Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere on Monday described the call for the exit of Yoruba from Nigeria as undesirable, self-serving and unnecessary.
Recall that leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, Professor Banji Akintoye and Mr Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho, reportedly sent a letter to President Bola Tinubu where they tasked the President set up a negotiation team that will midwife the exit of Yoruba people from Nigeria.
But reacting to the ultimatum, Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi, insisted that the problems bedeviling Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole “are not merely because multi-ethnic groups make up the country. Rather, the country’s multifarious problems can be traced to lack of good governance.”
The statement reads: “There is no doubt that the lot of Yoruba can be better than it presently is. But whatever deprivation Yoruba may be experiencing today in the Nigerian nation is not due mainly to the fact that they are Yoruba.
The deprivations they are suffering could be traced to the general misgovernance that corporate Nigeria had been subjected to over the years if not decades. Meaning that marginalization, deprivation, injustice and mis-governance, among others that Yoruba may be experiencing today is, if truth is to be told, not peculiar to Yoruba alone.
We are not, by this submission, claiming that Yoruba are getting the best or should not be better served. Far from it.
What we are saying is that it would be unfair to use the excuse of the deprivations in the land as an alibi to want to leave Nigeria. What we should clamour for is good governance that will enable every segment of the society to have a better lease of life.”
On the claim by the Yoruba nation that the request was done on behalf of Yoruba people at home and in the diaspora, the body wondered when a referendum was conducted of recent to really determine that what was conveyed in the letter to Mr. President was what Yoruba want at this moment.
Afenifere’s spokesperson said: “We have confidence in Mr. President to deliver on his mandate, the Renewed Hope and the promises he made not just with Afenifere leaders but also with Nigerians. What is needed now is to support his administration, to give suggestions on how to move the country forward and to call the attention of the government to areas where reparations have to be done.
“Yoruba people have contributed so much to Nigeria. So much that our intention presently is not to move out but to get what is wrong with the country to be made right. We believe that President Tinubu has what it takes to right those wrongs. This is why we are giving him our absolute support, especially since he has given us the assurance that he will not veer off the path of doing the best for Nigeria.
“Restructuring is one important mechanism through which Nigeria can be made better. President Tinubu has assured us in words and in his body language that he will restructure the country. He is a man of honour. We believe that he will do it. And do it effectively at the right time – which will be very soon, by the grace of God.”