- By Halimah Opeyemi
Ministerial nominee from Ogun State, Dr., Bosun Tijjani, has explained the frustrations that led him to make a tweet in 2019 where he disparaged Nigeria.
Senator Fatai Buhari (APC Oyo North) had risen shortly after the nominee read out his resume to the lawmakers, to demand from him whether he still holds on to his belief about the country which made him to disparage the country in 2019.
“This tweet, does he still believe in it or he has changed his mind about the country now?” Senator Buhari asked
Some other lawmakers had also demanded to know whether Tijjani was standing before them as a Nigerian or a citizen of another country.
Asked to explain himself, Tijjani had narrated how he was treated in China on one occasion because of his Nigerian citizenship adding that the situation in the country had led to many complications being experiences by Nigerians abroad.
The nominee had said that the experience coupled with many others had led him to make his now viral comment.
He said apart from his many works in the area of mentoring young Nigerians, he had led efforts to save many young people from the police who were arrested and extorted on account of being in possession of laptops which they were using for their works.
His comment had been brought to the fore again after his name came out as a ministerial nominee.
After his explanation, the senate president cautioned young people to always measure the expression of their anger even in the face of the worst provocations.
Speaking on the matter, Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, called for caution in dismissing the talent that Tijjani because of his tweet in the past.
Bamidele said his own daughter had in 2020 joined the ENDSARS protests saying that many of their children also pose to them questions about the situation in Nigeria.
The senate President, Godswill Akpabio later asked Tijjani to apologise to which he said “Please, accept my sincere apologies.”
Tijjani is one of the ministerial nominees in the second batch of the list forwarded to the Senate on Wednesday by President Bola Tinubu.
Tijjani is the CEO and co-founder of CcHub. He has led the expansion of CcHub across Nigeria, Kenya, and more recently, Namibia.
Tijjani would later go on his X page to further reinforce his earlier apologies on the floor of the senate by saying that he looked forward to working with all stakeholders to bring about the needed change to Nigeria.
He tweeted, “After an eventful few days, I want to again express my gratitude to His Excellency,