*Faults Prof Akintoye, Sunday Igboho
*Says Yoruba has invested so much in Nigeria, Tinubu already on right path of making Nigeria better for everybody
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere on Monday, described the call for the exit of Yoruba from Nigeria as undesirable, self-serving and unnecessary ‘at the moment at least’.
Afenifere in a statement by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi rubbished the call by a group, “Yoruba Self-Determination Movement’ (YSDM) in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu on Saturday for a peaceful secession of the Yoruba nation from Nigeria.
The Pan Yoruba socio political and socio cultural organization stated in its statement that the problems bedeviling Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole “are not merely because multi-ethnic groups make up the country”.
According to Afenifere, ” Rather, the country’s multi various problems can be traced to lack of good governance”, adding that it faulted
“the reason adduced for the request to exit Nigeria which was on the basis of perceived marginalization that Yorubas are suffering in Nigeria.
“There is no doubt that the lot of Yorubas can be better than it presently is. But whatever deprivation Yorubas may be experiencing today in the Nigerian nation is not due mainly to the fact that they are Yorubas”, it said.
The Pan Yoruba organization added, ” The deprivations they may be suffering could be traced to the general mis governance that corporate Nigeria had been subjected to over the years if not decades. Meaning that marginalization, deprivation, injustice, misgovernance etc that Yorubas may be experiencing today is, if truth is to be told, not peculiar to Yorubas alone”.
“We are not, by this submission, claiming that Yorubas 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”.
It noted further ” when, during the First Republic, the country Nigeria ran a semblance of true federalism in which each region was able to determine its own affairs, life was relatively better and the agitation for separation was not rife”.
New Nigerian recalls that Prof Banji Akintoye, Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho, was reported to have sent a letter to President Bola Tinubu allegedly asking him to within the next two months, set up a negotiation team that will midwife the exit of Yoruba people from Nigeria.
