By Banji Ayoola
Politicians promoting northern presidency after the eight year tenure of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, have been cautioned to drop the idea or be regarded as enemies of Nigeria’s unity.
While handing down the warning, the Chairman of Yoruba Ronu Group, YRG, Prince Diran Iyantan, said: “We must express our love for this country rather than emphasise tribal and religious differences and generative of wrong belief in deluding a section of the country to appear superior to others.
He gave the warning on Saturday in Akure, Ondo State capital, in a statement by the group’s Director of Communications, Mr Steve Bayode, alleging that the Nigerian political elites are deliberately promoting disunity as political weapon.
According to the statement: “The only major factor to the sustenance of unity in the country is continual rotational presidency. The falsehood preached around that the ‘southern candidates do not have the numerical strength to win an election’ must be jettisoned for the unity of our dear motherland.”
He warned: “The PDP’s ploy to not, officially, zone the presidency to the Southern part of the country would, eventually, boomerang. Any southern candidates fielded by any political party will be massively voted for by the southerners to emerge as the next president.
“However, for the sake of equity, fairness and justice, we must, in earnest, right the wrong ahead of such occurrences.
“Therefore, ‘southern presidency’, this time around, in 2023, should be considered sacrosanct to the continual unity of the nation.”
Also he cautioned peddlers of northern presidency that if they did not desist, such politicians would be seen as “marauders with incendiary comments, deliberately, to escalate the present security challenges in the country and seek to further polarise her for more troubles than the ones on our hands at present.”
He said: “This, he opined, is a dangerous trend capable of creating unending crisis in the country.”
In his words: “Acts like that, clearly, demonstrates negative imagery of the country and is capable of misleading the country on a journey of departure from its present station of peace and prosperity.
“Politicians, during this season elections, must focus on those positive areas pertinent to uniting us as a nation. Everyone must ensure that what is passed across to the public are materials that enhance national peace, unity and development in view of the critical time the country is passing through at present.
“Favourable unifying comments are what should be promoted in the media to ensure that tensions are not further exacerbated.”
Iyantan urged politicians to observe decorum during campaign activities, saying: “The rank and file of our political class must shun acts capable of promoting disunity. We must ensure that words said by us are those that project cohesion, but not chaos.”
