“Some of them think that they know better than everybody. But they don’t know anything. When you don’t know Nigeria, you only know Lagos, then you start doing things as if Nigeria is Lagos. Lagos is in Nigeria. That’s a wrong decision”
Ndume
The Senate Committee Chairman on the Army, Ali Ndume has warned President Bola Tinubu that relocating some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters to Lagos, will have political implication.
Recall that the CBN and FAAN recently announced plans to relocate some of their offices to Lagos due to congestion of some departments, and for FAAN to ensure seamless operations and save costs.
But appearing on ChannelsTV, Ndume further warned that Tinubu was being misled by a cartel he termed “Lagos Boys”, while also arguing that the so-called members of the cartel do not know how Nigeria works and will not be able to help the president when the repercussions come.
According to Ndume, if the offices were being moved due to congestion, the best place would be Niger, Nasarawa, Kaduna or Kogi and other states surrounding Abuja, for the sake of proximity, instead of faraway Lagos.
“Some of them think that they know better than everybody. But they don’t know anything. When you don’t know Nigeria, you only know Lagos, then you start doing things as if Nigeria is Lagos. Lagos is in Nigeria. That’s a wrong decision.
“We will not accept it. Besides, you know, they are not doing any favour to Mr. President, because this will have political consequences. Yes. I’m telling you this.
“And these guys who are just sitting down there, trying to hang on to Mr. President will not be there to amend the political mistakes or even to correct it because they don’t know anybody. They only know their offices. And they only know that they have brains,” he said.
“This is a decision that is not well thought out. And I think the president will reverse it. I’m confident that. And if that does not happen, of course, this is democracy and we know what to do,” he boasted.
He urged the president to rescind the decision, stressing that he (Ndume) is neither Hausa nor Fulani, but a northerner and a Nigerian.
“CBN has offices that they can rent or build on their own to increase efficiency, but moving some departments to Lagos is not the best of ideas at all or moving any agency at all,” he added.
He expressed optimism that the decision will be reversed, and advised the president to ignore the so-called cartel.
