Professor Christopher Imumolen, a presidential candidate for the Accord Party (AP), has disputed claims that only candidates with a lot of money can win the presidency.
Imumolen disagreed with Chief Afe Babalola’s stance on how money would affect the outcome of the election.
The nation’s youngest presidential hopeful made a statement over the weekend in the Ekiti state capital of Ado Ekiti.
“The person who believes he can make a difference won’t win the 2023 presidential elections.” It also won’t be the candidate who meets the criteria for age, health, education, or patriotism.
Instead, Babalola predicted that the winner of the election would be “the guy with the deepest pocket, the guy who has made money in this country.”
Imumolen responded to Babalola’s statements on the Channels TV talk show “Politics Today,” criticising them and providing evidence to back up his claims.
“With all due respect, I disagree with our wisest elder statesman, Afe Babalola, on his assertion that this year’s presidential election will eventually be won by the candidate with the largest war chest.”
There have been various situations, especially after the start of the 4th Republic in 1999, where the choice of the president of Nigeria was not made based on wealth.
Let’s begin by discussing the 1999 presidential contest between Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP and Chief Olu Falae of the then-AD.
“If we remember correctly, Obasanjo won those elections despite not having tonnes of cash to spend.” In truth, he had recently returned from prison, where he was without money and did not engage in any political activity prior to the elections.
Then Umar Yar’Adua, his successor, arrived. We also know that Yar’Adua recently left his position as governor of Katsina State and wasn’t the type of candidate who could win the presidency of the nation purely on the basis of his wealth.
Even then, there were more candidates in the race who could easily have defeated him if money had been the only factor in the election.But he ultimately prevailed.
Ignore the fact that he claimed the political system that brought him to office was defective. The fact is that he triumphed.
“Again, let’s consider Muhammadu Buhari, the present president. We all know that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was the president at the time, would have won if it came down to who had the most money to spend.
Despite all the odds, Buhari won the election, and his eight-year term as president of Nigeria is almost up.
These examples show that the president of Nigeria is not always the person with the biggest bank account.
The AP flagbearer continued, “In this year’s presidential race, I think the people’s sincere desire to see a change from the old ways of doing things to a new approach could prove the deciding factor, rather than the now-outdated approach of trying to buy people’s conscience through prodigal spending.
