Former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, 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.”
