As part of the build-up to the 2023 presidential election in the country which make political parties, politicians and other stakeholders begin preparations, alignments and realignments ahead, Prince Adewole Adebayo has declared his interest to run for the exalted office of the president.
Prince Adebayo, who made the declaration in Oyo, during his visit to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, who is celebrating the 51st coronation anniversary on the throne on Saturday, said he will be contesting under a coalition of political parties.
The Ondo State born lawyer, while speaking after his meeting with the first class monarch, said that Nigerians should be grateful for having another opportunity to determine their destiny after several years of hardships.
According to him, “I think Nigerians should be grateful to God for another opportunity to determine our destiny. I will also plead with them to endure the hardships that we are experiencing today under the present system and for us to take a collective lesson because whatever that is happening today is collectively our decision. The government that came into power in 2011, 2015 and 2019 will be having all these difficulties, they did not come to power by force, it is our collective decision, we put them there. So, now we have an opportunity to put another one, we should learn not only the bitter lessons of what the government is doing or failing to do, we should also learn the positive lessons of our ability to make the corrections.
“The corrections have to come from the people, the government may perhaps have difficulty changing itself, the politicians may have difficulty changing themselves but people can change their metric, their philosophy and their criteria for setting up government.
In his submission on the zoning arrangement for the President, Prince Adewole Adebayo, explained that he is not interested in where the tribe or ethnicity of the president in as much as it is the people’s president.
“The next president should come from the people, the last few presidents have not come from the people, when the president comes from the people they will enjoy it. I don’t think I am interested in the ethnicity of the president because petroleum price, potholes, tariffs, price of food stuff, failed education; they don’t care about the ethnicity or region. These things are the debate of people who have held the country by the jugular. The most peaceful election that I witnessed, that I was involved was that of MKO Abiola, and the issue of where he came from did not occur, I want to go that way, I want to be a president who is elected not because of where I come from but where I am going, that is what I want to be.”
On restructuring, Prince Adebayo commended those calling for the restructuring of the country, saying that it is a kind of intellectual, constitutional and philosophical debate his administration would work around.
“My belief is that those debates are good, they can go on and we can make changes but it is not an excuse for inefficiency. Remember, it is the same constitution that Shagari used, the same constitution that Obasanjo used, so, will you tell me that because of the constitution that is why bandits are collecting ransome? Will you say because of the nature of the constitution that is why people are corrupt? Is it the constitution that makes the price of rice go from seven thousand (N7,000.00) to thirty-five thousand (N35,000.00)? I also believe that those who are agitating for one thing or the other should try as much as possible to go into the legislature so that they will not be outside the parliament and discussing parliamentary procedures. So, I will encourage those who have ideas on how we can reform our constitution, how we can reform the structure of government to organize themselves and support us and come into the parliament.
Speaking about what he would do differently should he eventually emerge as the number one citizen in the country, Prince Adebayo said he would do everything almost opposing the present administration, saying that setting up an all-inclusive government where all the intellectual, mental, moron and physical weight of the country will be carried along.
He, therefore, encouraged Nigerians to continue to support and cooperate with the present administration in the country.
“I will also say that we should try as much as possible to even in the midst of our dissatisfaction to cooperate with government that is there now anywhere they want to make a change or improvement, we should cooperate with them because they are acting for us and that is why I take a clue in that always pointing out things they can do which they are not doing, things they are doing which they should not do because it is not profitable if we have ideas and we say only when we come into power that is when the ideas will be implemented,” Prince Adewole Adebayo said.
On his entourage were former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalong; former presidential candidate of National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr. Yunusa Tanko among other prominent Nigerians from different geopolitical zones of the country.
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