Many Nigerian politicians are shallow opportunists – Stephen Akintayo

Stephen Akintayo, the Chairman of Gtext Holdings, has expressed concerns about the attitudes of some politicians in Nigeria.

In a conversation with Seun Okinbaloye on the Mic On Podcast, Akintayo described some politicians as shallow, noting that their discussions mainly revolve around tribal, religious and ethnic topics.

He lamented the lack of depth in Nigerian politicians, saying some of them are opportunists who cannot engage in global conversations.

Akintayo said, “What I see with a lot of our politicians, they were just opportunist. You can’t even have a sensible conversation with a lot of our politicians. Many of them are not deep, they are very shallow. Even when you talk except ethnicity conversations, religious, tribal conversations. A lot of politicians cannot even have global discourse. If we can’t have a single intellectual argument and all of us hug it out, that tells you what is going on upstairs of that person.”

When asked if he would consider becoming a politician, Akintayo replied with a firm no. He emphasized that his currents work surpasses the efforts of most politicians, highlighting his contributions to education, support for widows, and grants to small businesses.

that “I’m already serving; what I do is more than what most politicians do. I’ve sent over 5000 kids to school. How many politicians have done that even with government money? We work with widows, we give grants, every month we are giving grants to support small businesses. So, what I do a lot of politicians don’t do it even though our money is in their hands.”

The Real Estate Mogul also discussed President Bola Tinubu’s policies and his plan to vote for him if he impresses him during this his tenure despite being an ardent supporter of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

He said,

What I see with a lot of our politicians, they were just opportunist. You can’t even have a sensible conversation with a lot of our politicians. Many of them are not deep, they are very shallow. Even when you talk except ethnicity conversations, religious, tribal conversations. A lot of politicians cannot even have global discourse. If we can’t have a single intellectual argument and all of us hug it out, that tells you what is going on upstairs of that person.”

“If he impresses me, one of the realities is that Tinubu’s government or leadership is showing that Peter Obi might actually be too nice for Nigeria because when you look at the complexity of Nigeria.

Nigeria is really complex and there are powerful people running this country and they are behind the scene and you hardly would see them and these people can sabotage you easily and I think that there a lot of tools to blackmail Peter Obi, compared to Tinubu. So, if you look at it even scripturally before a David there must be a Saul.

Again, I did not support him being the president but who knows, he might just be the needed, because I’ve seen him make some tough decisions, this is like going after the powers that be. And sometimes if you’re too clean you really cannot get a dirty job done and leadership is dirty.

I tell people often that leadership is not just good and evil. Often, we think in a very shallow way. Some people in Tinubu’s government are not carrying their weight and they are part of the reasons why it looks as if he is not making the right decisions.”

Watch the video below;