Former governor of Osun state and who is current Minister for Interior, Raufu Aregbesola, has received his just dessert from the leadership of Ilana Omo Oodua, the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, under the leadership of Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, for his throwing caution to the wind and describing them as “foolish and ignorants,” for their agitation for a separate Yoruba nation.
The group did not allow the matter to cool before firing a salvo back at him, which landed right below the belt.
In a statement by Maxwell Adeleye, the media communications secretary of Ilana Omo Oodua, the former governor was described as ill-mannered and bereft of the Yoruba Omoluabi ethos, adding that he is frustrated by the success being attained by the group in galvanizing Yoruba people to seek self-determination.
The body, which has been holding peaceful successful rallies across Yorubaland with the last one at Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti state on June 5, came down heavily on Aregbesola as an agent of Fulani terrorists, who is only doing the bidding of his paymasters.
Read full statement here:
“We at Ilana Omo Oodua, the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, under the leadership of Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, want to say very expressly that for Aregbesola to call the agemate of his father foolish shows that he lacks the much coveted Yoruba Omoluabi ethos.
“He is a frustrated agent of the caliphate. His Interior Ministry is in charge of the Department of Immigration under whom foreign herdsmen invaded our land with impunity.
“He threatened Yoruba people with war yesterday, and within hours, Igangan, Ibarapa zone of Oyo state was invaded by murderous herdsmen leading to scores of Yoruba people being killed and properties worth millions of naira destroyed!
“Has Aregbesola issued a statement to condemn the actions of the Fulani herdsmen that had declared war on the Yoruba people under his watch?
“Aregbesola was governor in Osun state for eight years and he governed the people. It is very unfortunate if he said Yoruba nation agitators are foolish. Was he saying that the over 40,000 people who participated in the Yoruba nation rally in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state yesterday were foolish?
“Was he saying that the Osun state people that he governed and who are currently at the forefront of the Yoruba nation agitation are foolish? We were in Osogbo, Osun state and the crowd of people that received us was so huge. Was Aregbesola saying those people are foolish?
“We in Ilana Omo Oodua know that we are not foolish and that the people who Aregbesola governed in Osun state are not foolish.
“He is merely expressing his frustration that the Yoruba nation self-determination crowd, passionate and determined, is increasing, from one state to another, against the expectations of the caliphate he speaks for.
“Aregbesola is currently serving those who are against the liberation of the Yoruba nation. He is therefore just trying to impress his equally frustrated pay masters – the Fulani dominated Federal Government, who are determined to frustrate our freedom, but we are putting it to him that he and his likes have failed.
“The power of the people is the ultimate in a democracy. No dictator has ever defeated the collective will of the people. Aregbesola and his cabal will fail.
“Aregbesola is a frustrated man and he will keep wallowing in the web of frustration until the Yoruba people decisively achieve their independence from the hegemony of those who Aregbesola is trying to impress.”
