The Oodu’a People Frontiers (OPF) has condemned the alleged threats by Oodu’a People’s Congress (OPC) to the North for contesting the National Assembly leadership sharing formula announced by the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The President of the OPC, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, had in a statement signed on Tuesday by the Secretary, Bunmi Fasehun warned northern politicians against blackmailing the President-elect, Bola Tinubu over the leadership of the National Assembly.
Reacting to the threat at a press conference held in Lagos on Friday, the Convener of the OPF, Comrade Moses Odewale urged the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to distance himself from those it described as agents of destabilisation operating in various guises and concentrate on governance and the task of nation building with justice and equity for all.
He urged Tinubu not to be trapped by the game the OPC is playing, noting that it would pitch him against his most reliable traditional political allies.
Odewale, however, maintained that the threat by the OPC is in no way representative of the views of the decent Yoruba nation and should not be seen as such.
He described the threats as embarrassing, shameful and exposed the inconsistencies of the OPC and other groups like the Afenifere that pose as representatives of the Yoruba nation.
He said: “We condemn with all our might the uncivilised action of OPC that threatens the long standing political friendship that exists between the North and what is today the Southwest.
“By making it look like they are protecting their son, President elect, Tinubu, the OPC has ended up exposing him in particular and the Southwest to several political vulnerabilities in the future.
“Whether OPC, Afenifere or any other group from any region wants to believe it or not, available facts and figures prove that the North is majorly responsible for the emergence of Asiwaju as APC flagbearer and to his eventual victory at the polls.
“We cannot forget so quickly that eleven APC governors of Northern Nigerian States stood firmly against all odds and ensured that power moved to the South and to the Southwest in particular which paved way for Tinubu’s emergence.
“There is no disputing the fact that Tinubu’s final victory at the polls was secured by the northern votes, which made up 60 percent of the total votes he got, far and above what he got on the southwest. Facts of history has shown how the North had been consistent with its support for a Yoruba presidency even at the expense of candidates from the North.”
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