Press Conference
Gentlemen of the press good day:
As you are aware Arewa New Agenda (ANA) is a forum of concerned northerners comprising of academics, serving and former legislators,diplomats, technocrats, development practitioners, women and youth leaders, politicians, artisans, traders and farmers,positioning to set an agenda for protection of the interest of the North.
We read with great dismay, shock, surprise and disbelieve a statement credited to elder Chief Ayo Adebanjo (aka Pa Ayo ) a factional leader of Afenifere a Yoruba socio-cultural group in Abeokuta on Saturday Jan 4th 2023, making the rounds in social and conventional media circles in which he (Pa Ayo) was quoted as saying that the north will not vote for the Presidential candidate of the APC Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming 2023 Presidential election.
We wish to state that our organization respects elderly persons but, in this case, we disagree with the position taken by Pa Ayo more so as he does not speak for the north and has no such mandate; for his information the north has never failed to keep to its promise; when the north makes a covenant, the north keeps to it.
A little jolting of the memory will do a lot of good for Pa Ayo, at this juncture:
1. On April 4th 2018 during his (Pa Ayo)’s autobiography he said Obasanjo is not a true Yoruba Man – https://saharareporters.com/2018/04/04/obasanjo-not-true-yorubaman-says-afeniferechieftain-adebanjo
2. Chief Obasanjo became the flag bearer of the PDP and won the 1999 and 2003 presidential elections mainly because of the backing he received from the North.
3. In the APC Presidential primaries of 2022, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu scored 1,271votes more than half of the total votes cast in the convention to win the primaries, majority of these votes come from the north; the same north that Pa Ayo said will not support Tinubu
4. The North is the strongest ally of APC in the contest for the 2023 primaries in the same manner that the South West was ally for the victory of the APC in the last two election cycles.
5. Northern Governor of APC extraction led the charge for power shift from the north to the south; something the likes of Pa Ayo were unable to do simply because to make a covenant Pa Ayo, is not a northerner, and we cannot remember when we northerners appointed him to convey a message to any one; therefore, his assertion as widely reported is not only false but unfounded and can be better seen as the action of a meddlesome interloper or on a lighter scale the antics of a busy body.
Given what is unfolding in the South West today Pa Ayo’s attempt to justify his position by saying that his submission is based on fairness justice and equity is indeed laughable because it was said that whoever is coming to equity must come with clean hands. Records have shown that every presidential candidate that Pa Ayo opposes ended up winning the election- Asiwajus’s case will not be different
Just because Pa Ayo has some differences with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not in any way mean that the Yoruba race think the same, as we have our doubts that he has the mandate to speak for the Yorubas.
We warn that this is the time for high wire political activities that usually culminate into tension and suspicion; we call for restrain in all utterances. From our research Pa Ayo’s statement was not driven by any nationalist instinct or principle; it is just a personal vendetta against the personality of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
We advise Pa Ayo to stop taking advantage of African culture of respect for the old to pursue a very myopic, narrow minded and selfish political vendetta, this a pure act of mischief and malice.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has visited many States in the North, made policy statements and made a committal promises to us, if GOD Almighty gives him the opportunity to serve as our next
president, we the northerners will hold him accountable to that.
Based on the past excellent record of performance and antecedents of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his various callings, the north is comfortable with him. He supported northern presidential candidates in the past; the north has reciprocated this gesture on every occasion; the present situation is no different as the north will repeat the performance by overwhelming support to the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Signed:
Sen. Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi
Convener/Leader Arewa New Agenda
January 9, 2023
