The leader of Pan-Yoruba socio political organisation, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, says he harbours no hatred for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as being insinuated. 

Speaking on Wednesday at the Labour Party presidential campaign held at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex in Ibadan on Wednesday, the Yoruba leader insists his support for Peter Obi was based on fairness.

The nonagenarian asserted that he stood solidly behind Mr Tinubu for eight years when he governed Lagos between 1999 and 2007.

He said that all he was clamouring for is equity and justice, saying tribes in the country deserved equal opportunities.

“When we brought Chief M.K.O Abiola and his election was annulled, they brought Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. We agreed that the presidency would be rotational.

“Obasanjo handed over to Umar Yar’Adua and from him to Goodluck Jonathan. Later Buhari became the president,” Mr Adebanjo said.

The Second Republic senator, who recalled the pre and post-independence celebration and agitations, said the clamour for restructuring was aimed at returning the country to true federalism.

He urged the people to vote for Mr Obi, saying it was the time of the Igbos.

In his remarks, Mr Obi assured Nigerians of a greater and prosperous nation if elected as the country’s next president in February 2023.

He said the party was prepared to form a government that would build a greater Nigeria and move the nation’s economy from consumption to production.

Mr Obi was accompanied by his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, Julius Abure, the LP national chairman and LP governorship candidate in Oyo State, Tawfiq Akinwale.

He assured that his government, if elected, would create jobs for unemployed youths and fight corruption.

“Myself and Datti Baba-Ahmed are wealth creators not wealth sharers. We will secure and unite Nigeria.

“We will ensure there is no strike in our universities.

“We will create enabling society. We will turn the vast arable land into agricultural land to feed Nigerians.

“We will turn Lagos to the financial centre of Africa,” he said.

Mr Obi appreciated Mr Adebanjo and Afenifere, for their unflinching support as well as their strong commitment to equity and justice.

He said that the presidency is for Nigeria and not some sections of the country, saying that he stood for equity and justice.

Labour Party national chairman Julius Abure thanked the people of South-West for their usual support and pacesetting status.

He said that the country was going through numerous challenges, saying that Mr Obi was the only presidential candidate that had answers to change Nigeria.

Mr Akinwale and Atayese Sodiq, the State LP Chairman in their separate remarks, called on the people of the state to vote for the party’s candidates at all levels

Mr Adebanjo presented Mr Obi to the people by raising his hands at the event attended by Dr Doyin Okupe and other prominent Nigerians. 

(NAN)