The Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state, Dr. Emmanuel Olugbade Ojo, has cautioned former president Olusegun Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim Babangida to allow Nigerians determine the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.
The associate professor of Comparative Politics, who gave this advice in an interview with journalists on Thursday, noted that both Obasanjo and Babangida are opinion leaders, whose views could sway people’s mind either in favour or otherwise of any candidate presented for the election.
Obasanjo had recently told Buhari not to seek reelection in 2019, while a statement credited to Babangida called for power shift to younger Nigerians in 2019.
But Ojo, a former head of department at the University of Ilorin, stated, in his reaction, that the two former leaders should leave the electorate to determine for themselves their choice of leaders so the country can move forward.
When asked if Buhari deserved a second term in office as is being canvassed by some of his supporters, he said: “I think my own view as an electorate does not count. I have the power of only one vote. Those that have been writing epistles, I will advise them to allow the people to determine the fate of President Buhari because they are opinion molders, they can sway public opinion, either in favour or against.
“Nigerians are to decide that and before the decision, the party members will decide first because you have to be fielded by your party. The first hurdle is primary election. Even if you perform very well in government and your party does not present you, what happens? So Nigerians will allow the party to present their candidates and allow electorate to decide the fate of those candidates with their ballots. My view is immaterial”.
Speaking on the performance of the President going by the level of expectations of the people from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Ojo said he would only rate the government high in terms of fighting corruption, diversification of economy and agriculture.
He however condemned the government on its yam exportation policy, saying it was a wrongly timed policy which did not consider the sufficiency of the produce and its availability to the people before thinking of foreign earnings.
The university don said the government must urgently tackle the herdsmen invasion of farmlands and various killings across the country, if the gains made so far in the areas of security must be sustained.
He criticised the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on its recent approach of generating fund for the government, pointing out that many of those who purchased UTME forms are finding it hard to raise the required fund in the first place.
Ojo then reasoned that the board should come up with a policy of reducing the cost of the form to make it accessible for more admission seekers and leave its quest for generation of revenue to other agencies of government.
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