I didn’t mean FG should recruit 50m but 50,000 youths into Army — Tinubu

National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Tuesday said he never meant that the Federal Government should employ 50 million but 50 thousand youths into the Nigerian Army to boost fight against terrorism, banditry and others.

He said it was a slip of the tongue. Tinubu was caught in a video that has gone viral, saying that the Federal Government to employ 50 million youths into the Nigerian Army to boost fight against terrorism, banditry and all forms of internal and external security threats confronting the nation.

He spoke on Monday during the 12th Bola Tinubu Colloquium to celebrate his 69th birthday. “We are under-policed and we are competing with armed robbers and bandits to recruit from the youths who are unemployed —33 per cent unemployed? “Recruit 50 million youths into the army,” he stated, adding that “what they will eat —cassava, corn, yam, will grow here.”

However, Tinubu, who spoke through his media aide, Tunde Rahman on Tuesday said that he meant the government should employ five million youths and not 50 million into the army.