Prominent leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and politicians in the South West geo-political zone, on Tuesday, shunned the launch of The National Agenda (TNA), a movement championing the 2023 Presidential ambition of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
It was gathered that Fayemi, who is the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), is one of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the APC.
It was learnt that TNA had been launched in other geo-political zones, such as South East, South South, North West, North East and North Central.
Our correspondent, however, reports that prominent leaders of the APC and politicians in the South West, distanced themselves from the launch of TNA in the South West region, in Ibadan on Tuesday.
The launch, which took place at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, was shunned by the major political gladiators in the South West.
It was reported that the venue of the event was largely occupied by people, mainly from Ekiti State and a few politicians from Osun State.
They were conveyed to the venue with buses and cars belonging to the Ekiti State government.
The Director-General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr Seye Oyeleye, in his paper delivered at the event, said the unity and progress of the Nigerian-nation-state has been heavily marred by the systemic and structural deficiencies evident in the country prior to independence which was subsequently worsened by the intervention of the military.
He also harped on the need for a broad-based constitutional development process for the sustainable development of the country.
Oyeleye told the gathering that the national agenda is inconsequential without thoroughly investigating the ‘national question’.
He said, “The national question in this context simply refers to deliberating on the efforts that will accommodate the competing and often, diverse interests and ideologies of several ethnicities, tribes, religions, cultures and some would say class, existing within one geographical entity.
“All other efforts aimed at solving our challenges are tantamount to putting the horse before the cart. The structural and systemic inefficiencies would continue to stall progress and breed disunity”.