursue with vigour in his second tenure.
While pledging to ensure the reduction of poverty in the State and the strengthening of the economy, Governor Uzodimma said the youths will be more gainfully employed through the Imo Skill-Up project, among other laudable policies embedded in his prosperity agenda.
On the question of who succeeds him after his tenure given that so many politicians are already jostling for the office of the Governor of Imo State, Governor Uzodimma said: ” I do not know who will succeed me. Only God knows.”