‘You’ll never be president’, Yoruba elders attack Tinubu for refusing to speak up on Amotekun

On Saturday, January 18, 2020, Afenifere chieftains Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Senator Femi Okurounmu, lambasted Tinubu, who is seen as a political leader in the South-West for refusing to comment on the security initiative.

The South-West Security Network code-named Operation Amotekun was launched by the region’s governors on Thursday, January 9,2020, but almost immediately after the launch, the Federal Government through the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami declared it illegal.

Leaders of interest groups in the north have also condemned the establishment of Operation Amotekun as regional security outfit for the South-western part of the country.

While the Federal Government has expressed it opposition for the initiative, Yoruba elders have voiced their support for Amotekun, but Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state is yet to say anything on the issue.

Reacting to Tinubu’s silence on the security outfit, 91-year-old Adebanjo in an interview with Punch tackled Tinubu for forming an alliance with the North.

“It was the likes of Tinubu that told us that the South-West would enjoy many privileges but what has the South-West benefitted from the alliance? He shouldn’t have forged an alliance with them in the first place, he said.

Adebanjo further said, Tinubu will never become the president of the country. He added that the APC leader has been keeping mum over Amotekun because he is being deceived with a presidential ticket.

“He asked the Yoruba people to vote for him (Buhari) and that things would be better. Now that they are being slaughtered and they don’t want us to have our security, you are keeping quiet all because you are being deceived that you will become the President which you will never be.

“I have continued to tell him that they are just deceiving him and he is deceiving himself. Which promise has Buhari made and fulfilled? In 2015, he said he would be a born again democrat but does he even obey court orders?”

The Afenifere Chieftain also said that the Federal Government had not right to discount Operation Amotekun when it had failed to provide adequate security for the region.

He recalled that since Pa Fasoranti’s daughter, Mrs Olufunke Olakunrin was murdered on Friday, May 12, 2019, there has been no single arrest.

“I have always told you that the Yoruba people know who their real leaders are. The problems that the Yoruba people are facing today were caused by men like Tinubu. If they had not gone to forge an alliance with Buhari, we wouldn’t be in this problem.

“I told them then that Buhari was only after power. If not, how is it that they neither want to protect us nor allow us to protect ourselves? Why is the North allowed to have security agencies while we are not allowed to protect ourselves against armed persons?

“The police refuse to do anything because of the President’s body language. How could they have killed the daughter of our leader (Pa Reuben Fasoranti) and there has been no single arrest?

Also reacting to Tinubu’s silence on Amotekun, former senator, Femi Okurounmu said the politician has been exposed for who he is.

He said, “Tinubu doesn’t need to be prompted before speaking. We have all been speaking on the matter. Their silence is ominous. This thing was launched by the governors, not Afenifere. And such initiatives should be supported by all Yoruba people.

“Yoruba people are not idiots, we are not fools. If he doesn’t talk now, then we will know how to describe him. Nobody needs to tell us what he is. Nobody needs to call him anything. Even the illiterate man knows what he is.

“If the ordinary man on the street is in support of Amotekun, if all Yoruba people say this is what they want and he is refusing to talk, then his silence has exposed him for what he is. His silence speaks loudly.”

Also, in an interview with Punch, the Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide said Tinubu being a leader in the ruling party is expected to speak up on an issue affecting his people and region.

Olajide said, “The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, is challenging the legality of our entrenched constitutional right to protect our lives and property. I expect our political leader (Tinubu) to be in the forefront of rebuking whoever authored the statement. We see him as a leader and we expect him to say something.”

Meanwhile, Tinubu’s Media Adviser, Tunde Rahman has said that the APC Chieftain would speak at the appropriate time.