The leadership of all Yoruba Indigenous Groups – Yoruba Council Worldwide – has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to Ignore former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his call for the cancellation of last Saturday’s presidential election.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, President of the Yoruba Council Worldwide, Are Oba Oladotun Hassan (Esq), said Obasanjo should be cautioned over his unfounded accusations and false alarm raised against INEC officials in the build-up to the compilation of the presidential election results.
He said the view expressed by Obasanjo on the conduct of the presidential election is out of his selfish, egocentric and deliberate attempt to viciously scuttle the ongoing smooth electoral process through his tainted partisan efforts.
Hassan said Obasanjo is trying to create a false impression against the use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) in the election.
“Under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s watch as President, the country witnessed an election plagued with mass killings and unprecedented electoral malpractices, as well as the “do or die” ideology, which he introduced into our electoral system.
“His undemocratic stance on many fronts has further reduced his level of opinion to a mere beer parlour argument without any substance to hold and bind the nation together.
“Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is under intense frustration and desperation to foist his endorsed political son; Peter Obi of the Labour Party on all Nigerians without due respect to our franchise will, having sacrificed our efforts to vote for our choices on the 25th February, 2023.
“We respect everyone’s choices without any iota of intimidation and violence”, Yoruba Council said.
The Council further said: “Yoruba are peaceful people and most accommodating race, hence we implore President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside all Nigerians, to ignore Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s ill-motivated predictions while standing with INEC to salvage and safeguard the ongoing process to conclusion and fruition predicated on free, fair and credible elections, because any attempt to allow any unilateral cancellation by the Chairman of INEC as proposed by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and co-accomplices, is a recipe for anarchy and full implosion that will take many years to repair.”
Yoruba Council called on all presidential candidates to continuously maintain their peace accord in line with the National Peace Committee’s noble vision, objectives and mandates, for no one’s blood is worth the election.
“We call on all law enforcement agencies to be on red alert to immediately arrest anyone instigating or inciting violence either by utterance or deeds.
“We hereby reiterate our confidence in INEC to continue the result computation process in line with the dictates of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and whoever wins must be declared immediately and given a certificate of return”, the Council said.