The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed claims that the President vowed not to seek re-election if he failed to significantly improve electricity supply in the country.
PUNCH Online recalls that Tinubu, during a business luncheon in December 2022 ahead of the 2023 presidential election, said, “If I don’t give you constant electricity for four years, when I come back for a second term, don’t vote for me.”
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, Onanuga said the President’s remarks on power sector reforms had been misrepresented, insisting that Tinubu’s statement was conditional and not an outright pledge to forgo a second term.
According to him, critics often quote only a portion of the President’s remarks while ignoring the context in which they were made.
When asked whether the President had promised not to seek re-election if the electricity supply did not improve dramatically, Onanuga said, “That is not exactly what he said. He said he will give Nigerians power. I’m paraphrasing now. He said he will also say he will end the area of estimated billing. A problem that he has largely solved because it should not be his business, but his government is producing meters, asking the DISCOS to give people meters free of charge.
“And he said, if by any chance he has reasons not to give Nigerians adequate power, then they should understand the problem that he inherited.”
When he was told that the President said he should not be reelected if the electricity supply did not improve, Onanuga said, “He didn’t say that way. Let me see if I can open my phone and tell exactly what he said.”
