The Yoruba Welfare Group has urged Nigerians to consider excellence and performance in taking political decisions rather than take to politicising or religionising politics ahead of 2023 general elections.
YWG National President Comrade Adegoke Alawuje gave the advice on Wednesday while reacting to those who opposed the speculative presidential ambition of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he supported President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential bid in 2015.
He said Nigerians, particularly the youths, should not allow politicians to mislead or think for them through catch phrases, mischievously coined out of political consideration. He challenged them to always think for themselves and be guided by facts with a view to come up with informed political choices.
Alawuje explained that the coming of Buhari in 2015 was neither against any ethnic position or religious consideration, saying it was purely the political party affairs – APC against PDP.
He said Nigeria must remember that if things were in the good shape during President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, Buhari wouldn’t have been preferred by the voters.
“In 2015, the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari wasn’t linked to either ethnic or religion. So, it’s dangerous to Nigeria’s unity and harmony to link that phenomenon to ethnic or religion just because of our hatred or opposition to Tinubu’s ambition. And if that dimension is added to our current challenges, it will go beyond what any individual or government can manage.
“Blaming the Northeners for Nigeria’s problem is also not the way to go. For Instance, today, our security system seem to have collapsed but the Northerners suffer the consequences more than any other region in the country, if fact, Katsina, the President’s state is one of the most affected.
“It’s important to note that it is wrong for any region or state to unite to protect the lives and property of their people from bandits and kidnappers, but this must not be politicised with a view to misleading the masses from taking informed decisions.
Alawuje noted that Tinubu has unfortunately been experiencing varying mischievous attacks from some sections of the country because of his political choices and from those who do not really know much about him, and whose aim is to outsmart Tinubu in their political chess game.
He wondered why many who have benefited from Tinubu’s political structure are the same set of people struggling to silence him politically by all means, maintaining that the development is completely unfair to the past contributions of the former governor’s national development.
YWG National President posited that Nigerians should abandon the attacks and instead, push Tinubu forward to take the banner from President Buhari in 2023.
He said it’s time the political leaders, socio-cultural groups and traditional leaders to team up and look for permanent solutions to Nigeria’s problem in a polite way, stressing that severing the head cannot be the solution to headache.
Alawuje who described Tinubu as a missionary and a visionary leader said the politician is also a renowned political strategist who is in the best position to manage the present challenges of the nation.
He warned the Yoruba leaders who are in the habit of trading the interest of their ethnic group for paltry price to desist from the usual way of crippling their successful sons and daughters, stressing that sponsoring more candidates to counter or cripple Tinubu’s presidential ambition will serve no one any good.