2023: You can’t stop Tinubu from becoming president – Salvador warns Afenifere

POLITICS

2023: You can’t stop Tinubu from becoming president – Salvador warns Afenifere

 

A former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Moshood Salvador, has insisted that pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, cannot stop the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, from pursuing his ambition to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Salvador, speaking to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, stated that those fighting Tinubu and any other Yoruba leader from contesting were fighting a lost battle.

According to him, if it is the wish of God for a Yoruba man to be the next president of Nigeria, Afenifere leaders cannot stop him.

Salvador was reacting to a statement reportedly made by a leader of the Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, that the 2023 presidency should be ceded to the South-East and that Tinubu would be day-dreaming if he thought he would contest or be the president in 2023.

He said the argument of Adebanjo that the South-East has never produced a president was false, as the first President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was from the region.

The former PDP chairman described the posture of the Yoruba leaders as “rabble-rousing, inciting, offensive, illogical and terrible”.

Salvador reiterated that it is the people and not the Afenifere leaders, that would decide who becomes the President.

“These leaders forget that Nigeria is practicing party politics and in a party politics, any candidate can emerge.

“It is left for the party and the presidential candidate to reach out to other tribes for support. It is the people who now decide who becomes the president not an individual or group of people,” he added.

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Miyetti Allah: Presidency replies Ohanaeze on alleged payment of N100b to bandits, kidnappers

NEWS

Miyetti Allah: Presidency replies Ohanaeze on alleged payment of N100b to bandits, kidnappers

 

The Presidency has described as an ‘absolute falsehood’ the allegation that the Federal Government gave N100billion to Miyetti Allah, an association of Fulani herders, for ‘dubious reasons’.

Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

The presidential aide was reacting to comments credited to Ohaneze Ndigbo and Afenifere, who expressed concern about the meeting between the government and Miyetti Allah.

He said: “We are pleased that Afenifere and Ohaneze Ndigbo found our insights worthy of attention even when they disagreed with our view that they, as socio-cultural associations, represent same interests as Miyetti Allah, an association of Fulani herders.

“Miyetti Allah, like any other trade, community, ethnic organization or interest group is a legal stake holder in our nation and should be respected.

“We maintain that the government needs to engage all stakeholders and seek partnership in building our country.

”The activities of Miyetti Allah do not benefit selected ethnicities or Muslims only, but everyone.

“Long before petroleum became the core of Nigerian economy, agriculture was the main source of Nigerian wealth. Cattle, hides and skin were a major part of Nigerian export.

“It is right to state that there are criminals among every group in Nigeria and in every country. There are criminals among the northern population as there are in the southern part of the country.

“It is not good to generalise blames. The government will engage each stakeholder and create dialogue between, and among, different groups.”

Shehu, therefore, maintained that both socio-cultural groups should not have insisted that government should not to talk to Miyetti Allah.

He added that the meeting was necessitated by ”the need to address and engage Nigeria’s ethnic, religious, cultural and economic plurality that was evident when General Yakubu Gowon introduced National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

“The need to engage all groups of Nigeria is as much relevant today as it was then.

“The Presidency’s position is that President Buhari’s government is equipped to address these issues.”

According to him, the security challenges faced by Nigeria today make the task of addressing the issues very urgent.

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Ohanaeze condemns presidency’s comparison to Miyeti Allah seeks apology

NEWS

Ohanaeze condemns presidency’s comparison to Miyeti Allah seeks apology

 

Deputy Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, has condemned comment by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, that Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, is like the group and Afenifere.

“The Miyetti Allah group is like Ohanaeze and Afenifere. It is a socio-cultural group. There are criminals within the Yoruba race and you cannot say because of that, Afenifere is a group of criminals”, Shehu had stated.

Reacting, Ibegbu noted that Afenifere and Ohanaeze could only be compared to Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the apex Northern socio-political group.

A statement he signed read in part: “Garba Shehu committed a grave sin by such comparison between peace and pieces. Ohanaeze and Afenifere represent peace and Miyetti Allah represents pieces.

“It is like comparing the Vatican to Afghanistan,” he added, urging Garba to stop deceiving the public with wrong information.

“How can a group that encourages, supports, claps for and prods killers and terrorists be compared with Ohanaeze Ndigbo or Afenifere?” he quipped.

Ibegbu asked Garba Shehu to apologize to Ohanaeze and Afenifere for what he described as “verbal mismanagement”.

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Afenifere Calls On National Assembly To Sanction Buhari For Corruption Over $496m Aircraft Purchase

​BREAKING NEWS

Afenifere Calls On National Assembly To Sanction Buhari For Corruption Over $496m Aircraft Purchase

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday tagged the anticipatory approval and payment of $496 million by President Muhammadu Buhari for the purchase of the A29 Super Tucano Aircraft as an act of ‘corruption and misappropriation of public funds.’

It called on the National Assembly to ensure that the full wrath of the law was brought to bear on the issue.

Rising from its monthly meeting at the home of their leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Afenifere also condemned the statement credited to the President in London, where he degraded youths.

Reading the group’s communiqué, its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin said Afenifere “frowned at the anticipatory approval and payment of $496 million to the US government by President Buhari for the purchase of 12 A29 Super Tucano aircraft.

“It is disturbing that this impetuous act was carried out by the President, who is now asking the National Assembly to include money he already spent in 2018 Appropriation Act under consideration.

“This is against Section 83 of the 1999 constitution. Since there was no act of National Assembly for this money, it is clear that the President’s action is a clear subversion of 1999 constitution.

“It is an act of corruption and misappropriation of public funds and we call on the National Assembly to ensure that the full wrath of the law is brought to bear on this issue because this act of impunity is getting too much.”

                                                  

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2019 Election: Afenifere Speaks On Buhari Re-election Declaration

​BREAKING NEWS

2019 Election: Afenifere Speaks On Buhari Re-election Declaration

The Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has said unless President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the restructuring question before the election, he will not be trusted to address it when he secures a second term.

Afenifere spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, stated this while reacting to the declaration of President Buhari to seek re-election. 

Odumakin told Sun Newspaper: “Do we want to be counting dead bodies everyday, do we want to live in a country where everyone is now a beggar except a few who are in government and who have access to public funds? Restructuring is about making Nigeria productive, to make the country secure.

“So, if we want to have a Buhari for another four years, then we do not need a psychiatrist to know that something is wrong with us. If this government wants support from the vast majority of Nigerians, it should address the issue of restructuring before the elections, if it does not, it cannot be trusted to do it after the elections.”

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Obasanjo Is Anti-Yoruba - Afenifere Chieftain, Ayo Adebanjo

​BREAKING NEWS

Obasanjo Is Anti-Yoruba - Afenifere Chieftain, Ayo Adebanjo

Ayo Adebanjo, chieftain of Afenifere, has insisted that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo was anti-Yoruba.

Adebanjo stated this while accusing the former president of humiliating the late nationalist, Obafemi Awolowo.

He said Obasanjo humiliated Awolowo when the latter visited Obasanjo after he became the military Head of State, following the assassination of Maj. Gen. Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976,

Adebanjo spoke during the presentation of his autobiography in Lagos, yesterday.

According to Adebanjo, “There are many incidents to show that Obasanjo is anti-Yoruba. He has no interest in, or sympathy for the Yoruba cause, he only has his own interest for everything he does. That is my conclusion, and I have copious evidence to prove it.”

The Afenifere chieftain also blamed the former president for the collapse of the Alliance for Democracy, AD.

He claimed that Obasanjo collapsed AD by appointing the late presidential aspirant, Bola Ige against the wish of the party.

“As far as I am concerned, the moment Bola Ige joined Obasanjo’s government, following his (Bola Ige) loss of AD’s presidential primaries where he polled six votes against Chief Olu Falae’s 17, marked the beginning of the end of the party. In my opinion, these are the scenarios which led to the collapse of the AD,” Adebanjo said.

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