By Seye Olumide, Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan) and Adewale Momoh (Akure)
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has described the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election as one that should further unite the country in view of the spread of his votes across the country.
In a congratulatory statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Comrade Jare Ajayi, the body said: “Garnering substantial votes from five out of the country’s six geo-political zones demonstrates that the mandate given to Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima is one meant to re-invent Nigeria, as a truly federal yet united country.
“A country, in which every section and every citizen would have a sense of belonging without regard to any other consideration such as religion, language spoken or where the person comes from.
“Incidentally, the president-elect and his party, All Progressive Congress (APC) were reported to have set up committees to meet with co-contestants to assuage them on their losses at the election just as the President-elect called on co-contestants to let them work together.”
Also, the late Dr. Fredrick Fasehun’s faction of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), yesterday, congratulated President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over his victory in the presidential poll held last Saturday in which he defeated candidates of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement, President of the Congress, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, however, urged the former governor of Lagos State to justify his election by delivering the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
OPC noted that Tinubu’s victory would bring some measure of pride to those who made sacrifices in the struggle for the June 12 struggle.
Similarly, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, has advised the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, not to tread on the path of some past leaders in the country who made enormous mistakes while at the helm of affairs.
According to Fasoranti, Tinubu must treat the entire country as one, and all the ethnic groups spread across the six geopolitical zones should be seen as one, irrespective of population or land mass.
While reminiscing on the visits of the president-elect to his Akure country home in the build-up to the campaigns, the leader of the frontline Yoruba group, in a letter he personally addressed to Tinubu as his son and made available to The Guardian yesterday, described him as a detribalized Nigerian.
Fasoranti, who commended Tinubu for his resilience in securing the ticket of his party and winning last Saturday’s presidential election, admonished the aggrieved candidates and parties to deploy legal means in seeking redress.
Source: The Guardian
