Rauf Aregbesola, former Minister of Interior, says Nigerians have the opportunity in 2027 to prevent what he described as an assault on democracy.
Speaking in a video shared
on his X page on Tuesday, Aregbesola, the national secretary of the African
Democratic Congress (ADC), made remarks about President Bola Tinubu’s popular
campaign phrase, “Emi lokan”, used ahead of the 2023 elections.
Tinubu, during a campaign in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital,
used “Emi lokan”, a Yoruba phrase meaning “it’s my turn”, to tell his
supporters that it was his turn to be Nigeria’s president.
However, in the video, Aregbesola, a former ally of Tinubu,
likened “Emi lokan” to despotism.
“Nigerians have the opportunity today to prevent the assault
on democracy,” he said.
“Despotism is a single word for “Emi lokan”.
“Despot. A man who believes that he has a divine right to
administer space and time. That’s ‘Emi lokan, not ‘awa lokan’, not ‘egbe
lokan’, not ‘eeyan lokan'” Aregbesola said.
“Emi… that is affirming a divine authority. A divine right
to rule. If that was not well understood then, I want to believe that
Nigerians now know what it really means. So, we are now having it not just
being merely said rhetorically but being physically demonstrated.
“But Nigerians have the opportunity today to prevent the
assault on democracy.”
However, Aregbesola, who was a member of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) before defecting to the ADC, was missing from
the opposition party’s campaign council list released in September by Atiku
Abubakar, its presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.
Aregbesola’s omission is particularly notable given his
prominent position in the party’s national leadership and his role in its
grassroots mobilisation.
Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the
ADC, told TheCable that the absence of some party leaders from the
campaign council should not be interpreted as a sign of estrangement.
Abdullahi said the party’s machinery must continue to
function even as the campaign organisation gets into gear.
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