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National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, says he meant to call for the recruitment of 50 thousand youths into the Nigerian military, not the 50 million he had earlier said.
Maxilensnews reported that Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Monday at a colloquium to celebrate his 69th birthday in Kano called for the recruitment of 50 million youths into the Army to address insecurity in the country and unemployment.
However, Tinubu in a recent statement said that his earlier demand for the recruitment of 50 million soldiers was an “accidental verbal mistake.”
“Recruit 50 million youths into the army, take away from their (the bandits’) recruitment source,” Tinubu had said on Monday.
“What they will eat? Cassava, corn, yam in the afternoon… it is grown here. You create demand and consumption for over five million army of boot camps.”
The comment raised eyebrows among Nigerians who wondered how almost one in four citizens could be drafted into the army with the country’s population of about 205 million.
Incidentally, in the statement issued by his media office on Tuesday, Tinubu said he gave the figure in error and only meant to say 50,000 youths.
According to the statement, “Asiwaju seeks the expansion of security personnel by 50,000 for the armed forces, not the 50 million that was mentioned in error.’’
“It was an accidental verbal mistake of which we all commit from time to time especially when reciting a series of large numerical figures. He did not mean 50 million, which is almost a quarter of our total population.
