Leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has said Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should not have been contesting the 2023 elections with Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
Adebanjo said the ruling party and major opposition party should have zoned their presidential slots to the South East for equity and fairness to all geo-political regions of the country.
The elder statesman revealed this in an interview with The Niche on Thursday.
In his words: “Unless Peter Obi wins the election, and I am mentioning Peter Obi because all other candidates are not qualified. Are you listening? Any other thing to the contrary, there will be chaos.
“I have said it before and I am repeating it without any element of doubt in my mind. If for any reason, the election is scuttled or manipulated, and Obi doesn’t win, I say emphatically, that is the end of Nigeria.”
Explaining why Tinubu and Atiku are ineligible, Chief Adebanjo who accused President Muhammadu Buhari of being behind the insecurity in the country said, “Take for instance Bola Tinubu from my own region, on the basis of the agreement for peace and equity, the Yoruba people have had their share when Olusegun Obasanjo became the president.
“And after Obasanjo, power went back to the North and we had Umaru Yar’Adua. After Yar’Adua, it came back to the South, and we had Goodluck Jonathan and after Jonathan, it went back to the North and now we have Muhammadu Buhari about to complete his second term of eight years.
“And after Buhari, power is coming back to the South. How do the Yoruba come in again when they have had their turn? Or is it the South-South? The only region that has not had its turn is the Southeast. We arrived at the Southeast not for any other consideration but under the constitutional arrangement we have agreed to in the interest of peace, equity and justice,” Pa Adebanjo said.
“That is why we arrived at the Southeast and I didn’t know whether Obi will contest or not when I said it is the turn of the Southeast. You will remember that I was the first to say that the presidency should go to the Southeast and no political party had done its primaries at that time.
“And for Atiku Abubakar, how can a Northerner leave Aso Rock and another Northerner moves in? Northerners have had their own share under Yara’Adua and Buhari. So, the Atiku presidency will be the third time for the North. And no chance for the Southeast? Is that equity? The South will not agree, the minorities will not agree because injustice to one is injustice to all.”
Pa Adebanjo said Buhari has done so much damage that the “less we talk about him, the better.”
Accusing Buhari of being behind the spate of insecurity in the country, the Afenifere leader said, “My prayer is that God should keep us alive until May 29, 2023. The earlier we forget about Buhari’s administration, the better.”
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/02/atiku-tinubu-shouldnt-be-on-ballot-with-obi-adebanjo/
