Yoruba elders adopt Atiku as their presidential candidate because he backs calls for restructuring

SEVERAL Yoruba elders have met and decided to back the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Alhaji Atiku Ababakar in next year's presidential elections because he is offering to restructure the country which they see as the main issue in the campaign.

 

Next February, Alhaji Abubakar, 72, will be facing incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, 75, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a race for the presidency. Of late, the issue of restructuring Nigeria, returning to the 1958 formula agreed in the run-up to independence in which the federating units were allowed to control their economies, has been the major feature of the campaign.

 

Alhaji Abubakar has agreed to restructuring, although he is yet to provide details of his plans, while President Buhari appears to be opposed to it, preferring to stick with the status quo. After meeting yesterday, the Yoruba leaders said they were backing Atiku and reiterated their call for the restructuring of the country, pointing out that it was only through restructuring that Nigeria could witness prevalence of equity, fairness and justice.

 

Among the southwest leaders to take the decision include Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olabode George, Professor Banji Akintoye, Senator Femi Okunronmu and Chief Ebenezer Babatope. They made their position after a one-day South West Colloquium with the theme 2019: The South- West Speaks, publishing a 12-point communique, read out by Prince Uthman Sodipe.

 

They noted that the Yoruba remain cohesive, indivisible and strengthened by a common cultural bond and ideological vision. According to the elders, the Yoruba believe in the restructuring of the Nigerian union in order for the prevalence of equity, fairness and the dominating anchor of justice.

 

Their communique read: “The centre is too unwieldy, too disproportionate to effectively create equity in the distribution of the collective wealth. We must encourage every state in our federation to grow on the momentum of the available resources within their soil.”

 

On their decision to adopt Alhaji Abubakar as the Yoruba candidate for the 2019 presidential poll, the elders added: “The Yoruba people resolved to adopt the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the presidency in the 2019 elections in view of his support for the restructuring of Nigeria to create equal opportunities, fairness and justice for all stakeholders.”

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