Those In Government Are The Real Hoodlums, Not Palliative Looters - Yinka Odumakin Says

 

Yinka Odumakin, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, on this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, speaks on the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests and other sundry issues. Excerpts: 

South-West governors, conventional rulers and Ministers met in Lagos country ultimate week to proffer way to the #EndSARS crisis closing and Afenifere become not invited. What do you suspect was responsible for that? 

The element may be very clean. Like we said, the Kaduna meeting is an afterthought on our team spirit as a rustic. They had a sectional assembly of the North in which you have all of the key appointees of the President, Chief of Staff, IGP, Chief of Army Staff, Lai Mohammed and others. Even of their communiqué, they were so insensitive. 

There are locations they said nomination from Federal Executive Council (FEC) to a northern summit initiative, which shows without a doubt that they don’t see this state as one. They see themselves as slave masters while the relaxation of the u . S . Are visible as slaves. They tried to play what is called Taqiyyah into the Middle Belt. When herdsmen killed 78 human beings in Benue in January 2018, Buhari referred to as Governor Ortom and said ‘go and discover ways to live with your human beings’. 

Now they want to apply them as a part of their crowd. It was whilst Southern and Middle Belt leaders stated ‘no, this suggests how incompetence you people are’, that become while Buhari stated his Chief of Staff need to start the rearguard measures. The South-East invited their traditional rulers and socio-cultural leaders but in South-West, they invited most effective the conventional rulers, governors and a few ministers. Because our Obas have informed them what's vital to us in the South-West like restructuring, implementation of the 2014 countrywide conference , we allowed it to move. 

The governors understand that we can not sit down in an area and also you go and difficulty a communiqué that is anti-human beings; to say that we commend Buhari for the way he ended the #EndSARS disaster and to say that we aid the gagging of social media, we will in no way be a part of that. We are satisfied that (Seyi) Makinde got here out and said they by no means agreed on such things. With Governor Akeredolu coming out to mention that he sees nothing incorrect in freezing the account of #EndSARS people, we can now realize the reason why they did now not need human beings they suppose they can't manage, to sign up to what they need at that meeting. But we commend the conventional rulers for talking the reality to power, for condemning what came about and for status on where we stand. 

Is Afenifere at the identical web page with Governor Akeredolu who stated the government is right in freezing #EndSARS protesters account? 

We can't. We openly disagreed with him. Yesterday, I changed into with certainly one of his aides on a countrywide television, and I needed to knock him actually. I stated ‘young guy, there may be tomorrow. Akeredolu will no longer be governor forever.

He will finish his term and come again. He should not use his gift to smash his past and make a mess of his future. Akeredolu become a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). He has a pedigree. If it become any governor we don’t assume has something to defend that had said that, we are able to just ignore him. But for Akeredolu, how do you are saying that they could keep to punish people without trial? Will Akeredolu stand up in Ondo country and begins freezing and punishing people without trial? Before you may punish everyone, their guilt should have been set up. 

How do you establish the guilt of these whose money owed you've got frozen? It has to be via a judicial procedure. If there is a judicial manner that announces this people devoted an offence, allow us to punish them, we are able to’t say you can not punish according with the law. We cannot say what Akeredolu is now pronouncing within the 2nd part of it that if the ones whose accounts were frozen were offended, they have to go to courtroom. You did no longer go to court docket, but went to court of impunity to punish them and you are now saying they have to visit court docket of law. You are SAN, a senior member of the Bar, beyond president of the NBA who should preserve the standards of law of ways a society have to be organised and now not behave like something goes flesh presser. We don’t accept as true with that.

We condemn him in totality. When his aide stated Afenifere changed into towards Akeredolu, I told him that after Akeredolu took that role on Amotekun, did Afenifere no longer commended him overtly, even though we knew it can be of benefit to him throughout the election? It doesn’t rely to us. But while you are making statements that makes you not to be unique from the fascists who are running Nigeria aground, we can not receive that! You are incorrect and we've got told the governor that he's totally incorrect on this count number. 

There is that this perception that Nigeria cannot continue to exist without the North based totally on their agricultural prowess. What is your take on that ? 

So, before the amalgamation of the North and South, have we been feeding on air? That’s nonsense. Yes, the federal authorities has carried out so many agricultural tasks inside the North. When you go and observe the data of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), when they are doing Anchors Borrowers Programme, most of the money is spent in the North. But there's no section of Nigeria that cannot feed itself.

The food shortage in some components of the us of a can be because of certain factors. In South-West for example, if you see what the herdsmen were doing to the farmers, you may be alarmed. In the beyond, even our women go to farms unaided to plant agricultural products. Which guy nowadays will allow his spouse to go to the farm alone and no longer throw her to Fulani herdsmen for raping? So, there are problems in this u . S . A . But there may be no a part of the united states of america that doesn't have the capability for meals sufficiency. 

Some have claimed the attacks on Lagos during the #EndSARS protest turned into politically prompted, do you proportion that view? 

I don’t think so. I say so because for years now, I were telling my wife every time we're using in traffic and we see many young humans at the streets, with out a future, no task and no desire, I always tell her that the day these humans will take to the streets, there will be extreme problem. 

Today, Nigeria is the worldwide secretariat of poverty. The attack with the aid of those youths changed into no longer best in Lagos, it changed into throughout the country. See the manner humans had been looting. Even in Kwara, infantrymen were begging them to loot peacefully. The social inequality within the country is so excessive. We have given no wish or future to our youths. Since they were killing armed robbers on this united states of america, have you visible any armed robber that changed into arrested and stated ‘I am a employee with Unilever, Guinness or NNPC? No! If you are running in this Lagos, you will depart your house 5am in the morning, get to paintings and go back domestic by using 10pm at night. By the time you get domestic, you are already exhausted; even to consume is a problem and you went to sleep like that. Is that the time you may pass and plan a way to burgle someone’s house? No! A younger guy changed into telling me to assist him get a job. 

He stated he has been a graduate for the past 10 years but has not worked for a day. During the #EndSARS protest, I met a man with MBA however haven't any process and no cash. But those who cannot think are pronouncing the protesters and people looting palliatives are hoodlums. The hoodlums are the people in government. Those looting palliatives are ‘foodlums’ who're searching out what to devour. I laughed while the governors said folks that looted must return what they stole in forty eight hours. Is that how those governors go back what they scouse borrow? 

Ahead of the 2023 wellknown elections, what endorse are you able to provide to Nigerian youths? 

I will inform the youths to preserve their voters cards thoroughly. They must be ready to polish their eyes, no longer to comply with every body because of money. They have to realize what they stand for and present their programmes, people will scrutinise them and them determine who have their pursuits at coronary heart. 

On election day, they have to go to the polling gadgets and make sure that their votes rely and are counted thoroughly. They have to comply with the method via and ensure that nobody thieve their votes so that they can make a alternate inside the polity. We can’t simply maintain like this on this us of a. We can not preserve to put our lives and states below those self-serving leaders who don’t care approximately the welfare of the citizenry however handiest care about what they can take out of the machine. 

The present crop of leaders haven't any concept for a way to expand the society; they can't proffer any significant way forward for this u . S .. Any set of politician they observe will want new leadership and the young humans are the new publics that must cause the wanted alternate in our polity.