Yoruba elders warns North against reducing Osinbajo’s influence ahead of 2023

Vice president, Yemi Osinbajo 

The Secretary General of the Yoruba Council of Elders YCE, Dr Kunle Olajide, has warned against scuttling the rotation of Presidency between the North and South.

Olajide, who said Osinbajo’s exclusion from the newly formed EAC looked suspicious, said it would be unfair for the North to hold on to power beyond 2023.



President Muhammadu Buhari, had during the week replaced the Economic Management Team headed by Osinbajo with the Economic Advisory Council.

The seven- member EAC headed by Prof Doyin Salami is to report directly to the President. There are also reports Osinbajo has been directed to henceforth seek clarifications before taking major decision on the agencies he supervises.




The moves have been seen by many as actions deliberately taken by the cabal to reduce the influence of the Vice president ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

But in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the YCE chief said he was one of the people who believed that the combination of Buhari and Osinbajo was okay but expressed surprise at what is happening.

He said, “I want to let everybody know that we have yet to build a nation out of Nigeria and this is not the time to jettison the rotation arrangement between the North and South.



“There is heavy mutual suspicion in the country. People are suspicious of the Fulani and their domineering nature, and if they don’t want to cause confusion, they should allow the rotation between the North and South to continue until we build a nation out of Nigeria.”

He said North should be cautioned against any statement that could further trigger suspicion.

Olajide said the statement attributed to a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na ’Abba, that Nigeria needed a competent President irrespective of their region in 2023 showed what some northern politicians were planning.