Drop your presidential ambitions, Afenifere leader tells Tinubu, Osinbajo
Leader of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has declared that presidential aspirants from the South-West including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, should withdraw from the presidential race.
He declared this moment as the time for the South-East to present the next President of Nigeria after the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, in May 2023.
He considered it an injustice for a president to come from south-west in 2023, as he stated that the former president Olusegun Obasanjo from Ogun State has governed from 1999 to 2007; while Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, also from Ogun State, has been in power since May 2015.
He added that the South-South zone has also had similar opportunity to have got both President and Vice-President positions with former President Goodluck Jonathan, between 2007 and 2010 as Vice President and from 2010 to 2015 as President.
He, however, declared that before Nigeria should have another President, the country must first be safeguarded.
The elder statesman said, “Right now, is there a country for them to be President? There must be one country first before you can talk of an election. Is this the country Jonathan handed over to Buhari? Whether a Southern or a Northern candidate, let us unite everyone. We can’t get everyone united until we change this constitution.
“Are you safe? Talk about security. How am I sure that I won’t be shocked when I go to the police station, when electoral officers, soldiers, and policemen are being shot dead and I can’t travel to Maiduguri safely?
“All those who are clamouring for Presidency, be it Jagaban (Tinubu) or Osinbajo, they should assure us of our safety first, that the country is safe, that we are one, then we talk of who is going to be President. They should forget about their ambitions now until there is safety. Nobody can go to the South-East now, and we are all living in denial.”
When asked by newsmen if he was backing Tinubu, Osinbajo, or any President from the South-West, the Afenifere elder said, “How can I back a South-West candidate? That is not equity. Has Obasanjo not done so for eight years? Has Osinbajo not done eight years as VP? Has Jonathan not done five years as President? Is the South-East not part of Nigeria?
“We want peace and equity. It is the turn of the South-East. I don’t talk ambiguously. It is the South-East that the thing must go; there is no doubt about that but my anxiety now is that before we say, South-East, have we got a country? Let us settle that before we say South-East is the answer. I am not ambivalent about it at all.”
Source: The Informant247 Naija News
