…Say It Is Democratic And Demonstrates National Solidarity

Southern leaders under the aegis of Yoruba Elders’ Union (YEU) have aligned with their northern counterparts in their proclamation that “Until Nigerians come to realize that the country’s leader can come from any part of the country, Nigeria will never experience the practice of true democracy.” This was the view expressed by the President of the Yoruba Elders’ Union and former presidential aspirant in the ongoing electioneering process, Prof. Muhammad Omolaja when addressing the journalist in Abuja on Saturday, February 11, 2023.

Late in the year 2022, the amalgamated Union of northern leaders comprising cattle dealers, transporters, vegetable marketers, pepper and tomatoes sellers, farmers, artisans and so on categorically made it clear during a National Conference that apart from  the fact that the north still has a balance of four years to lead the country to meet with the south after the President Muhammad Buhari’s tenure of office, “they would rather support a situation where a competent leader for Nigeria would be elected from any part of the country as from the year 2023”

Prof. Omolaja said that two of the ingredients of true democracy are patriotism and nationalism. Hence, the assertion that “unless a particular candidate from a particular region emerges as the next President of Nigeria, the country will no longer exist”, as expressed during the recent presidential rally of the Labour Party in Lagos, is not tenable in a democratic process. Such a statement especially from an elderly person is tantamount to intimidation and capable of creating chaos and instability at this time when the society is already charged! The Yoruba Elder’s Union, according to Prof. Omolaja, considers this kind of inflammatory statements irrational, unconstitutional and totally objectionable in the parlance of democracy. He said candidates from other political parties and geopolitical regions should also be given a level playing ground.

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For instance, the joint presidential candidacy of His Excellency Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is perfectly in order and democratic in the spirit of national consciousness, national integration and national solidarity which Nigerians should celebrate! It settles the questions of north and south dichotomy, religious ambiguity and above all nationalism among others. It is politically wrong to say that the president of a nation should emerge from a particular part of the country or else the country will cease to exist thereby depriving other candidates running for the same office of their rights to be elected simply because of their places or regions of birth unless there has been a memorandum of understanding to that effect.

Presently, from all indications, the PDP Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa (The Unifying Team) are already been favoured by at least 65% of the Nigerian eligible voters across the country to take over from the President Muhammadu Buhai-led administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the end of their tenure on May 29, 2023, according to a popular opinion poll.

H. E. Abubakar Atiku is very competent, energetic, experienced as a two terms Vice President of the federal Republic of Nigeria under the General Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian administration from 1999 to 1987, and his network of politics and business in Nigeria is nothing but excellent apart from his fantastic network of human and public relations across the six geopolitical zones of the country!

The southern leaders, in line with the body language and popular expressions of their counterparts in the north, therefore call on all well meaning Nigerians to forget about all kinds of sentiment and subjectivity; and vote massively for the candidacy of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP during the forthcoming February 25, 2023 presidential election as a symbol of unity and national integration.