12th Colloquium Speech: Tinubu progresses in error; aide says boss didn’t mean what he said

The aide to the APC national leader Bola Tinubu has said apologized for the slip his boss made during the Bola Tinubu Colloquium on Monday in Kano.

According to Tunde Rahman, the former governor urged the federal government in his speech to recruit 50 million Nigerians into the army and other security agencies—to end banditry and insurgency across the nation.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, Rahman said Tinubu only seeks the expansion of security personnel by 50,000 for the armed forces and not the 50 million that was mentioned in error.

“Asiwaju Tinubu canvassed the urgent need to combine employment and national security policy by the recruitment of 5 million youths in all aspects of nation-building, ranging from infrastructural development to agricultural modernization,’ the statement read further.

“He believes that the more job opportunities are presented to our youth the less some of them will be tempted into illegal and dangerous activities.

“As part of this overall approach, he believes that eligible youth should be recruited into the armed forces, police and other security agencies to augment the functional capacity of our security apparatus thus ensuring the better security and safety of our people.

Rahman said the APC leader gunnng for the presidency in 2023 never meant recruiting a quarter of Nigeria into the army.

“Please forgive any confusion due to this innocent error,’ he said.

“The most vital thing is that he set forth a wise and timely approach that would help us face two of today’s stiffest challenges.”