How Tinubu’s 100 days as Governor became my worst nightmare – Ayobolu

Ayobolu and Tinubu

Segun Ayobolu, former Chief Press Secretary to ex-governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has opened up on the first 100 days of his former boss in office, saying it was one of his worst nightmares.

Ayobolu made the revelation while presenting a paper, titled: “The Dynamics of Public Affairs Management,” at the book launch of former Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Information and Strategy, Fola Adeyemi in Ikeja, Lagos.

According to him,, “As Chief Press Secretary to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the anniversary of his 100 days in office in 1999 was one of my worst nightmares.

“The reviews in the media were exceedingly negative and abominable. Critics after critic focused on the refuse heaps on the roads, the pot holes and, veritable craters on most roads, the scarcity of water, the terrible insecurity with armed robbery attacks on banks and snatching of vehicles occurring almost on a daily basis.

“For a government, which had about three months to get ready, the first three months in office seems to have caught it by surprise. No practical solution had been applied on any problem so far.

“Refuse heaps, which like armed robbers can neither talk nor think challenged the wits of the governor.

“Consider all the other areas like housing, education, health and rural development etc. They were still at blueprint level…Tinubu had enough time to prepare. He was even praised for taking the initiative of setting up a team to draw up an action plan.

“His inauguration speech was excellent, showing clarity of thought and evidence of insight. What went wrong? Could it be fish in water syndrome which out of water just bobs and bobs?. The future, the very near future will tell”, he told the gathering which had in attendance three former commissioners for information and strategy in the state among other media practitioners and scholars.”

Ayobolu said most of the critics could not be bothered that these problems were the inheritance from years of military neglect and misrule and could thus not be resolved instantaneously or magically.