By Nasir Isa
Senator Dayo Adeyeye has said that the Yoruba believe it is their right to produce the next President of Nigeria. He said that on Tuesday at the unveiling of the logo of South West Agenda (SWAGA) in Ibadan.
SWAGA is a group of Ex-Lawmakers across the Southwest geo-political zone aimed at ensuring that an electable political leader from the Southwest gets the necessary support to succeed President Buhari in 2023. It claimed that there was an agreement among APC leaders during the 2015 election that presidential power would rotate to the South after President Buhari’s eight-year tenure.
The group, led by Senator Adeyeye, visited the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji and Alaafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III during which they conveyed its agenda to the leading monarchs.
It has urged the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to contest as president in the 2023 general election.
No one else has a bigger political stature than Asiwaju Tinubu in Nigeria today. He has not told us he would contest. We, as true Yoruba sons and daughters, just decided to embark on this to ensure that we push forward a good candidate. He is sellable all over Nigeria, Senator Adeyeye said.
He said: “We are here for politics; politics has started. We, the Yoruba, believe that it is our right to produce the next President. It has been an agreement that presidential power will rotate from North to South. May God preserve President Buhari. After his tenure, power will shift to the South. Yoruba will be part of the contest.
‘We want the best candidate to become the presidential candidate. As the media adviser to the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, I know what Yoruba want. Except a thoroughbred Yoruba person becomes President, we can’t get it. We saw that we have a very capable hand in Asiwaju Tinubu. He is so capable.”
Speaking further, Adeyeye told the monarchs that, “as Yoruba children, we have come to seek your blessings for the meeting and the agenda. We would continue to consult elders and traditional rulers in the region.”
The group led by Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has Senator Adesoji Akanbi as Vice Chairman and Bosun Oladele as Secretary.
Other members include Otunba Abayomi Ogunnusi. Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara, Oyetunde Ojo, Deji Jakande and Mr Ifedayo Abegunde (aka Abena), Senators Musiliu Obanikoro and Adeseye Ogunlewe.
