In a telephone interview on Sunday, Farounbi said the speech would not be able to pacify Nigerians, especially the protest, adding that Tinubu’s plea for stoppage of the demonstration may not be obeyed.
The President had listed the achievements of his administration and called on the End Bad Governance Protesters to stop demonstration and dialogue with the government.
Though, Farounbi noted that Tinubu was able to highlight some of his achievements, the former Ambassador said the achievements are the reasons for the protest and that the president ought not to have only reeled out the actions that provoked the demonstration in the first place.
The media icon maintained that the broadcast failed to address issues agitating the minds of Nigerians and it did not provide any succour to the teeming populace.
According to him, “The President’s speech is a beautiful piece that summarizes what he has done and for which he ought to have been commended, but I believe the submission of all the beautiful things he has enumerated there brought up to a situation which the protesters are protesting again.
“All the things he enumerated are wonderful and great things and very viable but of course, the submission of it is that the people don’t believe it has made life better for them, so that was why they are after a change of direction or additional actions.
“The speech didn’t offer anything different from what he has been doing. He didn’t offer any dramatic or immediate solutions to what the people had listed. As a speech, it is okay but as a response to what the people are agitating for, I think it fell a little short. He didn’t talk about the issues they raised, he therefore didn’t give the impression that he had heard the people properly or he had understood their situation.”
Asked if the protest might produce any significant results at the end and if protesters would listen to Tinubu’s call for a ceasefire, Farounbi said, “I don’t think anything can be expected that will be different from the path they (protesters) are already threading.”
“From that speech, I doubt if they (protesters) will have a sharp break from the present way in which they are protesting, it is either they have not articulated their views enough or the presidency has not carefully understood what they are saying.
“There still seems to be a gap between what they are saying and what the president is saying. Perhaps they can key into the offer that they should sit down and dialogue, perhaps, at that point, the presidency will understand the issue they are raising but from that speech, I don’t think anything can be expected that will be different from the path they are already threading,” he added.
The elder statesman expressed worry over carrying of flags of Russia and Portugal by some protesters in the North, saying such development ought to have elicited response from President Tinubu to assuage them in believing in the country.
He said, “The part of the protest that worries me is the fact that in Sokoto, they are asking for military to take over, in some parts of the north, they were carrying the flags of Russia and Portugal of Putin, which seems to suggest that they are being influenced by whatever is happening in Nigeria. In that kind of situation, I think they need something a little more dramatic that will assuage them and that there can be changes tomorrow.”
If the presidency continues to shun the demands of the protesting citizens and reel out what his administration had done or doing, Farounbi stated, “if it is an explanation of what they (presidency) have done or what they are being done, it is not likely that the protesters will achieve anything.”
Farounbi said the level of hunger, misery, joblessness and general hardship in the country is alarming, saying he thought President Tinubu’s speech would have addressed some of the reasons why the masses are suffering.
“I was thinking he (Tinubu) would talk about what appeared to be the vulgar opulence that we see around us, demonstrated by members of the executive, legislature and judiciary; I was expecting some token announcement of whether they are going to scale down the kind of vehicles that they have been buying, they are going to scale down the extravagance that we see, either in the number of aides or in the remuneration of aides; I was expecting that, perhaps, the National Assembly going half, being asked to consider part-time, something that will indicate those in power wants to make sacrifices as they want the people to make sacrifices. It will not be a permanent solution but it would be an indication that the presidency understands the pain the people are going through.
“The kind of speech that the Senate President said that they can keep on demonstrating while they keep chopping, the President would have given a speech that would indicate that those in leadership will make sacrifices no matter how token it would appear so that when you ask the common people to keep on making sacrifices that there is hope tomorrow, they will also see that the executive, the legislature and judiciary at all levels are going to make personal sacrifices, so that all of us collectively will make sacrifices in this moment of hunger, in this moment of famine, in this moment of joblessness, and in this moment of seeming helplessness for the youths.
“That is the kind of thing I was expecting, not a long speech rehearsing what has been said over and over, that has not put food on the table, that has not brought jobs for the jobless, that has not made electricity affordable and accessible. I believe those are long term intentions but what you need in a moment like this is dramatic, even if it would be to make the people say yes, the president understands us and everybody is going to make sacrifices,” he stated.