Learn from Trump’s victory, ex-Kwara gov aspirant, Babalola, tells politicians
Kehinde Akinpelu
A former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, Engineer Sunday Adebayo Babalola, has urged politicians in Nigeria to emulate the issue based campaign and tenacity of the 47th President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump.
He also urged the electorate to be more concerned with the character, competence and manifestoes of politicians than after financial inducements.
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He said that when politicians and electorates are more concerned with good and quality governance, things will positively change for the country.
In an interview with journalists on Thursday, he also condemned using state instruments to oppress and intimate political opponents.
He urged Trump to ensure that his second term will affect Nigeria and the entire globe positively.
He congratulated Trump on his victory and for surviving all challenges before and during the election including assassination attempts on his life.
The Kwara-state born philantropist and politician urged him to stop all the wars in the Middle east, including the Russian-Ukraine war, and that of Israel with his adversaries.
Babalola said: “I congratulate US 47th President-elect Donald Trump. It is a well-deserved victory. The man went through a lot. He went through assassination attempts. They tried to use everything to stop him. But he was determined and he kept his focus, not allowing all that they did to discourage him. He got the victory, the American people have given him the mandate and my hope and prayers is that he will keep his promises to the people by performing.
“In his first term, we did not have wars all over the war. But immediately he left, war started escalating in many places. We hope he will bring normalcy back to the world. I pray for him to succeed. I am happy that he won. The man is getting older so he should choose people who will perform to assist him in running the affairs of the state. I say congratulations to him.”
He added: “Trump’s second term policies should affect our country positively because the US economy is always the anchor of almost every economy in the world. As for us, two things I want Nigerians to do: first, politicians should copy his method of campaigning. He really campaigned and he never gave up. Even as an old man, he was going from place to place. The last time we saw that kind of campaign was during the time of Awolowo and Azikiwe. After that we did not see any campaigns in Nigeria.
“Many campaign gatherings are mostly rented crowds. I am in politics. Politicians pay and make people come to campaigns. That of the US is different. They say we are going to campaign here and people there come out without any inducements. They just come to listen to what the politician wants to tell them that he will offer to them. That talks about the followership of our country too. The followership should forget collecting money from politicians to come to campaigns or to vote. They need to sacrifice something to be able to determine the people they want to employ to lead the country because any politician is under the employment of the electorate. The contests or mindsets of politicians in this country are either to get something or get a position. I have had many politicians say that they only look for two things in politics: what they will become and what they will eat. That is not the right orientation or attitude.
“Now when politics is like that in Nigeria, I do not think it will go anywhere. Until the politicians and followership view politics the way it should be, things may not change. The politicians should go out there and sell themselves while the followership buys it, then things will change for the better. It is possible. My opinion is that we should copy what has happened in the US where in spite of all the attacks, the man kept pushing. We should not copy the government of the day in the US that kept attacking Trump. It was not fair at all.”
