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The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Mr. Adewole Ebenezer Adebayo, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing a level playing field during the last general election even as he advised the incoming government of president elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to embrace proper development of the country as that would be the only way to calm frayed nerves.
Adebayo, who was a guest of Segun Awosanya’s organised open space on Twitter, said changing the lives of Nigerians across board was the surest way to reconcile Nigerians.
“If I was the one elected, as soon as I take that oath if office, that’s the end of politics. I leave politics to my political advisers and political party, and I face the work of the people because that is what will ultimately speak for you at the end of the day. Some of my fellow candidates wonder why I am still going around talking and engaging the public who still insult you. I think one must not abandon the space because the answer to a bad speech is a good speech. You must not allow negative narratives to take over the space.”
The Labour Party was quite pronounced during the election, of course, through the popularity of its candidate, Peter Obi. For Adebayo, the workers, which naturally and legitimately too, are bona-fide members, believe that the various labour unions should not be too obvious in politics as such would make politicians be more interested in everything that happens to the Labour especially its leadership.
“The politicians would want to know who becomes the leaders of the unions because no government would want the opposition to be in control of its labour force. The unions would no longer be consistent as such action would naturally weaken them totally.”
Adebayo noted that the Federal Government should be commended for the rescue efforts in evacuating Nigerians out of crises-ridden Sudan. He said Nigeria and other countries, including the UK and United States of America, were all having challenges in evacuating their nationals.
“Every country, not some, every country whose nationals are in Sudan had problems evacuating their nationals. There are some British presently in Egypt who are even begging to be evacuated. Nigerians living in Sudan cannot be less than three million. Some don’t want to leave because the war isn’t affecting them where they are. Some are so entrenched because they have their businesses there. The few schooling there are the most affected by the war. Do you know that our ethnic groups here came from Sudan. The richest man in Sudan is a Nigerian. Some of the best teachers in Sudan are Nigerians. There are people of Nigerian origin who are in the Sudanese parliament. Sudan is closely related to us. Do you know that the British used to call Nigeria the Lower Sudan?”
He said had it been other presidents, some of the candidates during the elections would have been harassed and intimidated, but Buhari did not do all that.
“The government of the day has to be patriotic to make sure it doesn’t take advantage of power. This is where one should commend the government of Buhari. Since I was adult, the president that has shown the least bias in politics is Buhari because if he was not the way he is, if it was Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo or Goodluck Jonathan and others before them, even to the late Shagari era, once they are in government, their party must win at all cost. I am not a member of his party, but at no time has the police, DSS harassed me. Nobody can say it’s because of Buhari that he or she lost the election because even in his own state, Katsina, he lost the elections. We should be grateful at least that Buhari ensured that happened. Through him, it has shown that the president can have a candidate in the race and not break the law for the candidate, “he explained.
