Afenifere, a Yoruba sociopolitical organization, demanded on Monday that the Igbo produce the president of Nigeria in 2023 for the sake of equity, justice, and fairness.
This was revealed by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the Afenifere leader, during the Greater Nigeria Conference in Abuja, which was organized by leaders and allies of the South East Geopolitical Zone under the subject “Together We Can.”
He claimed that if the political elite and retired military generals could give the Yoruba the presidency in 1999, the same approach might be used to give the Igbo micro-zone authority.
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He also called the Yoruba presidential campaign “awkward.”
The organization advised that hopefuls from the south, particularly the Igbo, needed to unify.
Adebanjo claimed that presidential aspirants from the South-South, such as Minister of Transportation Rt. Hon. Chibuike Ameachi and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, would give the north an unfair advantage over the south.
Adebanjo explained, “I only like to point to the fact that they are just deceiving you. All that you are hearing that they (the north) are supporting the South-West is an element of deceit to deprive you, to be able to rule you. They don’t like anybody!
“I told Bola (Tinubu) himself, not in the papers, face-to-face, ‘You believe this man (Buhari) will make you president?’ He said yes. I said, ‘he wanted to make you president, he asked (Yemi) Osinbajo to contest? He asked (Kayode) Fayemi to contest, he asked Amosun (Ibikunle) to contest? All in the South-West, why? He wanted to divide the Yoruba first.
“The unfortunate thing is that President Goodluck Jonathan allowed himself to be disgraced by mentioning the fact that he was considering whether to be president, for what?”
When political figures in the north realized it was the Igbo’s turn to produce the president, Adebanjo wondered why they were now proposing so many hypotheses.
All the rhetoric about aspirants from the south traveling to lobby, campaign, and sell themselves didn’t make sense, according to the Afenifere leader, who stressed that the north knew the reality.
“Now that it is the turn of the Igbo, they are propounding a new theory: it must be based on merit and all that. If it is the question of merit, if it has been based on merit till today, till Kingdom comes, the Igbo alone will produce the president.
“Although, I don’t like all the people that came out from the east. But for the fact that they are saying you have no people, I’m happy you demonstrated that. But go and unite. A house divided against itself will not stand,” Pa Adebanjo stated.
