‘Zoning can’t stop S’West from clinching APC’s 2023 presidential ticket’

Ayodele Adesanmi Ado Ekiti

A former Minister of Works and National Chairman of South West Agenda for 2023, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, on Tuesday restated that the fact that the zone has produced the President in the past won’t stop it from clinching the presidential ticket if the All Progressives Congress (APC) zones it to the South.

He affirmed that firmer Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, remains the best and the right man to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari based on experience and political networks.

Speaking during the official launch of the South West Agenda (SWAGA) 2023, a political platform rooting for the presidential aspiration of former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he noted that the APC leaders must respect the zoning of Presidency to the South in 2023, as a mark of respect for the silent agreement within the party at inception in 2013.

According to him, “And if the ticket comes to the South, the fact that the Southwest had produced the President before won’t prevent the Yoruba race from getting the APC ticket .

“You could all remember that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was from Katsina state and when the ticket went back to the North in 2007, they picked President Muhammadu Buhari from Katsina, they didn’t say his state has produced President before.

“What we need in Nigeria is someone like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who knows everybody. Someone who has planted and nurtured people across all the zones. Someone, who believes in making stars to unite Nigeria,” Adeyeye said.

The former Senator Tony Adeniyi, alleged that members of SWAGA in Ekiti were being harassed and intimidated by APC members loyal to Governor Kayode Fayemi , saying these barrage of embarrassment must stop in the interest of APC.

He said “Before SWAGA was formed, we had had ‘Tokan Tokan’ and original ‘JKF’, which are outfits loyal to Governor Fayemi.
“Is it an offence to associate with one of the foremost Nigerians like Tinubu ?

We are being treated here in Ekiti like orphans in the Sahara desert. We are being intimated and harassed by people who had contributed nothing to APC.”

However in his short lecture at the event, a Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Yemi Oke, said he came to fraternise with the group as a Yoruba man , who believed in the Southwest Agenda for the 2023.

In his speech entitled: ‘Nigeria at a Crossroad, What Option for the Southwest Geopolitical Zone’, Prof. Oke, described Tinubu as the most qualified to lead Nigeria after President Buhari, so that all the faultlines and cleavages can be amended, for national unity.

He saluted Tinubu for working hard to sustain the country’s democracy, the Chairman, Inter-party Advisory Council in Ekiti, Hon. Ife Iyaniwura, said Tinubu has become a strong political platform that people respect in the country

The Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, the monarch tasked the APC to organise the Southwest and prevent crisis ahead of the 2023 Presidential race.

He, advised Tinubu and other politicians scrambling for the APC presidential ticket to maintain a united front despite their ambitions, so that the zone won’t lose the ticket in 2023.

The monarch, who described Tinubu as a tested and well known political bigwig, said peace is crucial for the Yoruba to clinch the ticket for presidency in 2023.

He said: “But I want appeal that two years are still ahead before 2023, so many politicians might still come out. We don’t want peace to elude us in Yoruba land.

“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a leader must ensure that he organises his people, so that we can have peace in the Southwest, that is the most important thing. Those who are interested shouldn’t fight over the ticket.

“The leper might not be to make milk, but he can spill it. Some people will still come out, so don’t let it cause any rancour

“It was because you are confident in Asiwaju Tinubu that is making you to campaign for him. Some people within your party might love and prefer other interested aspirants too, but that should not cause crisis at all. We are all together and Yoruba must not lose the ticket.

“The person (Tinubu) you brought is a good man. He has been tested and he is a good politician and administrator, no doubt about that .

“Where we are today in Nigeria, our issues need prayers. God will help us”, the monarch said