Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu has “lost his soul” since assuming office, saying the president is no longer the person he once knew.
Lawal made the remarks during an interview with Symfoni TV released on Saturday.
He described Tinubu as a generous politician who had, in the past, provided substantial financial assistance to people in need without immediately expecting anything in return.
According to him, Tinubu possessed a unique ability to identify individuals who could become politically useful to him in the future and often supported them during difficult times.
“So at that stage, he (Tinubu) is somebody you can trust. He’s somebody you can like.
“Bola Tinubu has given some people stupendous amount of money to help them out of crisis that I know firsthand, without expecting ordinarily for you, without expecting anything,” Lawal said.
He added that Tinubu appeared to have an instinct for investing in relationships that would later yield political benefits.
“But you see, the thing with Bola Tinubu is that he has a gift. I think it has to be a gift from God. He can see in you a future returns for himself in advance, sort of like prophetically, like if I help ‘Wale’ out of this, in five years’ time, Wale will do things for me.
“And that type of help he will give you is what can stupefy you. He does things like that. A good man at that time, you know, when in trouble.”
However, Lawal said the president had changed since taking office.
“But suddenly I don’t know what has happened. He has lost his soul.
“Yes, he has lost his soul. Having come to this government, he has lost his soul. Because he’s somebody that is in charge all the time, but suddenly it looks like he’s no more in charge.
“As long as he gets his own share of whatever he says he’s looking for, the rest they can loot it and do whatever they want to do with it,” he said.
The former SGF further claimed that many people who knew Tinubu before he became president no longer recognized his leadership style.
“It happens to every president, but in his own, it is a calamity. Everybody will tell you the Bola we knew is not Bola we see now, where we don’t see him again anymore anywhere.
“I wish he could go back to what he was before so that Nigeria would be great,” he added.
