Apparently encouraged by President Bola Tinubu’s bravery and pragmatic leadership model, the Eburu of Iba, Oba Prof. Adekunle Adeogun Okunoye, has praised President Bola Tinubu over the victory his All Progressives Congress (APC) recorded at the by- elections held last weekend in five constituencies across Gombe, Kano, Bauchi, and Delta states.
Oba Okunoye, who is a Professor of Business Analytics and Information Systems at Xavier University, Ohio, USA, stated that the results indicated the acceptance of Tinubu and pointed to the victory awaiting him in the scheduled presidential elections in January 2027, adding that the president has since taken the country out of the woods and set the nation on the right track of real growth.
The traditional ruler, who is the current Pro-Chancellor of Atiba University, Oyo, advocated understanding and patience by all Nigerians, saying no gain can be achieved without pain.
He appreciated the sacrifices Nigerians pay due to ongoing economic reforms by the administration and admonished them to see the bigger picture of the policies ultimately.
“In fairness to Mr President and in fairness to ourselves, he needs more term to see through these transformative reforms his administration has embarked upon since May 29, 2023. We need to know that it takes sacrifice and patriotism to reap the dividends of these reforms. Again, I am positive that he would not let Nigerians down because he has demonstrated capacity which reflects his full grasp of the situation,” he said.
Oba Okunoye expressed dismay at the low turnout of voters usually recorded at elections despite a series of awareness campaigns by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and advocacy bodies, lamenting that minority choose the nation’s leadership at every election. However, he acknowledged the INEC constraint in sensitizing and mobilising the voters, saying that most of their efforts are usually channeled to urban areas.
“Also, the reach of the campaigns by these bodies is not wide, and the effort has not been able to significantly affect voters’ turnout in the rural communities, especially among youth of voting ages and women demography. Government interest in civic education, especially on voting, is very low and mostly in the form of radio campaigns and television programs, which are usually out of reach of most residents of small towns and rural areas,” he revealed.
The traditional ruler also stated that after careful analysis of the voting rate since 1999, results have been averaging below 50 percent, implying that only a minority of the populace vote and decide representatives in government, while the majority sit back and criticise elected officials voted by the minority.
“Maybe, if our representatives were elected by majority, the best would have emerged with better representation, services and governance,” he noted.
Oba Okunoye emphasised that elections are not free and fair without full participation of the citizens, thus calling on relevant bodies to focus more on having more people to exercise their franchise, challenging traditional and community leaders to rise up and be more active participants in the democratic process.
“Addressing voters’ apathy at community level can increase voting rate, and that falls squarely under what community leaders can do successfully. We remain the most plausible solution to many of our socio-political challenges, but unfortunately, a lack of adequate resources is significantly limiting us,” he said.