By Oladele Ogunsola, Ibadan
About 40 days to the presidential election, Nigerians and Yorubas in particular have been called upon to shun tribal or any other sentiment that may be introduced ahead of the election and embrace good governance manifesto in making their choice of who leads the country as from 29th of May this year.
This call was made by Hon. Joshua Adewole, the Director-General of ‘Atikulated Greater Nigeria’, one of the support groups routing for the presidency of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West geo-political zone of the country at the inauguration of the National Executive Council of the group in Ibadan.
Hon. Adewole, who said the 2023 presidency carrot being dangled before the Yorubas and Igbos by the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a show of ineptitude and lack of serious campaign issue, stressing that “the state of the country now is about good governance and not about where somebody comes from.
“Those of us, who had tasted good governance in this country before would recollect vividly that nobody cared about where the leaders hail from. We are confident now too that when we have good leaders in office and people’s welfare is addressed, the question of who and where somebody comes from becomes irrelevant”, he added.
The ‘Atikulated Greater Nigeria’ boss maintained that as long as the leadership recruitment process in the country is still subjected to myopic and sentimental consideration of where somebody comes from, “we will still be sacrificing meritocracy for mediocrity with its attendant growth and development stagnation”.
He asked Nigerians to give Alhaji Atiku Abubakar the opportunity to enthrone good governance in the country by voting for him massively in the February election, noting that the legacy to be instituted by him during his tenure would become a reference point in governance for whoever takes over from him.
“The welfare package his presidency would unleash on the country would have seriously subjugated the nepotic and myopic sentiments of where and who leads the country when he leaves office, thereby rendering the 2023 presidency carrot being dangled by the ruling APC sour and tasteless”, Hon. Adewole disclosed.
Calling on the states in the South-West geo-political zone to ensure massive mobilization of the people of the zone ahead of the presidential election next month, he said the modalities to be adopted by the support group would be unfolded on Thursday this week when the states’ executive councils would be inaugurated.
