CITIZENS COMPASS– THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has berated the Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, for condemning the agitation of the Yoruba Nation.
Recall that Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum has declared that those who are agitating for the Yoruba Nation were enemies of the country.
He made the declaration at the launching of the emblem appeal to flag off the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebrations held in Akure, the state capital, on Friday.
A statement issued by the Secretary General of the Afenifere, Mr Sola Ebiseni, faulted Akeredolu’s position on the regional agitation, as it said the governor was playing to the gallery. The statement was titled, ‘Akeredolu: Between equity and opportunism.’
it reads, “The statement credited to Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State at the launching of an emblem appeal to flag off the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, unfortunately, confirmed the scarcity of statesmanship in our clime particularly faced with the lust for political power.
“We have no problem with the governor playing to the gallery, as a glorified Chief Security Officer, urging that security forces clamp down on any person or group whose activities he interpreted as capable of disintegrating the Nigerian State because we are no less patriotic and committed to its continuing corporate existence.
“We are also in the same boat with him that ‘this country is very important to some of us’ and the recognition that agitation and protests are rights protected in a democratic society.
“Our worry, however, is that Akeredolu, even as the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, would not, in deference to that high pedestal, wean himself from petty politicking which sacrifices equity needed for national peace and cohesion in preference of crass opportunism. In short, his vituperation on that occasion was most disastrously bereft of statesmanship and national conciliation.”
