The group, under the aegis of Volunteers For Tinubu in Ogun State said ethnicity and religion should not be parameters to vote for a candidate in the coming elections.
The state coordinator, Deji Ogundimu while speaking at a press briefing in Abeokuta, on Thursday, said one of the ways to have a new Nigeria is to support Tinubu’s ambition to emerge the next president of the country.
He added that Tinubu did not appoint his running mate, former Borno governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate based on religion or ethnicity but competence in leadership.
He said, “It is rather unfortunate, maybe I would say due to the level of illiteracy and poverty in Nigeria that illiteracy has been weaponized to a large extent because the issue of religion is beginning to become a very big issue in recent times.
“So many things have been used by the political class to divide Nigerians for them not to have a straight thought on how to address basic issues which will actually move us forward than what will keep us down.
“Religious sentiment is what you just raised now and it is rather unfortunate that it is becoming more prominent in our political atmosphere today, religion in Nigeria today has become something that is very sensitive to a very large extent.
“Why is everybody much more interested in the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we have other presidential candidates, if it is not going to work, the APC would not decide to go that way and they kept appealing to Nigerians to make informed decisions when they are casting their votes come 2023 and shun emotional sentiments.”
Speaking on ethnicity, the state coordinator of the group said, “If we revisit my opening remark, we would see that the issue of ethnicity; Yoruba, Biafra, Arewa that is really becoming an issue in Nigeria today, just as a result of those issues that mentioned,
“I do not want to outrightly support that, it is still part of the sentiment which has been weaved up by the inefficiency of the current system that we are running which I believe and resources will do a lot of changes in re-writing the wrong we are currently asking for personality change.
“Some say you should be a good leader very well, there is no way you can identify a good leader. A good leader can only be in office and deliberately perform by the system that he or she meets on ground.”
