For undermining Christian community and declaring to contest the 2023 presidential race as a Muslim with a Muslim as his running mate, the Coalition of Southern Nigeria Youths has flayed Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying he is unfit for the office of the president.
The coalition in a press statement endorsed by it coordinator, Christian Moses Abeh alerted the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN and Nigerians the danger posed by the Tinubu’s aspirations calling on CAN and well meaning Nigerians to ensure he does not succeed.
“That he can always manipulate his south West people to support him, while the South-South and South-East should be ignored, that the votes from the North and South-West are a enough to make him President of Nigeria is a joke taking too far.
“Ordinarily, his declaration shouldn’t have attracted so much attention because it is long expected. But the preceding statement regarding the sidelining of the other two sub-regions in the South and his open declaration for Muslim, Muslim ticket should give great concern, considering the fact that Tinubu doesn’t believe in one Nigeria.
Recalling with nostalgia, the youth group pointed out that in ThisDay newspaper of 13th of April, 1997, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu told the world that, he does NOT believe in one Nigeria. This means he will either place the South-West above the rest of the country or carve it out as a sovereign nation from Nigeria.
“Apart from the fact that age is not on his side, Tinubu will acquire more than half of Nigeria as his personal estate through fronts with monies that will be gotten from the country’s treasury.” The group warned.
According to the coalition, Tinubu and his wife’s hatred against the Igbo tribe is second to none, same way the daughter is frustrating them with high levies in Lagos markets, closing down Trade Fair and other major Igbo dominated markets in Lagos at will may be intensified if voted to power.
“How can a genuine leader asked his benefactors to forget about two sub-regions out of six in the country?
“At the heat of agitations for succession in the Country in 2021 by Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho’s groups in South-West and South-East he never spoke to address the issues or condemned their actions, rather, he looked the other way.
“This same Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised to fix the problems of Nigeria if elected as president; so he knew and acknowledged the fact that Nigeria has problems that can be fixed, so why waiting to become the president before fixing it when people are suffering and dying?
“It shows that President Buhari has no friend in Bola Ahmed Tinubu, if he is a true friend, he would have told his friend (Mr President) where the problems lies and the solution to them, rather, he kept mute to allow the problems to persist so that he will use it as campaign tools. This clearly shows that he is discrediting Mr President behind the scenes.
“A patriotic Nigerian and a true friend of the President would have advised Mr President on what to do to address some of these problems for the sake of the Country than to use it for personal glory while the country continues to swim in the so-called problems.” The group stressed.
Continuing; “He is talking about Muslim-Muslim ticket, but forgot that the seventeen Southern Governors are Christians, with three other Christians as Governors or more in the North. This means that the Christians have about twenty States Governors out of thirty six.
“We are not preaching religion but unity, peace, love, equity and justice; therefore, Nigerians SHOULD REJECT Elder Bola Ahmed Tinubu for trying to heat up the religious space in the Country with his choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“We would have no problem if Elder Tinubu spoke on the basis of credibility, but coming on the basis of religion in a secular country like Nigeria is most unfortunate and highly condemnable.”
The coalition said telling the northern leaders to forget the people of South-East and South-South is the most disastrous thing that would have happened to this great nation because of the greed of one man saying; “As for the people of South-East and South-South, let no one deceive you that the North is using divide and rule strategy on the South, no, the North is not your enemy but a fellow southerner is.”
For equity sake, the group advised that: “We should all join hands together to support the South-East to produce the next president, or the South-South be given support to complete their remaining one term since the South-West was there for eight years as president, while another eight years as Vice President.
“We call on former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, present and past State Governors from the South, Traditional Rulers, Clergies and political office holders at the federal level to call for a round table discussion where each subregions will be represented and the issue of who succeeds President Buhari be resolved amicably to avoid bitterness and disunity of our region.
Coalition of Southern Nigeria Youths equally called on Christian Association of Nigeria, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and all Christian bodies in Nigeria to be aware and alert of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s plans to scheme out the Nigerian Christians from producing the next president of the country.”