Oluwatosin Enesi
Yerima pointed out that those, like himself, who were once pro-democracy activists alongside the president in the struggle to establish the nation’s budding democracy, now harbor reservations about his current stance.
As the National President of the AYCF and a former Youth Director of the political pressure group NADECO, which fiercely opposed the late General Sani Abacha’s military rule in the early 90s, he expressed concern about the prevailing policies of the ruling APC administration. He expressed the hope that President Tinubu has not fallen under the sway of the familiar “Aso Rock Cabal,” as witnessed in the previous regime.
Yerima, while speaking said, “Some of us now have our reservations about the President. The Bola Tinubu that I know and that I once worked in the trenches is a totally different person now. I hope it’s not what I am thinking, and I don’t want to believe that he would be hijacked by the same characters.
“I expect that by the coming of Tinubu, certain things would have happened where he would begin to believe in this present generation than the old men of the past who had worked with him and the same people coming back tactically behind the doors. Some of them have a lot of influence on the government. I hope that he will not allow himself to be carried away.
“He should learn from what happened to his predecessor. I hope he will be remembered positively because my prayers are that this present government that I ascribed as ‘our government’ should live up to expectations.
“I have my reasons when I said it’s our government. It is our government because it’s a product of our struggle. Even though I have worked closely with him and recently, from a far distance, I still relate very well to him. I am one of those behind the scenes with my counterpart, Muhajid Asari Dokubo, making statements for Tinubu’s presidency.”
Our Reporter
