*Don’t disappoint Nigerians, Babalola tells Tinubu, others
Ayo Ola
A former Kwara State Governorship aspirant, Pastor Engineer Sunday Adebayo Babalola, has hailed President Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Nigeria, over his June 12, 2023; nationwide broadcast to Nigeria.
In an interview with journalists on Monday, he said President Tinubu’s speech offered hope for Nigeria.
He, however, urged President Tinubu and other political leaders, who have been announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as winners, not to disappoint Nigerians.
He urged them to provide quality leadership, infrastructural and human capital development, as well as other dividends of democracy to the Nigerians.
Babalola said, “Mr President’s speech is a good one. It reminded us of how we fought for democracy and how we got where we are and the sacrifices a lot of people made in order for us to arrive at where we are today.
“I believe he is passing a message to us as a country that irrespective of religious bias, or political standing, we should all put our hands on deck to ensure that this our experiment in democracy succeeds. I believe he is right.
He spoke about winners and losers. He asked the winners to do well to justify their winning. He told the losers that there is always another chance to contest. And that for them to be celebrated when they win, they should also learn to celebrate the current winners. And that is not to say the cases in court should not have been because that is part of the way to strengthening democracy. I like the speech. It is very encouraging. I only hope that he and all the winners will be able to do things right.
“He also spoke about the subsidy removal. He clearly stated that the last government has actually removed subsidy, all he did was affirm because the money was going into people’s hands. I think what he did is the best. He did not speak about the $800m facility that the World Bank has offered Nigeria. I am in opposition to accessing the money just to share with people and distribute to people. How do you identify the 20 per cent in this country where corruption thrives? One of the ways to defeat corruption is, of course, not to provide avenues for it.”
He added, “Nigerians should brace up for the fact that democracy has come to stay. And that we, as Nigerians, should be patient to exercise our rights as the time provided in the current Constitution will run. I advise Nigerians to be patient with the goverment and let us see what they will achieve. And if they are achieving nothing, It is just four years. Almost three weeks are gone now after out of four years. It does not take much time for four years to arrive and people will take decisions.
“I always encourage the people to start to come out en-mass during the election. That is how to make your opinion known. I advise political officeholders that they are servants of the people. They are employees of the people and they should come out to serve the people and not to serve themselves. What I have seen in Nigeria is that most of them are just there to serve themselves.”