Despite the popular belief that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is the candidate of the South West in the 2023 election, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Dare Adeleke, has said the former Lagos State governor may not serve the interest of the zone. This, according to the PDP chief, is because the Jagaban Borgu has allegedly never worked for the South West interest but for himself.
Adeleke, an ally of Oyo governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, who is the chairman of state transport company, Pace-Setter Transportation Service, said Tinubu will not be a threat to the chances of PDP in the South West during the election.
Speaking on preparation of the major political parties, particularly, the PDP ahead of the election, the former governorship aspirant in the state told The Trumpet that southern candidature is different from southern representation.
Though on the Nyesom Wike divide of the PDP, Adeleke debunked the insinuation that the entire Yoruba men and women in the South West are ready to vote for Tinubu because of his antecedents as a self – centered politician who does not have the interest of Yorubaland at heart.
He said “frankly speaking, you are mixing the issue of Southern candidature with Southern representative with regard to genuine Southern representation at the centre. When you look at it, I am not sure some of us are ready to support a Bola Tinubu candidature, because of that he has demonstrated in the past.
“When Mulikat Adeola was contesting, he brought up a northerner, Tambuwal, against the southerner. I don’t think he has the moral right to lay claim to Southern agenda to run for presidency.
” He never protected interest of the South. That’s one of the reasons many southerners are shouting obedient. And politics is religion as religion is politics.”
He added that the same religion ticket will be an albatross to Tinubu’s ambition stressing that “you cannot bring a Muslim to be your deputy even as you are a Muslim. Nigeria is about the red line right now; we have to be mindful of the fault lines.
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“That is even why we are saying PDP’s chairmanship should come to the South-West. That is even why you cannot blame Wike for saying that if they lost the election, it is their fault.”
Adeleke, like many of Wike’s supporters said there is no two way to peace in PDP than for the national chairman Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign.
He posited that for fairness, as Atiku has emerged presidential candidate, Ayu should step down as chairman of the party.
“I said it; it is a matter of common sense; Ayu should step down. As a matter of fact, Ayu should resign without being pushed or forced. But with the situation, he appears to think that he has to be there. Remember that there was supposed to be a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting the last time, but it was put on hold. We had passed a vote of no confidence on him. But I am very sure that he should resign honourably.
“Don’t you think with Atiku, as a Northerner and presidential candidate of your party, and Ayu, another Northerner, as chairman of your party, going into the 2023 election might make the party suffer a backlash in
the South?
“There is no doubt that it could be an issue. You know, party members will do their bit as members of the party, but what about the non-party members who are voters? Politicians are less than five per cent of the voters. The majority of the voters are non-party members. So, we need to convince them that when we have a national chairman from the South-West, that will usher in good tidings from the people of the South.
” Don’t forget that we have never had that shot in the South-West. This is what we are clamoring for; with that, we could easily negotiate with the people of the South-West, irrespective of political inclination,” Adeleke said.
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