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By Nasir Kura
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on Friday called on Nigerians to vote whoever they desire to be their president in the forthcoming presidential election, saying no leader is bigger than the nation.
The monarch said this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after he led some traditional rulers from the south-west on a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said traditional rulers in south-west have resolved to douse tension in the region towards ensuring peaceful elections.
He said: “Election is so close by and obviously tension will build. What is critical is for us to know that Nigeria is greater than all of us. No amount of money they will promise the youths to disrupt and to destabilise the country, they should know they are making history for themselves.
“They will come and they will go but Nigeria will remain. We traditional rulers who are very fortunate to still be alive, we have experienced many presidents, many governors. A president cannot use more than eight years, that is in the constitution of Nigeria, so Nigeria is greater than the president whose maximum tenure is eight years.
“So, our message to everyone in Nigeria is that please, especially Nigerian youths, go and vote for whoever you want to vote for. Mr. President even said it by himself, it is not a do or die. Whatever you want to use your power of your thumb for, go ahead and do it.
“We are not here for politics. We are fathers to all, very close to our people, the only politics we understand is politics of development. We are here to talk about development for our people in all the states of the south western Nigeria.”
The monarch said the traditional rulers were at the Presidential Villa to commend the President for the cordial relationship he has with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over the last three and half years.
“We are here to point out the good things Mr. President has been doing especially the cordial relationship with the Vice President who is from the south western part of the country.
“We are here to further request from Mr. President good things that we want for our various states. When you are doing good you will first of all appreciate the good things before asking for more.
“What is critical for us here is to champion development for our people. We spoke about the inclusion of youths in the current government and also women inclusion. In terms of demography of votes pattern, we know that everything rest on the shoulders of Nigerian youths, we want to see them in this cabinet,” he said.
