2023 ELECTION : Dapo Abiodun backs power shift to Southwest

• …Daniel urges unity among Yoruba to produce Buhari’s successor …Alake, Olu of Ilaro endorse Southwest Agenda

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has called for unity and cohesion in the Southwest ahead of 2023 electioneering.

He called for a single-minded approach among All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to ensure that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu becomes the presidential candidate, if he declares an intention to run.

Abiodun stated this while hosting a delegation of the South West Agenda (SWAGA) in his office in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He drew the attention of the delegation to the trend of political fifth columnists who he said were desperate to play spoiler roles on the promptings of anti-Southwest interests.

The governor warned that such elements would always come up with their nefarious scheming, adding that such elements within and outside the party should be effectively neutralised.

Abiodun supported the push for power shift to the Southwest in 2023, assuring that he would do all in his powers to work with stakeholders towards the attainment of the set objectives.

The leader of the SWAGA delegation, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, thanked Abiodun for receiving the delegation, despite the short notice.

The official launch of the Ogun State chapter of SWAGA is scheduled to hold today at Conference Hotel in Abeokuta

‘Yoruba should unite’

Also, a former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel has urged the Yoruba nation to bury their differences and avoid what he called the “Pull Him Down” stance to produce a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Daniel said the knowledge of “how to join hands together and work” is not common among the race for a collective cause.

The former governor recently joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at his Asoludero country home in Sagamu during a visit by Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger).

He submitted that with a good “strategy”, the Yoruba would arrive the promised land of 2023 presidency.

Daniel spoke on Sunday night at his Sagamu home when the Chairman of Southwest Agenda (SWAGA 2023), Senator Adeyeye, and other members of the group visited him.

The high-powered delegation intimated him with SWAGA 2023 agenda ahead of the state chapter’s launch in Abeokuta today.

Addressing the group, Daniel noted that no human being is perfect.

The former governor stressed that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being projected by SWAGA, has passed the standard pass mark for assessing any individual and is qualified and fit to become the President, as espoused by Senator Adeyeye and his team.

He expressed support for SWAGA, urging all stakeholders to speak with one voice so that the region could produce the next President.

Other members of the delegates included SWAGA Deputy Chairman Rilwan Adekunbi, Senator Gbenga Obadara, former Speaker Suraju Adekunbi, Rotimi Makinde, Kayode Amusan, Isiaq Akinlade, former Speaker Muyiwa Oladipo, Agbaakin Yinka Odufuwa, Bisola Aliu, Gboyega Gbenro, Abayomi Arabambi, Olatunde Rufai, Lanre Odubote, Otunba Rasaq Odusote, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI), among others.

Also, two prominent Ogun State traditional rulers have supported the growing call for Asiwaju Tinubu to join the 2023 presidential race.

Speaking at two separate events in Abeokuta and Ilaro while hosting a delegation of SWAGA initiative, the Alake and paramount ruler of Egba land, HRM Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, and the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, both urged all sons and daughters of Yoruba land to work for Asiwaju Tinubu’s success in the 2023 elections.

The delegation, led by Senator Adeyeye and top party leaders, National Assembly members, SWAGA members and party stakeholders from the Southwest, had stopped at Oba Olugbenle’s palace in Ilaro.

He added: “Without any gainsaying, Tinubu is the   most experienced, most proven and most resourceful candidate to lead Nigeria to a new level of growth and economic stability from 2023 and beyond.

“He is a person the entire nation can trust. I will stop at nothing to mobilise all available  resources, along with my entire colleague Obas in Yewa land, and our diverse people and communities to ensure he wins the Presidency.”

He described himself as a beneficiary of the unassailable legacy of Tinubu’s eight-year rule in Lagos State, having lived his early life there, and now a beneficiary of the vast changes that had occurred to lives and properties in the Centre of Excellence.

The monarch traced his admiration for Asiwaju Tinubu back to his support for a more egalitarian society as well as robust intellectual support for Southwest delegates at the 2014 National Conference in Abuja.

On the national stage, he added that Tinubu’s influence had grown tremendously pan-Nigeria, and that he had long invested immensely in people and communities in the length and breadth of Nigeria; attributes which he noted, would make him quite sellable in all nooks and crannies of the federation.

He offered robust prayers and thanked the delegation for volunteering their resources to encourage Tinubu to join the Presidential race in 2023.

The delegation equally had a wonderful reception at the palace of Oba Gbadebo.

In his brief but pungent address at the occasion, Alake affirmatively declared that he had long noted and appreciated Tinubu’s sterling qualities since his early days as Governor of Lagos State.

“The person whose project you have come to present to me is a part of my palace here. He is one on my prominent chiefs and has this palace’s greatest support and goodwill at all times”, he said.

The Alake enjoined the delegation to go back to their different states and mobilize extensively to ensure Tinubu’s success at every stage of the contest.

He prayed fervently for his success and called on all Nigerians to continue to pray for peace and stability in the country.