Yoruba Patriots Movement (YPM), a Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, on Thursday agitated that the time is ripe for a Nigerian president of Yoruba extraction to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
YPM also enjoined Northerners to respect the pre 2015 general election zoning arrangement for presidency, emphasizing that power should return to the south in 2023.
The Yoruba leaders, who gathered at the University of Ibadan Conference Centre said it would go a long way for the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to protect their integrity by heeding the gentlemanly agreement to cede the presidency to the south particularly in favour of the party’s National leader, Asiwaju Bola Hammed Tinubu, for his struggle and sacrifices in enthroned this present administration.
They explained that the Yoruba had supported other regions to achieve their Presidential dreams over the years, saying; “2023 should also be the turn of Southwest region of Nigeria to be at the helm of affairs of this country.”
Addressing newsmen during the ‘2021 Pan Yoruba Summit’ , titled Yoruba Nation: Yesterday, Today, and tomorrow, its National Coordinator, Barrister Oladosu Oladipupo submitted that Mr. Bola Tinubu has touched many lifes not only in Southwest but Nigeria as a whole, and 2023 is the time for him to become the President.
Oladosu noted that there will always be an opposition in whatever someone does in life, adding that opposition makes someone determined and focus.
He disclosed further that the group is currently making wide consultations around the country, saying that Tinubu has been accepted in all the zones of Nigeria because he is a good product and the right man to lead Nigerians come 2023.
The summit, was well attended by eminent Yoruba personalities who come together and discuss the way forward ahead of 2023 Presidential election.
“Tinubu has led Yoruba nation twice to support President Buhari presidential ambition. Tinubu’s cabinet was Pan Nigerian not only Pan Yoruba when he was the governor of Lagos State. He remained the only Yoruba man who worked tirelessly for the emergence of Buhari, so, we should all support him to contest 2023 presidency.
“We must work hard to assist him to become the President of Nigeria. He has the mental capability and what is required to rule this country. We have been moving across the nation to tell Nigerians that this is the time for Southwest to become Nigerian President.
“We shall ensure we work round ethnic nationality so that southwest can become Nigerian president come 2023. Yoruba was a flourishing nation under Obafemi Awolowo and the impact of Chief Awolowo put many Yorubas in a better position today which makes Yorubas to be in the main stream of politics in Nigeria.”
Also speaking at the event was a former federal lawmaker and Commissioner for information in Oyo state, Hon. Bosun Oladele, who described the summit as a right step in the right direction, urged Yoruba leaders to looked inward, adding that this is the time for active participation to key into the Yoruba agenda.
According to him, “The time is now, this is the time to reconcile every essential voice in Southwest, so that we can consolidate on the current developmental stride going on in Nigeria and to move the country into a greater height.”
