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As a Political campaign organization, our attention in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential campaign has been drawn to the purported endorsement of AFENIFERE for the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan. From the available media reports, the predication of that endorsement was on the President’s convocation of a National confab and, a promise to implement same.
For us, there can be no greater puerile reason by an organization to give in its inability to rise beyond jejune considerations in holistically appreciating the essence of the current national discourse. The APC stayed away from the National confab because of its belief that an administration, that had accentuated and exacerbated the ethno-religious cleavages of the Nigerian people in the last five years, is incapable of organizing a meaningful national confab in mitigating the myriads of challenges assailing the Nation State. Secondly, our Party stood on the firm ground against the National confab because the modalities employed in the selection of preponderant number of the conferees by the PDP-led Federal government could only make the outcome of the conference to be used for serving the despicable political agenda of the current administration. It is incongruous to believe that an exercise that did not get the assent of the Nigerian people can be used as a basis for contemplating a people-oriented Constitution! Furthermore, Our Party believes that a President, that is a serial promise breaker, cannot be trusted to keep his promise; it therefore beggars belief where the AFENIFERE leaders got their optimism from, except there are other subterranean considerations for this infamous endorsement! It is a matter of pride that the APC has articulated an implementable program for the restructuring of the Nigerian State, if elected into Office. We shall do this as our Party is peopled with Patriotic leaders, who have kept promises to the people in the past.
For the records, the Yoruba people have been privileged to have Leaders with unmistakable candour and courage in speaking eloquently and unambiguously at critical times in our Nation’s history. At his 6
th July, 1974 University of Ife convocation speech, the revered Yoruba Leader, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo made scathing remarks on the 1973 census exercise conducted by the same administration which he once served as Finance Minister. Dr. Christopher Kolade, a respected Yoruba leader, was unsparing in his condemnation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s show of discomforting insouciance to the insecurity in the land and the President’s apparent lack of leadership capacity in resolving this issue. It did not matter to this ebullient Yoruba son that the administration gave him opportunity to serve as the Chairman of its SURE-P program. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as elder-statesman and a notable Yoruba Son, has consistently shot down the electability of President Goodluck Jonathan on account of his disposition to alarming institutional corruption, exacerbation of ethno-religious bigotry in the land and obvious incapacitation in tackling the menace of insecurity in the land.
The real reasons for this AFENIFERE’s endorsement may not be known, but these definitely are not in the interest of the Yoruba people that this group pretends to be serving. All across the South West and, everywhere within the Nation space where Yoruba people are found, there is a loud acclamation for Change. This desire for change by the Yoruba has impugned the veracity of the AFENIFERE endorsement.
We hereby advise the Yoruba and, indeed the Nigerian people, to discountenance the endorsement of AFENIFERE as the personal opinion of a group that has no relevance in the politico-economic conditions of the South-West states. We shall continue to work assiduously for the peace and politico-economic well of the Nigerian people.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
