2023: Don’t overheat polity over southern presidency — Group

A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations under the aegis of Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) has cautioned politicians in the South against overheating the polity.

The forum said some political bigwigs in the South, especially the South-West, were compelling traditional rulers and other groups to back the southern governors’ resolution in Lagos last week that there should be a power shift to the South in 2023.

• Buhari, El-Rufai, ACF mourn as ex-Kaduna Dep Gov, Bantex, dies at 64
• COVID-19: Nigeria faces third wave as Lagos issues red alert

The National Coordinator of the forum, Adeshina Animashaun, in a statement on Sunday said, “YAF has observed a flurry of activities and desperate attempts by some powerful politicians and individuals to further aggravate the ongoing debate and eventually create tension in the polity ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“We have it on good authority that these powerful politicians and individuals have been on the throat, so to say, of some traditional rulers in the South-West states, in particular, to compel the royal fathers to convene a meeting and issue resolutions backing the decisions they took last Monday in Lagos.

“Similarly, various civil society groups in the South, YAF learnt, are being pressured to meet and issue communique supporting the southern governors’ position on the various issues they raised last Monday in Lagos.

“The utterances of some of these groups have left so much to be desired as their statements on the issue border on threats to the rest of the country.”

In a related development, the Kwara Youths Elites Forum has said for equity, justice and fairness, power should shift to the northern part of the state in 2023.

The forum stated this in a statement jointly signed by Hon. Abiodun Adewole (Kwara Central), Dr. Dunmoye Ismail (Kwara South) and Hajia Aisha Yahyah (Kwara North) and made available to newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, on Sunday.

They said the governorship position in the state should be rotated among the three senatorial districts, adding that this would help lessen the burden and cry of marginalisation among the heterogeneous communities in the state.