Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, said on Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari had decided to turn a blind eye to inciting statements by some Northern leaders because they are both on the same page.
Junaid Mohammed, in a recent interview, had said the Igbo were free to secede if denied the presidency in 2023, while Ango Abdullahi had also said there was nothing wrong if the North remained in power for the next 100 years.
Speaking in with Daily Independent, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, said he was not surprised that the Federal Government and security agencies had not cautioned the likes of Junaid because they were only verbalizing the policies of the government which was aimed at alienating some sections of the country.
He said it was surprising that Omoyele Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow Movement, should be languishing in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) with a stringent bail condition while the likes of Junaid and Ango, who were making statements capable of dividing the country, were walking free.
Odumakin said: “The Federal Government sees nothing wrong in these statements because they are singing from the same hymn book.
“The government is implementing exclusive policies, alienating sections of the country, and people like Junaid Mohammed and Ango Abdullahi are just verbalizing what the Federal Government is doing. They are only verbalizing what the government is acting.
“That is why the security agencies have not called them to order. It is only those who call for revolution that they arrest and give impossible bail conditions.
“But these kinds of people who are making statements that can divide the country and set it ablaze, they don’t even take any notice.”
In a related development, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, on Thursday said elder statesman and Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, lied when he claimed he (Nwodo) came to the North, knelt down and begged to be made a president.
unpaid, in an interview with Daily Independent, had said: “Are you telling me because John Nwodo is the president of Ohanaeze I should ask people to vote for him? I will not.
“He came all the way from Enugu with a delegation and we had a meeting in a house not very far from my house, I think it is the house of a former governor of Kaduna State, Lawal Jafaru Isa.
“We had a meeting there in which John Nwodo went on his knees begging us to make him president. We laughed at him. In our culture, you don’t come here and say you people should make me this or that. We allow people to point at you and say you are good to occupy certain positions.”
However, speaking with our correspondent, Nwodo described Junaid’s statement as lies, saying he would soon respond.
“He (Junaid) is telling lies. I am in a meeting right now but I will soon respond. We will issue a statement very soon,” Nwodo said.
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