Afenifere, the pan- Yoruba Socio-Political Group has raised the alarm that the country has become ungovernable and therefore on the brink of collapse.
The group raised the alarm at its monthly meeting held at the country home of its national leader Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
Afenifere kicked against what it described as “the constructing a rail line and about N30b highway to connect with Fulanis in the Niger Republic with whom the Fulanis running Nigeria have a cultural kinship”.
A communiqué issued and read to newsmen by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin said that “the truth is that the country had virtually become ungovernable and unless we restructure and restore Nigeria to federalism, the country is on the brink of collapse and God should save us from the worst-case scenario.
“And nobody should take this country on any childish ride, we should just implement the report of the 2014 conference now.
“As Nigeria enters the worst recession in 33 years and the second in 5 years of Buhari, we are equally besieged by attendant poverty, hinged as well as insecurity worsening across the land with kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits on the prowl and government helpless and unable to govern effectively,” the group said.
On the # EndSARS protest, the group said that the “meeting reviewed the recent protests by young people against police brutality under the #ENDSARS movement and its unfortunate bloody resolution by the repressive Nigerian government.
Afenifere contended that “#ENDSARS was a by-product of a unitary rule which promotes single policing that does not allow policemen to relate with their culture and in the process violating people’s rights because of clash of culture in the way SARS profile young people whose culture they don’t understand as criminals because they wear some haircuts and by the way they dress”.
“It was the peak of bestiality to open live bullets on peaceful protesters singing the national anthem and holding the national flag as it happened at Lekki Toll Gate on 20/10/20,” the group said.
The federal government has consistently maintained that Nigerian soldiers did not fire at the protesters at the Lekki tollgate.
“It has become more disheartening that the Nigerian government continues to tell all untruths about the massacre in spite of the CNN revelations and the Lagos coroner advertising unidentified dead bodies dumped in its mortuaries from 19-27 Oct 2020. It smacks of absolute lack of conscience for anybody to still be talking of “massacre without dead bodies”. We are not sure that the current investigation is capable of unravelling what happened in Lekki.
“For instance, we gathered that two sets of solders came to Lekki, one from Lagos and another from Abuja. What mandate was given to each and by whom? “We need to know why Lagos governor was allegedly blocked from reaching the president first after changing the curfew time and after the massacre.
“We commend the UK Parliament for their bold debate on the malady in Nigeria and welcome their decision to recommend sanctions against top officials of a supposed democratic government in Nigeria behaving like a junta. The group which condemned the opening of the borders of the nation for the use to Dangote and BUA asked the government to open the borders now.
According to the group, “the meeting condemned Buhari government’s attitude of a dog that breastfeeds its own puppies and kills other animals for lunch as per management of borders. “While the Seme and other Southern borders have been closed for a year now against our people and recently opened for the use to Dangote and BUA, “We reject this apartheid policy and demand the reopening of Seme and other southern borders now! On the attack and destruction of the farm of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, the group said “the meeting received the report of yet another provocative invasion of Chief Olu Falae farm a few days ago by Fulani herdsmen. “We wonder if a group of Yoruba boys can go to the North and be harassing a northern equivalent of Chief Falae serially, and war would not have been declared on Yoruba in the North now.,” the group said.
Afenifere therefore called “on President Buhari who is also the grand patron of Miyetti Allah to bring this unfortunate development to an end now,” and added that there should should be an apology to Falae.
