Afenifere dissociates self from Akintoye, Igboho over calls to exit Nigeria

Afenifere, yesterday, described the call for the exit of Yoruba from Nigeria as undesirable, self-serving and unnecessary.In a statement, the National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, maintained that the problems confronting Yorubaland and Nigeria, “are not merely because multi-ethnic groups make up the country. Rather, the country’s multivarious problems can be traced to lack of good governance.”

Professor Banji Akintoye, leader of Ilana Omo Oodua and Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Igboho, have sent a letter to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in which they want the President to, within the next two months, set up a negotiation team that will midwife the exit of Yoruba people from Nigeria.

The duo claimed: “We have the honour to send to Your Excellency this important letter on behalf of the many millions of Yoruba people at home in Yorubaland in Nigeria and the Yoruba Diaspora in almost all countries across the world.”

But Afenifere faulted their position on many grounds. First was the reason adduced for the request to exit Nigeria, which was based on the perceived marginalisation that Yorubas are suffering in Nigeria.

To underscore his point, the spokesman asserted that when, during the First Republic, the country ran a semblance of true federalism in which each region was able to determine its affairs, life was relatively better and the agitation for separation was not rife.