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The Islamic human rights advocacy group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has described as "illogical" the decision of Pa Ayo Adebanjo and a section of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, to endorse the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for president.
MURIC also commended Afenifere national leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, for nullifying Adebanjo's decision courtesy of his endorsement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the preferred candidate for Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
Pulse reports that Tinubu received Fasoranti's blessings when he alongside his supporters visited the Afenifere leader at his country home in Akure, Ondo State, on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
In a statement issued by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Thursday, November 3, 2022, MURIC hailed the development while insisting that Obi's initial endorsement was inexplicable.
Oloyede said Tinubu's endorsement by the group was capable of uniting the Yoruba given that Christians and Muslims would now be supporting Tinubu as well. He therefore urged Nigerians to think of what united them than that which divided them.
The statement read: “The national leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, has endorsed Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the preferred presidential candidate for Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
“MURIC commends Pa Fasoranti for his sportsmanship and broadmindedness. Pa Fasoranti’s name will be engraved in letters of gold for ignoring the illogical, irrational and inexplicable choice of Pa Ayo Adebanjo who declared support for Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
“We advise Pa Adebanjo to reflect on the events surrounding the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the role of the National Democratic Coalition in confronting military totalitarians and, in particular, the sterling quality of Tinubu among NADECO’s dramatis personae.
“Equally noteworthy for Pa Adebanjo is Tinubu’s heroic and miraculous rescue of Yorubaland from Nigeria’s drift to a one-party state and the attendant tyranny and dictatorship that would have followed in the hands of no other than one of the sons of Yorubaland who found himself in Aso Rock by accident but used the major part of his tenure to persecute Yorubaland. Perchance such retrospective glance, like the last look at the Moor, will remove the veil covering Pa Adebanjo’s eyes.
“A major significance of Pa Fasoranti’s endorsement of Tinubu is that it is capable of uniting the Yoruba people as Muslims and Christians will now rally behind Tinubu in a united front. The likely fallout of this development is a future payback by Yoruba Muslims who have shown the willingness to support a Christian candidate in future if their Christian counterparts vote for Tinubu, a Yoruba Muslim, in the 2023 presidential election.
“The 2023 elections are of a great importance to Yoruba Muslims because of the likelihood of a Muslim from the region emerging as President for the first time. All those who have tasted power in the past among the Yoruba have been Christians (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Earnest Shonekan, Oladipo Diya and Yemi Osinbajo).
“It will be recalled that MURIC had earlier called for a Yoruba Muslim president as far back as February 2021.
“This goes to show how important the Tinubu project is to Yoruba Muslims. It follows, therefore, that the extent to which Yoruba Christians respond positively or otherwise will go a long way to determine the parameter with which Yoruba Muslims will measure the future relationship between them and their Christian neighbours.”
“Yoruba Muslims and their Christian counterparts can work together for the greatness of Yorubaland in particular and Nigeria in general if they can come together in moments like this. We must think more of things that unite us instead of dissipating energy on things that divide us.
“Christians and Muslims in Yorubaland must come together at this crucial time for the purpose of grabbing the open sesame to the doors of Aso Rock. The zone is fortunate to have the gem of the collection, a unifier, a builder of men, a rare genius, a political colossus, the possessor of economic magic wand, the man who turned Lagos to a land of gold, Bola Tinubu.”