OPC insists on sanctity of rotational presidency

•Warns El-Rufai, North against jeopardising Tinubu’s re-election

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has warned against frowned on  what it considered as plans by some “self-appointed” leaders of the North “to blackmail” President Bola Tinubu and prematurely return the presidency to their region. 

According to the OPC, such an ‘anti-Tinubu scheme’ contradicted and jeopardises the spirit of unity and rotational presidency.

The group made the remarks in a statement by the OPC general secretary, Comrade Bunmi Fasehun, while responding to recent moves by former All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Kaduna State governor, Mallam  Nasir El-Rufai to rally a coalition to checkmate Tinubu in the 2027 elections. 

The OPC said the adoption of rotational presidency between the North and the South has gone a long way in guaranteeing relative equity and inclusivity in the polity and governance in the country. 

“Embittered souls now calling for Tinubu’s premature ouster should take note of the rotational principle that the entire country embraced and which has made government inclusive and equitable since 1999. 

“That principle must not be endangered for the selfish interest of political adventurists like Hameed Baba-Ahmed and Nasir El-Rufai.

“OPC’s 10-million-strong members and sympathisers cannot fold their arms and look the other way, when such utterances threaten Nigeria’s collective welfare and peace. 

“In order to check those self-appointed gladiators in their mission to blackmail President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, OPC is forced to embark on this publicity intervention.”

The group reminded Tinubu’s adversaries of how he aided former President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North, to win two terms of four years each as Nigeria’s elected leader for eight years.

OPC said: “No one can obliterate the historical role that President Tinubu played in returning the presidency to the North in 2015 by working against a sitting President from the South. 

“For the first time in Nigerian history, an opposition party won a presidential election. It was a mission impossible that God used Tinubu to make possible with his stratagem, connections and resources through the primaries to the general elections in 2015 and in 2019. 

“This facilitated the election and reelection of General Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner, as Nigeria’s President. 

“Evidently, Tinubu mobilised his South-West to vote massively for Buhari in both elections.”

The OPC said Tinubu remained the only in the Fourth Republic electedas president from the struggle that culminated in the restoration of civil rule in May 29, 1999. 

 The body stated: “Like OPC and our founder, the late Dr Frederick Fasehun, Tinubu played a formidable role in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the ultimate vehicle for our country’s democratic struggle, both at home and abroad. 

“Like Nelson Mandela, Tinubu is the first Nigerian President in this Fourth Republic to emerge from the trenches of the struggle against military rule. 

“None of his Fourth Republic predecessors can boast of that fabulous democratic credential.”

It said: “People must remember that Tinubu inherited the current security and economic challenges; and the lingering situation must be weighed against the backdrop of the fact that the regime has been in the saddle for ONLY two years. We must be patient.”

According to OPC, rather than his traducers and antagonists, only the electorate should be allowed to decide Tinubu’s fate come 2027.

Read Also: Unity Bank launches GenFi, targets children, teens

It said: “We bookmark recent statements by self-appointed sectional leaders suggesting President Tinubu would not win a second term come 2027. 

“Unlike these anti-Tinubu individuals, we believe that President Tinubu’s leadership, vision and commitment to Nigeria’s progress naturally position him as the ideal candidate for the job. 

“The 1999 Constitution guarantees President Tinubu two terms (Sections 135 and 137). No vested interest, no matter how powerful, will be allowed to rob him of that constitutional right. Let the electorate decide.”

OPC called on El-Rufai to clarify his purpoted statement that Tinubu would be shown the way out the same manner former President Goodluck Jonathan was done in 2015.