The Chairman , Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC Ogun West), has denied news reports that the administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari borrowed $400 billion to stabilize the naira against the dollar during his tenure.
Senator Adeola who made the rebuttal on Monday in Abuja through a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Chief Kayode Odunaro, said contrary to the report in some major newspapers and some online blogs on Saturday April 26,2025, that he never said Buhari’s administration borrowed $400billion for Naira stabilisation.
The Senator as contained in the statement was misquoted by journalists mostly bloggers who were at the Town Hall Meeting/ Mega Empowerment Programme he had with constituents in Ayetoro, Ogun State .
The statement reads, ” Senator Solomon Adeola at the town hall meeting, spoke mostly in Yoruba language, to justify the removal of oil subsidy and the floating of the exchange rate by the incumbent administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu upon which imminent collapse of the Nigerian economy was averted .
“Senator Adeola stated that previous administrations have been spending trillions of naira on fuel subsidy and defending the naira against the dollar adding that this was to the benefit of a very negligible number of Nigerians while Nigeria accumulated huge national debt.
“At no point did the senator mention the name of the former President Buhari or make specific reference to his administration as incurring a debt of $400billion.
“It is therefore clear that the debt figure attributed to former President Buhari administration is a misquotation from reporters’ translation of the senator’s speech from Yoruba to English language.
“The misquotation must have come about from confusing 40 for 400 in translation as the figure of debt for previous administrations.
“It is also noted that most of the reporters of the major newspapers that reported the misquotation did not personally attend the event and relied on some online blogs for their story.
“Senator Adeola holds former President Buhari in high esteem and acknowledge his valiant efforts in piloting the economy under the circumstance he found it during his tenure”.