Yoruba Global Council, YGC, on Thursday, urged the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his vice president-elect Senator Kashim Shettima to unite all the ethnic groups in the country, noting that the incoming administration must be impartial when allocating resources and appointments.
YGC, in a statement by its spokesperson and general secretary, Professor Lere Amusan and Prince Segun Akanni, respectively, advised aggrieved political parties to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship and be magnanimous in defeat, adding that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducted a free, fair and credible elections.
The statement reads: "YGC is a foremost and prestigious Yoruba Diaspora-based socio-cultural organization established to advance the course and interest of the Yoruba nation through the promotion of unity, mutual trust, trade liberalization, co-existence and interactions with other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and the Diaspora. It is also committed to deepening democracy by fostering the ethos, values and healthy best practices of representative government in the South West and Nigeria in general.
"The international body, whose core mandate is protecting the interest and advancing the course and aspiration of Yoruba sons and daughters – whether at home or Diaspora, uses this medium to felicitate with the former Senator (of the 3rd Republic), erstwhile Governor of Lagos State and the Presidential standard bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his emergence as the winner and President-elect following the extremely strenuous and keenly contested presidential election which held on February 25, 2023.
"There is no gainsaying the fact that your electoral triumph at the Saturday’s poll was a manifestation of your sheer diligence, top-notch stratagem, indefatigable focus and dogged commitment to reconstruct the chequerred history and narrative of the most populous Black nation on planet earth. This victory, though pyrrhic, attests to the fact that your partisan shrewdness and democratic tenacity are quite rare and incomparable to those of your contemporaries, adversaries, political desperados and fifth columnists.
"YGC is confident, without any infinitesimal skepticism, in your sterling leadership qualities of -competence, creativity, mutual-coexistence, innovativeness, courage, capability, discipline and tolerance of opposing views – all needed at this critical time to extricate our sinking ship from a state of doom and navigate it to a land of boom, pacifism and abundant prosperity. Mr. President-elect, we know you did it before, and we are cocksure you can do it again.
"However, the present contexts in the super-structure of the Nigerian milieu call for urgent and pragmatic interventions. As you are aware, the country needs unity and security, as recent developments and trends have depicted that certain ethnic nationalities are seriously agitating for being sequestered from the union. These age-long agitations have been exacerbated by deliberate alienation, marginalization and political ostracization of the agitated groups by the power-that-be at the centre across board. Hence, discontent, mutual suspicion and disillusionment have become the order of the day- no thanks to the questionable parameters deployed in allocating national resources among states and critical stakeholders of the federation.
To this end, we urge you as the next President to accord premium attention to the all-important issue of restructuring the federation along the lines of just and fair allocation of national resources, lack of lopsidedness in federal appointments, entrenchment of rule of law, independent of the judiciary, return autonomy to the 774 local government areas (as the third-tier of government and the nearest to the masses) and providing equal opportunity to all and sundry irrespective of sex, age, religion, ethnic affiliation or political leaning.
"Developing the home economy and leveraging foreign direct investment (FDI) are critical to our national economic revival and renaissance. But this will only remain a mirage if the current spate of national insecurity is not tackled head-on. We therefore urge you to expedite quick actions and programmes in line with your campaign slogan of ‘Renewed Hope’ to arrest the ugly phenomena of insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of insecurity that have compelled international community to label our dear country as ‘unsafe haven.
"Moving forward Mr. President-elect, we implore you to constitute a government of national cohesion and unity by incorporating different critical segments of the country in your administration. An all-inclusive government will be applauded and appreciated across board especially now in order to douse the tensions associated with ethnic rivalry and religious intolerance or deliberate political marginalization of some sections of the federation.
"The 2023 presidential election may have been contested, lost and won, the frills, thrills and pains that typified the process will linger for some time. Many are aggrieved for losing, just as many are calling for the outright cancellation of the presidential poll, while some are raising fictitious alarm over alleged rigging.
"YGC, like the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has said, advises all aggrieved political parties and their candidates to head for the court and seek redress as allowed by the Electoral Act. We however advise the aggrieved to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship and be magnanimous in defeat.
"YGC also wishes to salute President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission for bequeathing Nigerians free, fair and credible elections. Professor Mahmud Yakubu, the INEC’s Chair, deserves a thunderous applause for standing firm and unperturbed throughout the collation and announcement processes in the face of disruptive and unscrupulous elements who were bent on scuttling the processes.
"We cannot but express our profound gratitude to all eligible Nigerian voters for coming out in their millions to exercise their franchise without trepidation. Indeed, they are the ultimate winner of the presidential elections as the President-elect and his cabinet is poised to stun them with myriad of pro-people policies and programmes that will holistically address the knotty issues of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, insecurity and over all economic downturn.
Once again, we heartily congratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our illustrious son, on this gigantic but pyrrhic electoral milestone. We hope and believe you will administer and leave Nigeria BETTER than you met it."
