Allowing National Projects Named After You Is Sycophancy, HURIWA Tells Tinubu

Oru Leonard 

Foremost Civil Rights Advocacy Group: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to stop his cabinet members from naming projects built with public funds after him, noting that is it the ‘height of political sycophantic tendencies which is also self serving, selfish and absolutely strange.”

HURIWA has therefore carpeted the
Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), for naming Abuja’s southern parkway after President Bola Tinubu.

The southern parkway stretches from the Christian Centre to Ring Road One and is considered one of the city’s major spines.

Wike made the announcement on Tuesday at the commissioning of the project executed by the FCT administration.

The minister said the project was completed in line with the president’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’, 13 years after construction commenced, adding that it would ease free flow of traffic in the FCT.

HURIWA however has cautioned against attempts to turn Nigeria into a banana Republic because if appointees of President Tinubu are indirectly or directly encouraged to name streets, national projects after the president then it will simply appear like such a ministry has something to hide which it doesn’t want the central government to investigate which therefore implies that engraving the name of the President will impose official approval on such a project.

According to HURIWA. “How for instance will a pliant EFCC or ICPC be bold enough to uncover corruption that may have happened if assuming without conceding, there is reason to believe that procurement or contractual corruption took place when a project built and named after the President was constructed? Will the EFCC be courageous enough to touch the minister who is busy naming legacy projects after the president? We doubt it.

“We are not saying that there is corruption in the construction of the project named after the president, but we are sounding a note of warning that this dangerous political SYCOPHANCY shouldn’t be encouraged or else the government wouldn’t deliver good governance to the greatest percentage of the good people of Nigeria.”

“We think this attitude of political hypocrisy by cabinet appointees to name projects after President Bola Tinubu will offend the principles of transparency and accountability and automatically translates into allowing his ministers turn him into a political deity that should be worshipped and this is undemocratic because it is a sign that Nigeria inches closer to a one man dictatorship or tyranny. National projects should be named after our heroes past and personalities who made immense and significant impacts in the lives of Nigeria and it is both immoral, unethical and contemptuous for a serving President to impose himself as a hero by allowing his appointees hero-worship him. Tinubu should serve Nigerians and allow the people allot him a place in their hearts depending on his performance and records and not based on propaganda. “