The President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus has dismissed the promise by President Bola Tinubu to the labour unions that the Port Harcourt Refinery would commence operations by December as a ruse, saying it was just to appease Nigerians to think that there is hope.

Talking about his opinion on President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominees list, Bitrus said “as far as we are concerned, the ministerial nominees list and so many other things done could be temporary if the judgment of the court comes out now. Even the APC and Tinubu’s counsel are talking about rerun because they know they don’t have a good case. But, are they going to get a rerun? No, and if they don’t, this whole ministerial thing will collapse. The new president will come with his own team. So, when the question arises about the ministerial nominees list, the usual answer I give is that this may be short-lived because the judgment, though they may appeal, may not leave the man in office longer than is necessary.

“However, we know that there are some characters that are not supposed to be on any list, whether it is Tinubu’s list or anybody’s list. As a person and as middle-belters, we don’t see somebody like El-Rufai as somebody who should be in leadership position in this country, given his bias and the way he does things,” he added.

Speaking on the military coup has just happened in the Niger Republic; and lessons for Nigerian leaders, he said “of course, there are lessons to be learnt by our leaders from the Niger experience. Look at the reasons for the coup; those reasons equally apply to Nigeria. The current military leader is saying that certain forces will tell them not to shoot the insurgents, and that the regime of the former democratically elected President, Basoum, was allowing the terrorists to continue riding roughshod on Nigerien, because he was leaned more towards France than to the people of Niger. Now, all those things also apply here in Nigeria. We have heard of so many complaints by our troops.

“They know the locations of the Boko Haram Islamist terrorists but they are not allowed to go and uproot them. So many things were happening in the government of Buhari. Today, it is Tinubu. So, those things also apply in Nigeria. Who is manipulating the system and allowing our people to suffer? Are we jeopardizing our own interest because of some foreign interests? Why are our refineries not working and we are importing fuel from Europe? So many things are similar. So, the lesson here is when people are pushed to the wall, they will react. Nigerians should not think that our military is passive.

“When they see that things are not right, they might intervene. In spite of the fact that the military has supported our democracy for over 20 years, it doesn’t mean that if things continue to go wrong and politicians continue to play not according to the rules, that military intervention is not possible. It is possible here and anywhere where the rule of law is ignored; and where the primary objective of government which is security and welfare of the people are abandoned and ignored. When such situations become the order of the day, then certainly something could happen just as it happened in Niger. So, we should learn a lesson and correct our ways. Let the politicians do the right thing so that we don’t fall into a similar pit,” he added. (Story adapted from Daily Sun)

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