Founder of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has blamed military incursion into Nigeria’s politics for the socio-economic and political problems afflicting the country.
Babalola said the ‘inglorious intervention’ of military apparatchik in politics laid the ‘disastrous foundation of the pummeling inflation and untold hardship Nigerians are currently facing’.
The legal luminary spoke in Ado-Ekiti when the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ekiti State council, led by Comrade Kayode Babatuyi, visited his office.
According to him, Nigeria was witnessing geometric growth and development on all fronts because its journey to nationhood was imbued with high hopes and prospects for national unity, peace and development, until the military seized power on January 15, 1966, and disrupted the development process.
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He claimed that the military ‘plundered the country’s economy, weakened the national institutions and institutionalised corruption through the implementation of disastrous policies before exiting the political firmament’.
The elder statesman lamented that consequences of decisions made by the military rulers still influence socio-economic events in contemporary Nigeria, adding that the outcome of the juntas’ bad governance and poor management of the economy is what Nigerians are currently facing.
Aare Babalola also absolved President Bola Tinubu of blame over current economic situation and attendant hardship, saying the situation predated his ascendancy to office.
He admonished the president to brace up and fashion out workable economic blueprints to salvage the harsh situation so that Nigerians can begin to experience improved living standards while the country also begins fast-paced journey to greatness.
Emphasising the importance of media in nation-building, the legal luminary urged journalists to step up their constitutional responsibility of holding the government accountable.
Babalola urged them to expose the ills of government without any fear of intimidation and make Nigeria a better place for all. He described the profession as ‘the most powerful weapon to sensitise and advise, as well as make suggestions to political office holders on how best the country can move forward’.