leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, says the Yoruba will regret voting President Muhammadu Buhari.
Okunrounmu, who was the Chairman of the defunct Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference, had supported former President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term and asked the Yoruba to vote for him so that he would be able to implement the report of the conference.
However, Buhari received over two million votes from the South-West in the last election, defeating Jonathan in the process.
Speaking with our correspondent during a telephone interview on Saturday, Okunrounmu said his predictions about the Buhari administration were already coming true.
He said Buhari’s recent appointments showed that the North would dominate Nigeria in all spheres.
He said, “As a Yoruba man, I am very uncomfortable with this (appointments). Buhari had a reputation for ethnic bias and when we said it during the election, they said we were lying.
“The change the APC was talking about meant two different things. The APC in the North saw change as an opportunity to return power to the region while those in the South-West were looking for genuine social change. At the end, the North just used the South-West to get into Aso Rock and now we are regretting it.”
The President’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, had said Buhari would balance the lopsided appointments very soon.
However, Okunrounmu said all the important appointments had already been made.
He noted that no other appointment could be more powerful than the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
He said, “Look at the power configuration in Nigeria today; there are three arms of government: The executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The executive is headed by Buhari who is a northerner; the two arms of the legislature which are the Senate and the House of Representatives, are headed by northerners: Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, respectively.
“The Chief Justice, Mahmoud Mohammed, who heads the judiciary, is also a northerner. So, the entire government is completely in the hands of northerners.”
The Afenifere chieftain said the fact that a Yoruba man is the vice-president meant nothing as there was no constitutional role for the vice-president.
He said the vice-president slot was a ploy which the All Progressives Congress leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, used in deceiving the people of the South-West.
He added, “I have never hesitated in telling people that Tinubu is not the right leader for the Yoruba race. He is not truthful and that was why Gani Fawehinmi took him to court.”
Okunrounmu, who was a member of the 4th Assembly, urged Buhari to prove his critics right by implementing the report of the conference.
He said, “Clearly, his body language and the body language of all his lieutenants show that they are not keen on implementing the resolutions of the conference. However, in spite of that, those of us who believe it is the panacea to the problems of this nation shall not stop putting pressure on the President and all other organs of government to let them see that this is the way forward.”
PUNCH
