The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has chided the Leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, for claiming that his 2023 presidential ambition was for personal gain.
In a statement, Akintoye, who leads the agitation for Yoruba Nation, had said that Tinubu’s ambition was based on “personal interest” and not that of the Yoruba people.
He vowed not to endorse or vote for Tinubu in the 2023 polls, saying he was contesting at the wrong time.
But in a counter-statement, Director, Media & Publicity Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, disagreed with Akintoye’s assertion.
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“Our attention has been drawn to an unfortunate and divisive statement credited to Professor Banji Akintoye, in which his group threatened to pull the South West Nigeria from Nigeria.
“Since there has been no referendum held in Yorubaland about whether to stay in Nigeria or not, we presume that the separatist idea is basically Akintoye’s idea.
“We want to advise him not to plunge our people into crisis or another Rwanda.
“We find it unwarranted the professor’s sweeping accusation that Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu is only pursuing his personal interest in running for the presidency of Nigeria.
“We hasten to say Asiwaju Tinubu is doing so because of his readiness to render unflinching service to Nigerians and his abiding faith in a strong, united and prosperous Nigeria where all men and women regardless of their ethnicity and religious beliefs can find joy and personal fulfillment.
“Most of the issues on the structure of our federalism raised in Professor Akintoye’s statement have been sufficiently addressed in Asiwaju’s Action Plan with his promise to address some of the problems plaguing our federalism and the will to make the states to be more viable as federating units by devolving more powers to them,” Onanuga’s statement read in part.