Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, has attacked leader of the Ilana Yoruba, Prof. Banji Akintoye, over a statement credited to the group, berating the governor over his declaration against secession bids.
While Akeredolu had said that Yoruba activist and other self-determination seekers were not speaking for Ondo State, saying it would not lead Nigeria, the Ilana had fired back at him, arguing that he could not speak for Ondo people.
The group, however, said what it was seeking was self determination and not secession.
The exchange of bitter words would remind followers of Yoruba politics the saying, ‘Yoruba Ronu, a call for sober reflection, as it often comes up in the kind of situation at hand.
The statement emanated from the intervention by legendary dramatist, Hubert Ogunde, during the crisis that engulfed the Western Region during the First Republic.
Reacting in a statement signed by his Special Duties and Strategy, Doyin Odebowale, on Thursday, Akeredolu described Akintoye and his men as deceivers and impostors.
The statement read:
“Let it be reiterated again. There will be no agitation for secession in any part of Ondo State. Prof Akintoye should submit himself to the people if he is so desirous of representing them.
“it is presumptuous, denigrating and condescendingly spiteful for a group of hustlers, living largely in anonymity but struggling for relevance, to keep proclaiming and legislating on issues which affect the destiny of a whole people, without the faintest suggestion of paying even scant regard to their feelings or extending due courtesy to the real representatives of the people whose opinions they discount as unimportant.
“The people are discerning. They know the impostors. They have not forgotten the activities of the suborned agitators, the presumed penitent activists. The Ondo people, and indeed Yoruba are the easiest to lead but the most difficult to deceive. With them sophistry and demagoguery have their limits.”
