Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday assured the South-West that President Muhammadu Buhari would hand over government to a South-westerner, if the region supports him for next year’s elections.
Osinbajo, who engaged in house to house campaign in Oyo and held a 45-minute closed door meeting with the Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, said, “2019 presidential election matters to the Yoruba people of the Southwest because the region has a larger interest in 2023”.
The VP, who earlier in Ibadan, the state capital, inaugurated Shared Facilities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Ibadan, financed by the Bank of Industry, declared that the project which is the maiden edition is a Federal Government initiative in collaboration with the Oyo State Government.
However, last week, the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, while hosting members of the Orlu Zone Congress of Journalists (OZCOJ) in his office, described himself as the rallying point for all Ndigbo and the only one who can bridge unity, understanding and togetherness for Ndigbo in order to realize Igbo presidency in 2023.
The governor, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) explained that campaigns of calumny against him was because his detractors have realised that he is the most eligible and most detribalised Igbo man accepted by other tribes and nationalities in Nigeria.
Yoruba Presidency in 2023?
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, by this statement, has proved beyond doubt that he is a champion of ethnic politics. How does Yoruba producing the next President in 2023 lead us to good governance? Someone should please tell the lawyer that the great majority of Nigerians are moving away from emotional, sentimental ethnic sensitive politics; what we are all clamouring for is good governance – and it could come from any section of the country. By pandering to the Yoruba ethnic sensibility is just a clear statement of the government’s desperation and a parent failure. But it won’t work!