The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has called out the leader of the Yoruba separatist group, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, stating that his disposition to pull the Yoruba nation out of Nigeria was unbefitting.
Tinubu, who stated this in a statement issued by the Director, Media & Publicity Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga was reacting to Prof. Akintoye allegations that he (Tinubu’s) Presidential ambition was self serving.
Akintoye had on Thursday said: “The Yoruba people have decided that they want their own country. We have decided that since 2019 and there is no looking back. We want our Yoruba nation now. That is the decision of the overwhelming majority of the Yoruba.
“However, there are some of us who think they have done a lot for some political friends in Nigeria and they want to earn the benefit of it. One of them said, ‘I am the next person, emi lo kan’.
“Well, we don’t hold grudges for that, but what is important is that they are doing that for their personal gain and not for the welfare of the Yoruba people. What the welfare of Yoruba people demands today is that every Yoruba woman, man and child demands today is that we walk peacefully to take our nation out of Nigeria.”
But Onanuga in response, said: “Our attention has been drawn to an unfortunate, misdirected, misplaced and divisive statement credited to Professor Banji Akintoye, in which his group threatened to pull the South West out of Nigeria.
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“To be candid, there are several agitation groups in the South West and in other parts of Nigeria who wrongly think the best way to demand for justice and fairness is through break-up of our country.
“And since there has been no referendum held in Yorubaland about whether to stay in Nigeria or not and no such referendum has been held in any part of Nigeria, it is then appropriate to assume that this separatist idea is basically Akintoye and his group’s sole idea.
“We join other bona-fide and critical stakeholders in Yorubaland to advise Professor Akintoye not to plunge our people into a needless and precipitate crisis or create another Rwanda.
“We find it quite preposterous the professor’s sweeping outlandish accusation that Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu is only pursuing his personal interest in running for the presidency of Nigeria. Such statement is malicious and unwarranted. It is pertinent to state that Asiwaju Tinubu is contesting for Nigeria’s presidency because of his readiness to render unflinching service to Nigerians and because of his abiding faith in a strong, united and prosperous Nigeria where every man and woman, regardless of their ethnicity and religious beliefs, can be proud and prosperous.”