Osoba also disclosed that his grandson who also had an audience with the president told him about the happenings in the country.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Tuesday, Osoba said he had an audience with the President during the holidays and bared his mind on situations of things in the country.
While acknowledging the hardship in the country, the former governor said he gave the President “counter-information” during his discussion with him, adding that his grandson also used the opportunity to inform him about happenings in Nigeria.
“As to the pain, I have direct access to him and in the last 10 days, I have had two audiences with him and we’ve had very deep and serious discussions. As part of my own role as an elder statesman, I was there to give him counter information and I did just that. And I can assure you, he is a listening person.
“I had a quality time with him on Christmas Day and even my grandson engaged him in discussion on Christmas Day. The young boy was very honest with him and told him some of the things that are going on in the country.
“So, I can assure you, he’s very much on top of things,” Osoba said.
Osoba, who assured that the President will use 2024 to implement his Renewed Hope Agenda, said though there was hardship in the country, the President is capable of turning things around.
He added, “I do agree that things are very tough for everybody irrespective of one’s status in the society. There’s nobody in this country who is not feeling the pain and the current hardship, that I would admit and that I will not pretend not to know. But the government at the same time is struggling very hard to contain the hardship and reduce the pain.”
Reacting to the Peoples Democratic Party’s criticism of Tinubu’s New Year speech, the former governor said the main opposition party’s stance was expected.
The PUNCH reports that Tinubu, in his New Year address to Nigerians on Monday, affirmed that Nigerians are frustrated because of the removal of fuel subsidy and the Naira devaluation.
He said “I am not oblivious to the expressed and sometimes unexpressed frustrations of my fellow citizens. I know for a fact that some of our compatriots are even asking if this is how our administration wants to renew their hope.
“Over the past seven months of our administration, I have taken some difficult and yet necessary decisions to save our country from fiscal catastrophe. One of those decisions was the removal of fuel subsidy which had become an unsustainable financial burden on our country for more than four decades.”
But the PDP described Tinubu’s New Year speech as a “harvest of deceit, false claims and empty promises”.
But reacting to the statement, Osoba said the main opposition party was nursing its “deep wound” from the loss of the 2023 presidential election.
He said, “You don’t expect the PDP to see anything positive about this administration. They went to all lengths to ensure their dream of leading the country and they lost at all levels. I think they are still nursing the deep wound and therefore they will use all kinds of languages to describe the situation in the country. They are playing the role expected of the opposition.”
