Buhari ‘ll change face of politics in Nigeria before 2019

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari, is determined to change the wrong perception about politics in the country. Speaking in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital yesterday, during a seminar on ‘‘Transformative Leadership’’ organised for youths, Ojudu said the era when politics was seen as a do-or die affair is over, assuring that refined politicking, bereft of desperation, will become a new order before the conduct of 2019 general polls. 

Delivering a lecture entitled: ‘‘The Ekiti Character as a Development Asset,’’ a renowned professor of History, Professor Banji Akintoye, called on all Ekiti people to imbibe the spirit of resilience as displayed by Ekiti progenitors while fighting for their liberation during the Kiriji War. The former lawmaker, lamented the orgy of violence that greeted the conduct of elections in some states in 2015, where scores of innocent Nigerians were mowed down by political thugs. 

Ojudu said, though, the recent elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States brought some bedlams and confusion, but defending President Muhammadu Buhari of not interested in who wins elections, provided that due process was not circumvented. He accused the PDP of injecting brigandage into the Nigeria’s body polity since the advent of democracy in 1999, assuring that Buhari’s administration would redirect the psyche of Nigerians and make them see election as a civil matter, rather than a war. 

“President Buhari is not interested in who wins elections. Mr. President is only deeply interested in the due process not being jettisoned or INEC or security agencies being biased against a particular party,’’ he said. Prof. Akintoye stated that the state was ranked so low compared to other ethnic groups in the southwest before 1947 when the first graduate was produced from the state, disclosing that through perseverance, commitment and unwavering zeal, Ekiti was able to overtake and became the most educated state in the country. “We have to go to that era where our forefathers didn’t give up so easily. We should continue to fight towards developing ourselves as individuals, our state and largely our country. 

Singapore started like an underdog and today, with determination it became one of the successful economies in the world. “Ekiti cannot afford to fail because we have the brains that can make things happen even in the face of difficulty or paucity of funds. We must be united and see ourselves as one. The youths must be reoriented on true transformative leadership”.