Don't sideline Nigeria's Yoruba ethnic group - Group tells Buhari, president-elect

A group of Pan-Yoruba Associations under the aegis of Coalition of Odua Self-Determination, on Thursday, asked the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, not to sideline the Yoruba and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Dayo Ogunlana, argued that having contested the elections three times without success, the support of the Yoruba nation and that of Tinubu for Buhari in the presidential elections made him win.
Reacting to a report condemning Tinubu’s influence in the selection of key political appointments, the group said it wondered why similar concerns were not raised before the elections when Tinubu was building structures to enhance Buhari’s victory.
It said, “The tremendous goodwill enjoyed in the last election should not be mismanaged. The new alliance between the Fulani and the Yoruba should not be a setback for 170 million Nigerians. It should be an initiative that will lead to a better Nigeria based on justice and equity. Our recent collective interest has shown that a single ethnic nationality cannot monopolise government and power in Nigeria.”
The groups also expressed concerns that some individuals that did not support the APC in the elections have been jostling for appointments in the Buhari government..
The statement read, “Their objectives seem clear enough. Firstly, they wish to reap where they did not sow. Secondly, and more worrisome, they seek to deny those who laboured valiantly in the wilderness of opposition of the fruits of their labour.
“Can the Yoruba afford to go to sleep with the victory of Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 presidential election? We in the Yoruba self-determination community think not. And our reasons for caution and vigilance in this regard should be obvious enough by now.
“The intrigues aimed at whittling down the influence of Tinubu and by extension the space afforded the South-West in the emerging political dispensation offers a sneak preview of what might await the Yoruba as the Buhari presidency assumes office.”
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