The Yoruba Leadership and Peace Initiative (TYLPI) has urged supporters of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and Bola Tinubu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to go about campaigning for their respective candidates , without chaos or incendiary speeches.
Osinbajo and Tinubu have both indicated interest in contesting the presidency in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking on the development in a statement issued on Monday by Tunde Ipinmosho, TYLPI spokesman, the group said such campaigns should be carried out in the overall interest of national development, rather than selfish motives.
“Allegations and counter allegations of betrayal, greed and perceived heavy moral burden have been going back and forth among the supporters of the two foremost contenders for the presidential slot since the duo declared interest in the ticket,” the statement reads.
“The bitterness fuelling the mudslinging by the supporters of both aspirants portends grave danger for the social and political health of the region.
“Both Osinbajo and Tinubu were once allies. The tempo of the campaign of hate from the two sides could trigger chaos unless urgent steps were taken to put an end to it.
“The current bitter exchanges would, if unchecked, raise the political temperature in the South West and could degenerate into the kind of civil disorder experienced in the defunct Western Region in the 1960s.
“Such issues as restructuring, devolution of power, state police, resource control, justice, fairness and equity in the Nigerian state, the statement noted, had been swept under the carpet in the current diatribe between the supporters of the two contenders.”
The group appealed to traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders in Yorubaland to work towards ensuring that the campaigns to not cause tension.
According to the group, Osinbajo and Tinubu are “eminently qualified to contest for the presidency and their decision to go for it should not cause rancour among their supporters”.
TYLPI also urged Osinbajo and Tinubu to “refocus their campaign on issues that would bring about positive development in the country, restore peace, activate economic turnaround and generate solutions that would improve the lot of the common man in the country”.
