Primate Ayodele Cautions Buhari Concerning Jonathan

Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelistic Church, Isolo, Lagos has advised President Muhammadu Buhari that former President Goodluck Jonathan needs to be handled with care so that it does not boomerang.

According to The Guardian, Ayodele said the tremendous goodwill Jonathan enjoys around the nation for honourably stepping down during the last election and putting Nigeria on a truly democratic path that the world admires, is a major factor why he needs to be handled with care.

He warned against politicization of the corruption war, noting that although Buhari would expend a lot of effort on the corruption war, little would come out of it, as he might shoot his administration in the foot in the process.

He said: ”Buhari’s government will make a lot of efforts in terms of fight against corruption, he may not make much progress. In fact, he might shoot himself in the foot. Buhari has to be careful with Jonathan; it may turn around and boomerang.

”His corruption fight won’t go too far. In fact, Buhari won’t be able to fight corruption as expected. In fact, corruption will weaken Buhari’s government; it’s not going to be easy for the president. It will cause inflation, prices of goods will go up, cost of living will rise and retrenchment will be rampant in all sectors. Life will be hard for Nigerians.”

Speaking on the Nigerian economy, he said: “The economy needs God’s intervention. Buhari does not have the people to run the government and the economy well. Buhari means well, but he must be careful not to play politics with religion and ethnic sentiments. The economy will not do well under Buhari; it will fluctuate. He must make life easy for Nigerians and so continue to retain their trust.

“The country needs a lot of prayers so we don’t experience too many strikes. Some states will collapse economically. In fact, the deterioration of the economy will confuse Buhari. Youth unemployment will skyrocket. There will not be much improvement in energy and power sector until 2017 when we begin to get stability. The Discos (Distribution Companies) and National Energy Regulation Commission (NERC) will have crisis that will make for instability in the sector”.

Speaking on the Niger-Delta crisis,  Ayodele tasked Buhari to thread carefully with the amnesty programme for youths in the region, saying how he handles them would make a huge difference for his administration.

He also advised the president to dialogue with Biafra agitators before the agitation escalates and gets out of hand.