Afe Babalola to Nigerians: Reject presidential candidate above 60 years

The Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, has urged Nigerians to reject presidential aspirants who are older than 60 years ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), enjoined Nigerians to also consider health, education, sound knowledge of current affairs, work ethics, experience, and personal attributes while making their choice of who to vote for as the next president of the country.

The legal practitioner, in a statement he personally signed and titled, “The Presidency: when a candidate is or not qualified”, said any president aspirant should not be more than 60 years old so that if he has the opportunity of serving two terms of four years each, he would leave office before he the age of 70.

The Star reports that the notable legal practitioner’s advice will rule out some of the heavyweight politicians in Nigeria who have since declared their intention to run for the presidency in 2023.

Some of the presidential hopefuls include 75-year old former Nigeria’s Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; 69-year-old APC leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu; 63-year-old former governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed; among others.

Babalola, while speaking on health, stated that the aspirant must be physically, mentally and medically fit.

“The President should not be a person who will be looking for medical treatment from hospital to hospital round the world.

“He must be so healthy that he should be able to work for a minimum of 14 hours a day.”

On education, Babalola stated that it is mandatory that the presidential aspirant must have a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree from a reputable university.

He added that a person aspiring for the post of Nigeria’s President should possess a sound knowledge of Nigerian, African and world affairs for him to be able to speak and debate convincingly on any of them.

While speaking on work ethics, the octogenarian lawyer stated from his personal knowledge of the volume of documents, petitions and applications that daily flooded the office of the President, the occupant of that exalted seat should be able and ready to work for a minimum of 14 hours a day.

He noted that he was aware of the fact that former President Olusegun Obasanjo worked for a minimum of 18 hours a day when he was the President of Nigeria without leaving any file till the next day, saying that is how anyone aspiring to be Nigeria’s President should work.

Babalola added: “The aspirant should have acquired reasonable and laudable experience in private and public business. He must also demonstrate that he has acquired verifiable leadership training and experience.

“The aspirant should not be arrogant or opinionated. He should be a good listener, respectful and humble. He must be law abiding and a respecter of the Rule of Law.

“The aspirant must be someone who is totally detribalized and who appreciates that the country – Niger Area – now called Nigeria was brought together by Europeans during the1884 Berlin Conference without consulting the locals and without their consent.

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“He must appreciate that the over 400 ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria have their different languages, cultures, religions, customs and values. He must therefore demonstrate to the voters that he believes in the evolution of nation-Nigeria from these various ethnic nationalities.

“The aspirant must be a strong believer in a new constitution for Nigeria which will consist of six geo-political zones and Parliamentary system of government.”

Babalola further stated that any presidential hopeful should be fluent in spoken English and must possess the ability to write a speech all by himself.

He added that in addition, the presidential candidate must possess the ability to speak off-the-cuff.

While speaking on previous contribution to development, the prominent legal practitioner said the aspirant must be able to show evidence of what he has done for his immediate community before vying for the post of Nigeria’s President.

“The aspirant must demonstrate that he is willing and prepared to serve the nation without earning salaries as it was between 1960 and January 15, 1966,” Babalola stated.

TheStar