Rhodes-Vivour: Only Tinubu’s friends benefitting from his reforms

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has criticised the reforms being implemented by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Lagos during the 2023 elections, alleged that the only people benefitting from the reforms are the president’s friends.

President Tinubu has initiated some reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira.

The former LP governorship candidate said the ordinary Nigerians are at the receiving end of the reforms.

“The people are experiencing unprecedented hardship. Today, over 70 percent of people’s income is spent on transportation and food. They have not even started to think about how they can afford accommodation,” Rhodes-Vivour said.

“The only people that seem to be benefitting from these reforms are maybe the bankers, the people in government, and the president’s friends. How many Nigerians can say they are benefitting from any reform right now?

“We have a situation where there is a culture of wastefulness and extravagance that does not reflect the dire economic situation that the same president is pushing out that needs to be reformed.”

Responding to a question on his governorship ambition, Rhodes-Vivour, who lost to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos, in the last elections, said he would run for the post in 2027.

“By God’s grace, yes,” he responded to the question by the presenter of the programme.

He said there is a need for a united opposition to counter the current “full state capture” of Nigeria’s political system by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I believe that if all parties do not come together, it is going to be a waste of time running in 2027 because there is a full state capture happening in this country now,” he added.

“We cannot afford for the opposition to be separate. For now, my job is to ensure that I have a strong party—the Labour Party.”