Accord party presidential candidate Professor Christopher Imumolen has revealed that Nigerians’ desire to experience good leadership will determine the president’s successor, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), during next month’s presidential election.
He said that contrary to what could be obtained in the past, Nigerians will dump the bags of money and vote for a candidate with the ability to lead the country.
Imumolen said this while reacting to the position of the elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola, that money would play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidential election, according to a statement from his media office on Saturday.
The legal luminary said in her New Year message: “The 2023 presidential election will not be won by someone who believes they can make a difference. Neither will the person of the right age, health, education, or patriotism.
“Rather, it will be the person who has made money in this country, the person with the deepest pocket, who will win the election.”
Countering Babalola’s claim, Imumolen insisted that Nigerians will go for a capable candidate who can make a difference and change the country forever.
“In this year’s presidential race, I think the genuine desire of the people to see a shift from the old ways of doing things to a new one could be the determining factor, rather than the now outdated method of trying to buy conscience. of the people through lavish spending that might not produce any results because our once gullible people have become wiser,” the statement said while appearing on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’.
He also cited several cases in which candidates with less financial power won presidential elections in Nigeria.
He said: “With all due respect, I would like to disagree with our most scholarly elder statesman, Afe Babalola, in his claims that the person with the deepest pocket in this year’s presidential race will ultimately win the election.
“There are several cases, particularly since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, where money was never the determining factor in becoming president of Nigeria.
“Let’s start with the 1999 presidential election between PDP Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and then-AD Chief Olu Falae. Obasanjo, if we remember, won those elections despite having no bags of money to spend. In fact, he had just returned from prison where he had no money and no active politics before the elections.
“Then came his successor Umar Yar’Adua. We also know that Yar’Adua had just finished his term as Governor of Katsina State and was not someone he could refer to as someone who could, solely on the strength of his wealth, win the presidency of the country.
“Even then, we had more people in the race who could have beaten him hands down if cash were the sole determinant of who won the presidency. But in the end he won.
“It doesn’t matter that he said the system that brought him to power was flawed. The truth is that he won. Again, let’s take a look at the current President Muhammadu Buhari. We all know that if it came down to who had the most money to spend, it would have been Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was then the sitting president.
“However, against all odds, Buhari has achieved victory and is about to complete his eight-year term as President of Nigeria. So these examples tell us that he is not necessarily the man with the deepest pocket who always ends up as president of Nigeria.”
