Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has said that delaying the restructuring of Nigeria will only lead to emergence of more self-determination activists like Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) and Daniel Kanu of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB).
Adebanjo made the remarks at the funeral of the late spokesman of the pan-Yoruba organization, Yinka Odumakin.
The Afenifere leader stressed that restructuring is not synonymous with secession, as the current administration and its apologists would want people to believe, and that advocates of restructuring are not calling for secession.
“Nobody is calling for secession. As Governor Fayemi (of Ekiti State) said, we are not secessionists; we are calling for restructuring to consolidate Nigeria’s unity. Anything outside that is Fulanisation,” he said.
He said further: “When I was interviewed by the BBC, (they asked) ‘you’re talking of restructuring, but (Governor) Rotimi Akeredolu (of Ondo State) says no secession’; I said yes, I’m in complete agreement with Akeredolu. They said how? I said we don’t want secession; to prevent secession, restructure the country.”
He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government would only be giving impetus for the emergence of more Igbohos, the Nnamdi Kanus, and the Egbesus as long as it continues to delay restructuring of the country.
Adebanjo said that Afenifere and those calling for restructuring of Nigeria are the greatest friends of President Buhari, while Buhari himself is the number one enemy of Nigeria if he fails to restructure now.
“Those who are friends of President Buhari; those who are his colleagues, tell him: the greatest friends he has in this country are Afenifere and those who are preaching restructuring.
“And I repeat: President Buhari is number one enemy of Nigeria the moment he delays restructuring this country now. He is giving impetus to the Igbohos, the Nnamdi Kanus.”
Adebanjo said he was not afraid to be arrested for hate speech if speaking the truth amounts to hate speech.
He said: “And don’t allow anybody to change the narrative. We’re not asking the Fulani to go; we are asking the Fulani herdsmen who are raping our women, who are claiming our farms, who are killing us, depriving our farmers of their farmlands… those are the Fulani that should go.
“Have we asked (Aliko) Dangote to go? Is Dangote not Fulani? He’s giving employment, improving the economy. We can’t be blackmailed.
“Which Yoruba man, or Ibo man is raping your women, kidnapping your people? Which Yoruba man has gone to Kaduna to plant cocoa because he ‘has the right to be anywhere in the country’? We are no fools. We just want the criminals among them to go.”
Chief Adebanjo said if there is any Yoruba, Ibo or Ijaw man in the North doing the same thing, they should be sent away.
“We had fought for this country to be united for progress, not for a section of the country to oppress us. We don’t want the unity of the country where there’ll be unity of the horse and the rider, and they will be the rider and we will be the horse,” he added.
