Yoruba Won't Back APC on Ethnic Sentiment, Atiku Group Tells Tinubu

A group under the acronym Coalition for Atiku-Okowa, Ekiti State chapter, has declared that the South-west region won't pander to unwarranted sentiments to vote against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 general election. The coalition told the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the fact that he is from the region won't rob Atiku of victory in the zone, saying the former vice president is bonded with Yoruba by marriage. The co-convener of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Yemi Arokodare, stated this in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday while formally unveiling the group for operation ahead of the 2023 elections. Addressing the coalition members at the Atiku-Okowa palatial campaign building located in Ado Ekiti, Arokodare said the zone had not been known to play ethnic card in politics as reflected in the trajectory of elections in the country. He added: "The people of the South-west region will never be swayed by sentiments, but with issues because Nigerians voted for former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo without looking at the content of their ethnicity. "The Southwest is a sophisticated zone and we shall let the APC reap what it has sown in Nigeria in the last seven years. We do not doubt that Nigerians are ready to vote out APC because our people have been betrayed by the party in which they invested their trust, but failed. Never again! "It has become necessary to remind the purveyors of sentiments in the Southwest that our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is married to our amazon in the region, Mrs. Titi Atiku, and by virtue of marriage, friendship and relationship, Atiku is our son in the region, and he had demonstrated that over the years." Arokodare added that no amount of sentiments can wash away the APC sins, regretting that the party had in the last seven years led Nigeria into extreme poverty, terrorism, deaths, joblessness and hopelessness. "All progressives from all parties, PDP, APC, SDP , LP and others who are desirous to see the end of poverty, killings, joblessness and division in our midst are in this coalition to work for Atiku to win the 2023 presidency and rescue Nigeria from this dangerous state. "APC is our common enemy; it has led many Nigerians into the captivity of terrorists and extreme poverty, and we must get rid of them in 2023." Another Co-convener and former PDP governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Kayode Adaramodu, appealed to the South-west region not to allow sentiment becloud their reasoning in choosing the right president that would lead the country out of the present parlous situation. The former banker posited that the 2023 is not the time for people to start expressing unnecessary emotions that can plunge the country into more chaotic situation, saying people must think of how the country can be rescued from APC misrule. "Posterity will judge us very harshly if we squander this golden opportunity to rescue our people from the present deep and multifaceted disorders. Let us join hands with like minds within and outside our party to win for these eminent Nigerians in 2023. With determination, it is doable," Adaramodu said.