The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has set an agenda for the President- elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, urging him to restructure the country.
Afenifere who stated this in a congratulatory message signed by its National Publicity Secretary Comrade Jare Ajayi described his victory in the 2023 Presidential election as one that should further unify the country in view of the spread of his votes from across the country.
The group who openly backed the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Mr. Peter Obi in the 2023 general election stated that for the president elect to have garnered substantial votes from five out of the country’s six geo-political zones demonstrates that the mandate given to him and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima is one meant to re-invent Nigeria as a truly federal yet united country.
“A country in which every section and every citizen would have a sense of belonging without regard to any other consideration such as religion, language spoken or where the person comes from etc”.
The organisation noted that incidentally, the President-elect and his party, All Progressive Congress were reported to have set up committees to meet with co-contestants to assuage them on their losses at the election just as the President-elect called on co-contestants to let them work together.
Afenifere urged those who are not satisfied with the outcome of the election to seek legal redress, “To which they have every right. We should however allow peace to reign while the legal process is explored and even thereafter. This is our country, we should learn to be able to live together in a peaceful and harmonious society but one in which justice, fairness, equity and respect for the rule of law reign supreme”.
Afenifere observed that Tinubu will be taking the mantle of leadership at a time that the country was highly divided with mistrust at an all-high level.
“Thus, the president-elect should, immediately on being sworn-in on May 29, embark on policies that will heal the deep wounds in the country, foster a sense of unity and love among Nigerians and work to ensure that security of lives and properties is guaranteed, jobs are created for those seeking jobs especially youths, revamp education and get the country restructured so that each region would be in a position to deploy the creative potentials it has to the maximum.”
Afenifere stated that the potential to have the country develop rapidly, welfare of the people rapidly improved and social vices curbed to the barest minimum ,“lie in the in-coming administration hitting the ground running with sustainable welfarist programmes, ousting terrorism and banditry, putting an end to nepotism with round pegs in round holes, bringing down the hyper-inflation in the country by, for instance, making sure that fuels are available at very cheap prices, artificial bottlenecks in the financial sector resulting in cash crunch is removed and creating the atmosphere for all Nigerians to be able to realize their potentials wherever they are and without infringing on the rights of fellow Nigerians – especially the natives of a given area as is happening in some parts of the country presently”.
The organisation stated that Tinubu has, “The confidence, vision and capacity” to do the job and his promise to be ‘a fair leader’ who will charge the energies of Nigerians “to deliver a nation that we can be proud of”.
The organisation urged the president elect to live up to his words of building, “a brighter and more productive society for today, tomorrow and for years to come” as contained in the acceptance speech he gave while receiving the Certificate of Return from the Returning Officer, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.’’
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