Adebayo At 53, Is Young Enough to Lead Nigeria, Says Ighodalo

Pastor in charge of Trinity House, a nondenominational Christian fellowship centre and founder, African Leadership Group (ALG), Itua Ighodalo, has declared that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, perfectly fits into the kind of a leader that Nigeria direly needs to take it out of its current socioeconomic, political and structural doldrums.

He noted that what Adebayo may not have is the wide bandwidth of interrelationship and connection but he surely has the capacity, the knowledge and the determination to lead the country.

He, however, noted that with a strong political party base, he would make up for that deficiency and pull through.

“Adebayo is 53 years old, he is young. He has the energy, the strength and the knowledge. What he probably may not have is the wide bandwidth of interrelationships and connections.

“But that is what a party system does for you. If, for example, he was in a party that was a broad-based party, a strong party, they will make up for his lack of bandwidth and they will pull the party together and promote him as a good candidate.

“Adebayo speaks very well. He’s very knowledgeable, although I have not tested his capacity to implement things, but in terms of knowledge, enthusiasm and roadmap, he’s spoken very well,” he said.

He stressed that Nigeria was still in search of a leader that would turn things around and take the country out of the current mess.

He said: “I still think that in Nigeria, we’re still looking for that man who has the capacity, wherewithal, compassion, determination, energy and who has the genuine and sincere love for Nigeria; that young person that really wants to turn Nigeria around.

“Younger person with energy, you know; maybe you need maturity also because you can’t be too young. I think a person between the ages of 45 and 65 should be able to do this job. I think there is a need for some maturity.

“Candidate below 40 might be a bit too inexperienced and not have the network and the broad base to handle a complex place like Nigeria. But, if we have a person of 40, 45 years and above and is surrounded by a very good party system or good social system, a good team of advisors who have seen different aspects of Nigeria, such a candidate should be able to run the country and Adebayo fits into that category.”

On what is required to effectively govern Nigeria, he said such a leader must understand the history, the background and the formation of Nigeria, as well as the different tribes and persons, their complexities, interests and religions.

“The person must be a very accommodating person; very honest, corruption-free, and hard-working. The person must also be a visionary, who sees a great future for Nigeria. He must be bold and have the capacity for international relationships and interconnections and he must be determined to see Nigeria walk.

“The person must not be a greedy, selfish, self-oriented person, which is the unfortunate lot of our leaders today. They’re more interested in themselves and what they want to do for themselves and not in the collective good of the average Nigerian,” he stated.

Pastor Ighodalo also said that Nigeria is not lacking such characters, adding that: “It’s just that we may not know them. We may not know them because they’ve not been loud people. They’ve not made noise all over the place. They’ve not been exposed to public attention and all that, but they do exist.  There are very many competent people in Nigeria. And if you go all over the world, a lot of Nigerians are doing extremely well.

“They are available, which is part of what we are trying to do at the African Leadership Group (ALG); to find these people and bring them out, talk to them, find out where they are and what they are doing. Even if they are not president, they can be support material because to run Nigeria, you need quite a good team. You need a good team of different kinds of people.”

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