Temidayo Akinsuyi, Lagos
Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a former Minister of Transport on Thursday said he cannot support the presidential aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Lagos state governor in the 2023 general elections as doing so will amount to waste of time.
Speaking in a chat with Daily Independent, Babatope, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said as a Yoruba man, he will rather support Igbos or Fulanis for the presidency than back Tinubu as they don’t belong to the same political party.
He said “To me, supporting Tinubu for presidency in 2023 is mere waste of time. I am not a member of APC , so why should I support him? I am a fanatical member of PDP while Tinubu belongs to APC and so, he has every right to canvass for presidency under his party”.
“If I say I want to go and support Tinubu for presidency on what basis? He is a Yoruba man like myself but we don’t belong to the same party. There are Igbos, Fulanis and others who belong to my party and who may have interest in the presidency. If they indicate interest in contesting for the presidency, I must give consideration to their feelings”.
“Supporting them will be better than for me to say I am supporting Tinubu because he is a Yoruba man. No, I won’t support him because that will not be fair”.
On plans by the PDP to throw the presidential ticket open instead of zoning, Babatope said while he strongly believes that the South-East deserves the ticket as it has not produced the presidency since 1999, any action taken by the PDP leadership to return the power in 2023 is welcomed by him.
“If by throwing the presidential ticket open, the party wants to look for justice and fairplay, that’s fair enough. The reality is that the Igbos have not had a fair share of the presidency since 1999”.
“I would have supported the Igbos but again, we have been locked out of power and I want the PDP back in power. Also, many Nigerians want PDP back in power because they believe that they will do better than the APC”.
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