Elder statesman and leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has knocked the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, for his recent political comment, where he stated that the North has the majority votes to retain power in 2023 and that heaven would not fall if another northerner emerges to succeed President Buhari.
Reacting to the statement, Pa Adebanjo in an interview with Af24news in Lagos, said, the population the north keep talking about is fake.
According to him, in geography the nearer the desert, the fewer the population. “That’s how it happens all over the world. It’s only in Nigeria that the nearer the desert, the higher the population,” he said.
Dr Baba-Ahmed had at a lecture on Saturday said anyone who does not want a northerner as President should leave the country if one emerges.
He said, “The North is not for sale and northerners will surprise those waiting for them to queue up in 2023 and be given money in exchange for their votes.
“We have the majority of the votes and democracy says vote whom you want. Why should we accept a second class position when we know we can buy form and contest for first class and we will win?”
Amid criticisms generated from his statement in Zaria, Baba-Ahmed on Tuesday reiterated his stance, insisting that the demands by the southern governors were not properly presented.
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He also called out Pa Ayo Adebanjo, J.P Clark and other southern elders, accusing them of making incendiary comments that heat the polity.
Baba-Ahmed further urged the need to move beyond ethnic or religious sentiments during the 2023 presidential election.
He said, “You cannot threaten us with violence and intimidation. We can read the constitution; we know what it takes to be the president. You have to score at least 25 per cent in 24 states. There are no 24 states in the north, which means no northerner can become president unless he gets support from the southern part of the country.
READ ALSO: 2023: Northerners Can’t Be Forced To Vote Southern President – Baba-Ahmed
“By the same token, no southerner can become president unless he gets support from the north. We understand this; we are not ignorant. We know there will be a time when someone from the south will become president.”
Adebanjo said the statement from the Northern Elders Forum exposed the mindset of impunity against the southern part of the country.
Adebanjo called on Nigerians to see Baba-Ahmed’s statement as another reason why the country must be restructured to a proper federal state.
“Baba-Ahmed’s comments show you the impunity that I have been talking about. And that is why I say that we need to change the Constitution before we go into any elections.
“This present constitution has everything loaded in favour of the North, against the South.
“And even the electoral laws, which could have saved us with the introduction of electronic voting, but the politicians said No, that they don’t want it.
“The Southern governors would reach a consensus and state their demands, but the North would come and keep bragging that they have the majority.
“Where is their huge population except you’re going to count their cows and the cattle? ln geography the nearer the desert, the fewer the population. That’s how it happens all over the world. It’s only in Nigeria that the nearer the desert, the higher the population. The population they keep talking about is fake”, Pa Adebanjo added.
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