Former senate leader and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ali Ndume has urged President Bola Tinubu to weed out what he described as “kakistrocrats” dominating his presidency.
A kakistocracy is a system of government run by the worst, least competent, or most corrupt citizens.
Ndume spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time, where he cited the latest fake agency scandal as evidence of oversight lapses.
According to him, the presence of “incompetent” officials in the Tinubu administration was responsible for some of the controversies and embarrassments confronting the government.
“Already, I’ve been vindicated on that, as to saying that my concern is that the president has so many kakistrocrats that dominate the presidency,” Ndume said.
“And I still maintain that unless he does something about it, they will continue to mess him up.
“You can imagine, right now, it’s now a known thing in Nigeria; we had a fake agency that operated and even had an office, and they don’t know, they don’t know.”
President Bola Tinubu last Friday ordered the arrest of Nwabueze George over the alleged operation of a fake government agency within the premises of the SGF office.
George was the national coordinator of the disputed National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office.
The president also ordered the immediate suspension of three permanent secretaries following findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Musa Aliyu, ICPC chairman, said the discovery was made during a broader investigation into the activities of the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and other procedural weaknesses in government.
Ndume commended Tinubu for taking action over the matter, saying the president deserved credit for the suspension.
He, however, questioned why Tinubu had yet to take what he described as appropriate action to address the situation.
“I give the president credit. That is why I insist that if he had capable hands, all this mess and embarrassment wouldn’t be happening,” he said.
“And he’s still, you know, I don’t know why, and he’s still not taking the appropriate action on it.”