Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of Ogun, says for the 2023 elections, he will support Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Biyi Otegbeye, governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun.
Speaking in an interview published by BBC Yoruba on Monday, Amosun said Nigeria will soon attain the level in which ethnic affiliation will not influence the choice of voters.
“By God’s grace, very soon in this generation, Nigeria will attain the level in which Nigerians will not consider the tribes of those who rule them,” Amosun said.
“However, at this present moment in Nigeria, this is why I joined many stakeholders to say that after the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidency should come to the southern part of the country. The presidency can come from the south-west, south-east or south-south.
“That is why I stepped down for a southern aspirant during the APC presidential primary in order to form a joint support base for a southern presidency.
“You can only be friendly with someone who does not want to hurt you. We built the party in Ogun.
“For the presidential election, I’m supporting APC, but for the governorship election, I’m not supporting APC and I know that members of my camp are not supporting APC. We are not hiding it. I’m supporting Biyi Otegbeye from ADC.”
Meanwhile, the development appears to be an extension of the 2019 political feud in Ogun state, involving Amosun and Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun.
For the 2019 elections, Amosun had expressed his disapproval for the candidacy of Abiodun, contrary to the stance of bigwigs in the APC, especially those at the national level.
The former governor had supported Adekunle Akinlade, candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), for the governorship election in 2019.
However, Abiodun won the election while Akinlade came second and challenged the outcome of the poll up to the supreme court, but lost.
The APM candidate eventually rejoined the APC in December 2019.
Speaking further in the BBC interview, Amosun said despite the security challenges, the 2023 elections should take place.
“By God’s grace, the election will take place. There are security challenges in many parts of the country, both in the north and south. However, we cannot say because of the security challenges, we should not vote,” he said.
“If we don’t vote, what will happen? There cannot be a country without government. Those saying we should not vote because of security challenges, if we don’t vote, what will happen?
“What will happen when the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari elapses and we don’t conduct election?
“Are we going to be killing ourselves on who will become president after Buhari if we don’t conduct election? We must ensure that votes count.”
Source: Top Stories
