Afenifere, others disagree over alleged marginalisation of Yoruba

Some socio-cultural pressure groups in the South West on Wednesday held divergent views on the new leadership in the House of Representatives which was against the PDP’s power sharing structure which endorsed Mrs Mulikat  Akande-Adeola  as  speaker.
But members of the House of Representatives elected Aminu Tambuwal from the North West as speaker and similarly, David Mark  by consensus was re-elected senate president.
In his reaction, the leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Dr Frederick Fasheun  in Lagos said that “ by implication, Nigeria has successfully excluded the Yoruba people’’ from the topmost echelon of government.
“ I don’t see the power structure in Nigeria, as it is now, as marginalization; it is an excision of the Yoruba nation from Nigeria because it was involuntary.
“To sustain Nigeria, every part of the country must have its own share and representation which the constitution recognized as the federal character principle,’’ Fasheun said.
The OPC leader, however, urged the South West to look inwards and seek ways of better developing the region.
The Secretary General of the Coalition of Oodua Self Determination Groups (COOSEG) Mr Rasaq Olokooba said that the group was saddened by the development.
Olokooba said:  “from the reactions they were getting from  members and the Yoruba people in Diaspora, there is anger over the development .
“ If the current administration truly wants the support of the Yoruba people, it must do something fast to get a solution to the problem.’’
According to him, governments all over the world know the implications and gains of an all inclusive government.
“ The power sharing formula in the present dispensation was a pointer to the fact that the interests and demands of the Yoruba’s will not be accommodated, ’’ he said.
However, the Yoruba socio cultural organization—Afenifere– said that the power sharing formula was of very little significance to it.
Lagos state chairman of the Afenifere, Chief Supo Sonibare said that “Afenifere is more interested in policies rather than personnel ’’.
Sonibare said that the Afenifere’s   paramount interest was the development of the people of the South West which had nothing to do with political appointments.
“ We want a judicious allocation of resources in Nigeria which will ensure gainful employment because the South West, especially Lagos state, is not getting adequate returns from the Federal Government.
“ The Afenifere need structures in the South West and not only those provided by the state governments but by the federal government, ’’ Sonibare added. (NAN)