According to Bola Tinubu, the APC's presidential candidate, Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the Yoruba political party Afenifere, northerners won't support him (APC).
Adebanjo advised Tinubu to resign in favour of Peter Obi, a candidate for the Labour Party (LP), in order to avoid the humiliation of losing the election.
This was said by him on Saturday in Abeokuta during a rally in support of the LP presidential candidate.
Adebanjo, who attended the gathering alongside Femi Okunronmu, another Afenifere leader, predicted that Northerners would fail to elect Tinubu.
The LP, which the leader of Afenifere referred to as the new National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), will protect Nigerians from the APC's poor governance, he claimed.
“All those who know Tinubu should tell him; I have always told and will tell him again; the Northerners will not vote for him.
“He (Tinubu) should come back home now and support Obi because when they finally defeat him, he won’t have the courage to come back home again. If he comes back now, we will forgive him and take him back.
“I have told you before, and I want to say it again, Labour Party is now NADECO. Those of us supporting Obi are the ones that want good governance; we want Nigeria to be better, and we want to liberate ourselves from the captivity of the ruling class.
“We are behind Obi, leaders of the progressive movement are behind Obi. Those fraudsters parading themselves as Yoruba do not love the country. Yorubas do not take things that do not belong to other tribes. A Yoruba has been president before,” Adebanjo said.
Obi had been to the palace of the Alake of Abeokuta, Adedotun Gbadebo before he spoke to the mostly young crowd at the rally.
A town hall meeting was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, where Obi re-encountered the young people he had met at the rally (OOPL).
At the meeting, he said Nigeria was the most dangerous place on earth.
“For me, I have served the people of Anambra State and was rated as number 1 in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the records are there.
“Even in education, I have taken people out of poverty without borrowing a kobo from anybody, and I paid all the pensions being owed before I assumed office.
“So, let presidential candidates come out and show Nigerians what they have done in the past before aspiring to govern the country.
“We are determined for a new Nigeria; we want people who are confident and qualified for the job. This year’s elections are essential; we can no longer be comfortable with incompetence. We want people who are committed; this job requires physical and mental energy. So, we want people who are ready for the job. Myself and Datti want to change Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a great country, but we have all allowed it to be in the hands of few who do not know how to manage it.”
Adebanjo and Tinubu have been political rivals for over 20 years, ever since they left the now-defunct Alliance for Democracy party, which Tinubu used to become governor of Lagos State in 1999.
Last year, after Adebanjo said that he supported Obi, a group within Afenifere hosted a party for Tinubu at the home of a former leader of the group in Akure, where they backed Tinubu’s campaign.