Yoruba in UK tasks Tinubu, APC on restructuring

Party will strive to remain in power, says Odigie-Oyegun

The United Kingdom chapter of Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere has tasked Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC to state their position on the clamour for restructuring the country.

They made the demand as part of a communiqué from its strategic meeting held in London. A statement signed by Babatunde Chinaba, Chairman and Kayode Ajayi, General Secretary expressed worry at the drumbeats of disintegration, confusion, apprehension and uncertainty that have enveloped the Nigerian polity in recent times and said it was embarrassed by the ethnic mistrust and antagonism currently on display in Nigeria.

The group said it is alarmed about the utterances of the Federal Government against the clamour by about 80 per cent of Nigerians for a new and restructured country to meet the challenges of a modern and forward looking state.

It posed the question, has Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Olusegun Osoba, and Chief Niyi Adebayo, who are all privy to that agreement reneged? We sincerely hope they have not and that they would continue to remember the essence of Omoluabi in Yoruba land.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has assured that the party would leave no stone unturned to retain power in the 2019 poll.

Odigie-Oyegun who spoke during the formal presentation of the book “APC: The Making of a Change Agent,” written by the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla, in Abuja assured that the APC would avoid the mistakes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Applauding the author for capturing the events leading to the formation of the party, he reiterated the resolve of this administration to entrench democratic rule in the polity.

According to him: “It was the first time a merger of that type had succeeded. It is the first time people had the intense nationalism to make the degree of sacrifice that was called for in agreeing to a merger. We created a machine that has started a significant move in entrenching democracy in this country. What is democracy? It is the ability to hire and fire. It was the first time that Nigerians had the ability of firing and it has become internalised in our political psyche. We know that we should not make the mistakes of the PDP. We too now know that we can be fired and that is democracy.”

He hailed the contributions and sacrifices of chairmen of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC; former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and new PDP entrants amongst other stakeholders.