- Backs true federalism Selfish leaders killed Yoruba aspirations, Nigeria’s economy, says Akande
Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti and Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
Following incessant kidnapping, killings and insurgency across many parts of the country, the Secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Dr. Kunle Olajide, has called for the overhaul of the Nigerian security architecture.
This is coming as the former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has asserted that some ‘selfish and greedy’ Yoruba leaders were responsible for the retrogression and underdevelopment that the Yoruba race is witnessing currently.
The YCE scribe said except the military service chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Gabriel Olonisakin; the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Tukur Butatai, and others, are sacked, the country would continue to witness myriads of crimes.
He suggested further that President Muhammadu Buhari must restructure the country in line with advocacy for true federalism, adding that the lopsidedness in the country’s structure was responsible for poverty among citizens thereby leading to upsurge of crimes.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Olajide advised President Buhari to treat the alarm raised by Afenifere that the South-west region has been allegedly taken over by killer herdsmen and other criminal gangs with utmost attention.
He said Nigerians are helpless due to geometric increase in the level of poverty and economic depression being witnessed currently, adding that the populace shouldn’t expect less crime rate under harsh and annihilating condition.
According to the Yoruba leader, “The present service chiefs started with President Buhari four years ago, still, they have not been able to reduce insurgency in the North and kidnapping in the South.
“My opinion is that they have run out of ideas and they should be sacked. They are fatigued already and have nothing more to offer.
“The best for President Buhari is to bring in fresh hands to manage our security architecture to prevent these killings and other crimes.”
On the alarm raised by Afenifere that the South-west region is no longer safe, the YCE leader said: “I don’t share the view of Fulanisation or Islamisation agenda, but Nigeria has become the world capital of poverty displacing India, so we should expect crime to soar.
“In Nigeria, the poverty level is high in the North because the area is troubled. But these herdsmen and other bandits are moving down South and they see the Southwest as a fertile land where they can make millions through kidnapping and ritual killings.
“So, the threat is real and what I expect the federal government to do is to put security on red alert and be proactive.
“The six governors in the region should mobilise the traditional rulers, the youth groups and other interested bodies to work with the military, police and NSCDC through a Joint Task Force (JTF) and allied means to comb all the suspected forests to dislodge these criminals from their hideouts.”
He further said: “ I want to applaud the president for coming out boldly to align himself with the fact that the country needs true federalism, and this will help in solving some of these inevitable challenges lopsided structures had caused in our system.”
Meanwhile, APC chieftain, Akande, has asserted that some ‘selfish and greedy’ Yoruba leaders were responsible for the retrogression and underdevelopment that the Yoruba race is witnessing currently.
Akande buttressed his assertion by stating that some western leaders in military uniforms collaborated with the North to destabilise the Yoruba political strength, marginalise its people and seize their common patrimonies like University of Ife, the Western Nigerian Television and the Liberty Stadium.
The former governor of Osun State stated these at the weekend during the unveiling of Karele Oodua Logo and Investiture of Karele Oodua Ambassadors organised by the state Ministry of Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism.
According to Akande, the selfish Yoruba leaders also took part in annulling the June 12, 1993, presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola.
He noted that at the beginning of the current republic, the same leaders, for greed reason and self-aggrandisement, cringed to the North and the East for political influence to continue to depress and degrade the authentic aspirations of the Yoruba people with a sermon that the Yoruba should join the mainstream politics of
Nigeria.
Akande noted that the consequence of the actions of these Yoruba leaders in connivance with their northern and eastern counterparts metamorphosed into the disunity of the country and the promotion of religious conflict which resulted in the migration of the Yoruba people to the diaspora.
