A political science scholar of the University of Ilorin and an associate professor of Comparative Politics, Dr. ‘Gbade Ojo has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President Ibrahim Babangida to allow people of the country to determine the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 election.
Ojo, who is the current Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state, stated in an interview with Vanguard that the duo of the former leaders are opinion leaders, whose views could sway people’s mind either in favour or otherwise of any candidate presented for the election, but they should leave the electorate to determine for themselves their choice of leaders if the country must move forward.
When asked if President Buhari deserved a second term in office as being advocated by some of his supporters, the university don 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,” he pointed out.
Answering question 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.
The political scientist, 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.
He 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.
The chief of staff also 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 jamb forms toiled and found it hard to raise the required fund in the first place.
Rather, he reasoned that the Board should come up with a policy of reducing the cost of the form and make it easier for more admission seekers and leave the search of revenue for other agencies of the government to do.
