A former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, on Monday, advised the president-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, to ensure he re-orders and unify Yoruba people under his leadership.
Fayose, who spoke in an interview on Fresh FM monitored in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, lamented that the Yoruba Nation had been “badly balkanised and divided” and restoring its unity would be a great legacy for Tinubu.
The former governor tasked Tinubu to be magnanimous in victory and appoint members of the opposition into his cabinet, urging him not to be president of APC members alone.
“I cannot set an agenda for Tinubu. If this is truly his ambition before now and he knows what he went through to get this far, he must set his own agenda.
“The only thing I would like to say to Tinubu and this one is personal to me as a Yoruba man is that the Yoruba Nation needs to be re-ordered.
“Tinubu should not be the president of APC in the South-West. He should be the president and father of the Yoruba Nation and bring us all together.
“After the demise of most of these leaders, things will go bad [in Yorubaland]. One of the legacies Asiwaju should leave is to rally the Yoruba people and bring us together, draw everybody together.
“When he is making appointments and he wants it only for APC members, he will fail. He should invite members of the opposition and draw everybody close and listen to us on how the Yoruba Nation can come together.
“The Yoruba Nation has lost it. We are badly balkanised and divided. Because Asiwaju is a Yoruba man, he must bring the Yoruba people together.
“We are angry and that is why you see the agitation for Yoruba Nation. But they have given us a Yoruba president now. He has a lot to do.
“Oduduwa Republic cannot happen. Arewa Republic cannot happen and Igbo or Biafra Republic cannot happen. It is a sheer waste of time.
“We have gone far in the day to call for division. How do we share our debt? How do we share those things? So, let’s stop deceiving ourselves and stop creating tension.
“Already, there is tension in the East, North, South and West. Asiwaju, God will help you. Thank God you were elected as president.
“So, remember that if you don t put the Yoruba Nation together, history will not be kind to you.
“This Yoruba Nation must be united going forward under your leadership. Put us together. Get us busy in Yorubaland. Don’t be president of APC alone. If you do that, your case will be worse than that of Olusegun Obasanjo,” the former governor said.
Fayose rallied support for the reelection of Governor Seyi Makinde, describing him as the best and only option for the people of the state.
The former governor appealed to aggrieved PDP leaders in the state not to “throw away the baby with the bath water,” just as he challenged Makinde to bend backwards and placate the angry leaders.
He said Makinde, in the area of infrastructure and development of the state, had done well to be returned to continue his good work.