The General Executive Director of the Centre for Responsive Governance, Ayodeji Ologun, has cautioned the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, over his call for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s resignation, insisting that such a position does not represent the view of Nigerians insisting that while citizens are entitled to demand accountability from leaders, decisions on leadership change should ultimately be left to the ballot box during elections.
The former Anambra Governor, Obi had yesterday ordered President Bola Amed Tinubu to take a cue from Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and step down from office, arguing that the current administration has failed to meet Nigeria’s expectations amid worsening economic and social conditions.
Speaking on Tuesday during an exclusive interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Ologun noted that it is not out of place for any Nigerian, including political actors, to question the performance of an elected president or even suggest resignation in extreme dissatisfaction but insisting that the credibility of such a position depends largely on the personality and political history of the individual making the claim.: “There is nothing wrong in calling for the resignation of a president. And I can say that coming from the personality of Peter Obi, without sounding immodest, is simply political”. he said.
Ologun further questioned the global rarity of voluntary presidential resignations, insisting that most democratically elected leaders rarely step down regardless of pressure or criticism. He added that governance assessment should not be reduced to emotional interpretations or singular opinions presented as national consensus, “In the history of the world, how many democratically elected presidents have we seen resign, irrespective of what has become the outcome of their presidency? Because people are fast to say, oh, it’s an African thing. Nobody in Africa resigns. But I’m asking now, justifiably, by facts and figures, how many presidents in the history of the world have ever resigned their position after being democratically elected, irrespective of what the outcome of their presidency, even irrespective of their health condition, including American presidents? No.” he said buttressing his claim.
On the issue of whether a single political figure’s position can be interpreted as the collective voice of Nigerians, Ologun drew a clear distinction between individual democratic expression and national representation.
According to him, while Peter Obi, as a Nigerian, has the right to tell the President to consider resignation if he believes the administration is not performing well, he is not, however, speaking for or representing the rest of Nigerians in doing so: So if Nigerians or the majority of us feel that President Tinubu has not done enough, it is not in the opinion of Peter Obi speaking or assuming to be speaking for the rest of us, we should wait till the day of election, let ballots be cast, and let the people decide if Tinubu should continue as President, or if he should be removed to give room for a new bloc”, Ologun said.
He further argued that the credibility of a public statement is often influenced by the political identity and track record of the person making it, insisting that audiences should critically interrogate figures and claims before treating them as objective truth: I’m sorry, one of the reasons I don’t love Peter obi and I will never support him is the fact that he represents fact a lot. If Peter Obi gives you a figure on an interview, go and fact-check, you are going to meet it to be a lie, most probably, 80% of the time, the figures he gives out are always false”, he asserted.
He also argued that differing economic interpretations should not be dismissed, noting that while Peter Obi may see failure, others, particularly economists and international institutions may present alternative indicators of progress:“The fact that he believes that the economic provision of Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed, does not also mean that to some other people that are bigger than him, or that are even more knowledgeable than him, that the economic tendency or the very trajectory of a Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed”, he said stating that assessments are usually backed by data comparisons and international benchmarks used by economists and global financial institutions, If you ask some economists, they will give you figures. They will compare notes.They will tell you the economy of Nigeria is progressing. They will even give you figures as rolled out by the World Bank and the Economic Community of West Africa and the rest of them to justify that the economy of Nigeria is progressing by the records.” he said.
Ologun also emphasized that governance must be measured against core constitutional responsibilities, arguing that the most fundamental duty of any administration is the protection of lives and property.
According to him, any noticeable failure in this regard should raise serious questions about the effectiveness of the government, even before the end of its tenure: “When the president gets into office the first thing he has to do is to protect the lives and property of the people. So if a government fails to fulfill this constitutional provision which he by himself swears to….if after a period of time maybe mid term, unfortunately we don’t do mid term assessment in Nigeria but it should be, so if by this mid term, if the government has failed or is failing in fulfilling the provisional provision of security which he as president swears to, that is a pointer to the fact that that government is failing and may not deserve a second term.” he said.
He further grounded his argument in Nigeria’s presidential system, contrasting it with the United Kingdom’s parliamentary structure, where leadership changes are more flexible: “If we want to put this head-to-head, the President is as good as the King in the hierarchy of governance in the United Kingdom. So, if we don’t have the history of a King or a Queen resigning, we can also justify to say no President in the history of Nigeria has ever resigned.” he stated.
He added that comparisons between Nigeria and the UK are structurally flawed, noting that ministers in Nigeria also resign without destabilising the system, just as prime ministers do in Britain, “to now say that a Prime Minister resigns and now wants to use that as a juxtaposition for the calling for resignation of Mr. President is as good as saying Ministers resigned and it happens here in Nigeria too. So, that’s no big deal,” he argued,
Ologun concluded by noting that criticism of government is a legitimate part of democratic practice stressing that voluntary resignation is not a common feature of democratic leadership globally: So what I’m saying is that if we want to go by the trajectory of election, it is like having 2000 presidents in the history of the world and only 5 have resigned. If you now go back and take a ratio of how many ministers and prime ministers have resigned, in the history of the world, you will be counting in thousands. So when I’m talking about democratic election, it is not in the culture of a democratic elected leader to resign except when there are dangers, he explained.
He added that most elected leaders typically serve out their full tenure unless compelled by extreme circumstances such as serious health challenges or the threat of impeachment, “So except a president is faced with the threat of impeachment or about to die in office, you will hardly find a democratic president resigning anywhere in the world”. he said.
