By Dansu Peter
The ace journalist and publisher of Ovation Magazine Dele Momodu has outlines some reasons, which News Proof narrowed down to eight why President Muhammadu Buhari should not yeild to persuation by some of his close alies to run for the Presidential seat by 2019.
The Ovation Publisher aired his view in a recent interview with the Punch Newspaper. In the interview, he pointed out at some of the failures why he thinks President buhari will fail if he decided to run as he is being persuaded to do.
All are quotes from Dele Momodu's interview with Punch Newspaper
1. AGE
"I have told you that it is not just about Buhari; I don’t think that anyone above 65 years of age should lead Nigeria again. That includes Buhari and even a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar."
"He will be at least 76 years by next year; at that age, I believe he would be too tired to run a nation as complex and as complicated as Nigeria. Right now, Nigeria needs a man with full stamina. That is why I have written consistently in the last two months that there are certain things we must do urgently to rescue Nigeria from total collapse"
"One, we must not have anyone above 65 years old in power. That is the retirement age. I’m going to be 58 years old this year and I already feel like I am getting old. Now imagine what it is like for a man close to 80 years old. Two, I believe that we should forget about zoning because it is not part of our constitution, so any qualified Nigerian who is distinguished, accomplished, well educated and well exposed should be allowed to run. Why do we want to prevent our best brains from contesting for the most important office in the country? I think if Nigerians are serious, the time has come for them to kill zoning before it kills Nigeria. I believe that the next President must be very well exposed, educated and communicate in the language of today."
2. POOR PERFORMANCE
"I said in my article that this government has not performed up to expectation, it is almost three years now and all we are hearing are still excuses."
3. EXCUSES
"As for me, I am tired of hearing excuses. We drove former President Goodluck Jonathan away because we felt that he could not perform. And the Yoruba people have a saying that is translated as: If the gods cannot make our lives better, it should at least leave us the way it met us. "
4. POOR FOREIGN EXCHANGE
"We have to buy $1 dollar with almost N400; that was not the situation about two years ago. I expected that even if you would not improve on it, you should have stabilised what you met. "
5. LAGOS/IBADAN EXPRESSWAY
"In nearly three years, this government has not been able to complete the Lagos-Ibadan Express Road."
7. THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
"The airport that Jonathan left, the elevators are gone. Even the conveyors belts, some of them are packing up. Airports in Nigeria are among the worst in Africa and we are supposed to be the giant of Africa."
8. HUNGER
"People are hungry, dying and our hospitals are in a terrible shape. If you look at the index of performance, I will tell you that it is below average. I don’t want us to limit this to Buhari. It includes Atiku; I don’t think they should run."
On why the likes of Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Rotimi Amaechi, the Transport Minister, the Minister of Science and Technologu Adeboyo Shitu are trying to force President Muhammadu Buhari to run, the Ovation Publisher said;
"I think the signs are there already that he wants to run. I have read somewhere that the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, said he would lead his campaign. I read somewhere too that my good friend- the Minister of Transpotation, Rotimi Amaechi, is the director-general of his campaign team. I have not spoken to Amaechi in a while so I don’t know if that is true. From what I have read in the newspapers, people are already warming up."
" And from what I wrote in my article, I have no doubt in my mind that even if he does not want to run, some people are going to push him to run because their lives depend on it. If he goes, they are gone. But unfortunately, I don’t know what he is enjoying in power again; God has done everything for him. He will be at least 76 years by next year; at that age, I believe he would be too tired to run a nation as complex and as complicated as Nigeria. Right now, Nigeria needs a man with full stamina. That is why I have written consistently in the last two months that there are certain things we must do urgently to rescue Nigeria from total collapse."
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