President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, must not allow themselves to be pushed into betraying the National Leader of the party for a number of reasons.
The National President of the Yoruba Welfare Group, Comrade Adegoke Alawuje who stated this in a recent chat with journalists in Ibadan said neither the party nor the President must turn his back to the 2023 ambition of its Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in view of his immense sacrifices to the president and the party.
He said doing that will not only fuel the mutual distruct between the North and the South, it will also put to shame and disappoint the detribalised Southerners who supported Buhari’s presidency.
Alawuje stressed that such betrayal will also justify the tribalists posture who have consistently warned and blamed Tinubu for midwifing the APC and the eventual victory of the Progressives over the Conservatives.
He said in addition to the support of the APC and the president, it is also expedient for Northerners to stand with Asiwaju Tinubu more than any other region in Nigeria,
The head of the socio-cultural organisation remarked that the major ‘crime’ of Tinubu and which has earned him enemies, particularly in the South is because of his support for Buhari and APC in 2015 and 2019 with everything he had.
“The reason some are working day and night to bring down Tinubu is because he did not only stand by APC in 2015, he also stood with Buhari in 2019, despite the unjust treatment and neglect he experienced from the party and the presidency at the time.
“YWG is therefore not only calling on APC to support Tinubu 2023 project, it must also shun tribal, religious, regional, and parochial interests to support his ambition. That is the only way of ensuring the party is saved from distrust and acrimony that could spell its doom.
Comrade Alawuje noted that Tinubu is a trusted and reliable leader who determined the pattern of vote of the Southwest in 2015 and 2019, saying he must not be subjected to the current unjust attacks by those who see him as a threat to their personal ambition.
He warned that Tinubu has massive following and admirers across all the regions and betraying him will naturally lead to the betrayal of his large followers by the APC.
The YWG President thus called on Nigerians to set aside ethnicity and religious sentiments in order to solve the common problems and challenges facing the country. He said Tinubu has never disappointed Buhari and APC whenever his attention was needed and it is only good not to disappoint him, saying, even with God, “every good act must be paid back with good”, he quoted.
He urged Nigerians to remember that June 12 debacle almost broke the country, setting distrust between the North and the Southwest until God used Tinubu and Buhari to re-link the North and the South, thereby returning the lost trust. He said Nigeria must therefore resist any act that could return regional or national distrust.
Comrade Alawuje noted that many Yorubas have lived in the North for more two hundred years without issuues with their hosts.
“I live in the North and many of our forefathers had lived there more than two centuries. They grew up together with their Northern counterparts and did many things together. We so much love and trust in each other. But those who have neither lived in other regions nor have similar experience of living together with the Northeners have condemned our support for Buhari/Tinubu alliance. They called us names and predicted we were going to regret supporting them. This is why YWG is appealing to APC and Buhari not to allow the prediction of these ‘prophets of doom’ to come to pass”.
Alawuje explained that YWG doesn’t have any issuues with the Peoples Democratic Party or any opposition political party’s stance on Tinubu since they are doing exactly what is of expected of them as opposition, he however appealed to them to consider Tinubu’s capabilities, competence, experiences, and his political sagacity, describing the former Lagos State govermor as the most deserving and qualified politician in the South.
He reiterated YWG’s love and belief in one and united Nigeria, maintaining that that the socio-cultural group will not wish for a situation where the claims of the ethnic and religious bigots will be justified.
YWG President maintained that Tinubu has what it takes to reunite and retain the love among citizens, urging Nigerians to give him all the support he needs and advising them to ignore those trying to pollute their minds and set them against one another,
He described the detractors as those who have beffitted from the previous governments but who are finding it difficult to forgive Tinubu because “they believe he single-handedly removed the feeding bottle of corruption from their mouths”, he said.