Afe Babalola, a well-known attorney, has expressed fear that the winner of the upcoming presidential election will be chosen based on financial means rather than merit.
Babalola expressed his worry that the 2023 general elections will go place under the 1999 constitution during a news conference in Ado Ekiti, despite his caution against doing so. He said that doing so would just serve to replicate the corrupt leadership that had brought Nigeria to its present precarious state.
“The person who has made money in this country is going to be the winner of this election. It is not who can make a difference that will win this election, I repeat, it is not the person who has all it takes – age, health, education, and patriotism.
“It is the one who has the money that will win,” the legal luminary buttressed.
For him, the fact that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has recently come out in support of Peter Obi of the Labour Party ignores the significance that money bags would play in the election.
He lamented Nigeria’s massive and debilitating debt in addition to growing security and economic issues, and he insisted that only a new constitution with severe standards for political candidates will preserve Nigeria from ultimate collapse.