WHY AREGBESOLA CAN’T PAY WORKERS’ SALARIES – BABATOPE

Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, cannot pay the salary of workers in the state due to the huge amount of money he spent to prosecute his re-election, former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said.
Babatope, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who disclosed this in a chat with Daily Independent on Sunday, said Aregbesola borrowed a lot of money to fund his re-election and he is now trying to pay back the loan, hence his inability to pay salaries of workers.
He added that he had predicted in an interview he granted shortly after the Osun governorship election that Aregbesola overspent money during the election and that this will have terrible effect on the economy of Osun state.

TINUBU’LL DESTROY HIMSELF – BABATOPE

In this interview with Punch, a member, Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, commented on the recently concluded general elections
What’s your view of the 2015 general elections?
All I can say is to wish Nigerians well. But I am not an enthusiast of the elections because I believe that they were mismanaged, especially the presidential election. It was computed by some diabolical forces to reenact a Hausa/Fulani oligarchy in Nigeria. I am not going to talk much about this now. I am going to talk about it in about one or two months’ time because I don’t want to be seen as disrupting what has been done so far in terms of ensuring peace and smooth transfer of power from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

JONATHAN WON’T CONTEST IN 2019 – BABATOPE

• Says PDP will field strong Hausa/Fulani candidate to run against Buhari in 2019.
A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said President Goodluck Jonathan will not run for the Presidency in 2019.
He explained that the party would shop for a strong Hausa/Fulani candidate to run against Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) in 2019.
Babatope, who is also a member of the party’s elders caucus, spoke with our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday.
He described the outgoing President as a leader, who had done his best in uplifting the nation’s democracy, adding that Nigeria would forever remember Jonathan as a committed leader, who kept the nation as one despite several challenges.
The 72-year-old said he was sure that the President would not seek to contest the 2019 presidential election.

PDP’LL NO LONGER TOLERATE OBASANJO’S OUTBURST – BABATOPE

Former Minister of Transport, Ebenezer Babatope, on Tuesday berated former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of feeding Nigerians with false information aimed at tarnishing the image of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan.
Babatope, who spoke to newsmen on the latest statement credited to Obasanjo where he claimed that Jonathan has depleted Nigeria’s foreign reserves, said he would no longer watch while Obasanjo churns out information that may incite Nigerians against the PDP and the president.
He said he believed that the former president was no longer a member of the party, though the national leadership of the PDP has not disowned him as a member.
“I haven’t got detrimental against Obasanjo in terms of speaking. He can say anything he wants to say but it is in the nature of the man to believe that his opinion is the best in the world.

2015: ADEBOYE WILL NEVER COMPROMISE RCCG FOR OSIBAJO, APC -BABATOPE

Ebenezer Babatope is an experienced politician whose views come with some weight. In this interview the former Minister of Transport and currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, speaks on the expected straight battle between President Goodluck Jonathan and former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2015 presidential election. He also comments on the relationship between the PDP and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, among other issues. Excerpts:
Sir, what is your assessment of the current political situation in Nigeria?
We have to thank God Almighty that despite all the problems we are faced with, Nigeria still continues to march on the path to proper democracy and we thank God that we no longer have military interruptions. That is good enough because it is going to give us all the chances to stabilise our democracy and move our nation forward. So, it is something which we all have to be happy about. We are currently faced with 2015 election and by the grace of God, it will come and go and Nigeria will remain one and indivisible entity.
How prepared would you say politicians are for the 2015 election?

WERE AWOLOWO ALIVE, HE WOULDN’T JOIN APC –BABATOPE

Many years after he exited the scene, the foremost political icon in the South-West, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, came alive in the current political discourse as one of his notable disciples and former Aviation minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said the late sage would never have belonged to the camp of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were he to be alive.
Babatope also has a word of advice for the present day politicians who are in the habit of defecting from one party to the other. On Senator Ahmed Tinubu, he said was an expert in rendering people politically ‘useless’.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain also disclosed that though he recognised the huge influence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he still took former Deputy National Chairman (South) of PDP, Chief Olabode Goerge, as the leader of the party in the South- West and one who possessed the key to the unity of the party in the zone.

2015: JONATHAN IS RUNNING FIRST TERM NOW — BABATOPE

Former Transport and Aviation Minister and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan is free to re-contest in the 2015 presidential election, if he so wishes, in line with the constitution of the country, which allows the state governor and the president a two-term tenure of eight years, declaring that “President Jonathan is just  running his first term tenure of four years.”