Former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has described the warning of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to Sunday Igboho as misguided, misinformed and unacceptable.
It would be recalled that Akeredolu had warned Sunday Igboho Adeyemo and others agitating for a sovereign Yoruba State to stay away from the state.
Supporters of the activist had stormed Lagos State on Sunday where they organized a rally to create more awareness on the need for the creation of Yoruba Nation.
But speaking while swearing-in Princess Catherine Oladunni Odu as the new Secretary to the State Government on Monday, Akeredolu said Ondo people have decided to stay in the Federal Republic of Nigeria as constituted at present.
He said no part of the entire state, known and delineated as Ondo State, would permit any gathering or agitation of Yoruba nation.
But reacting in a lengthy statement on his website, Fani-Kayode reminded Akeredolu that the Yoruba nation had recently backed him.
According to the former minister, Igboho and his supporters have every right to agitate for the emancipation and self-determination of the Yoruba people and to call for a referendum on Oduduwa Republic.
Read full statement by Fani-Kayode:
“I have immense respect for Governor Rotimi Akeredolu SAN and I admired the way in which he gave a quit notice to the foreign killer Fulani terrorists to leave the forests of Ondo.
Every son of Oduduwa stood behind him on that. wealso stood with him when people like Buba Galadima called him an “educated illiterate” simply because he did the right thing and sought to protect the lives and property of his people.
“However his warning to Sunday Igboho to stay away from Ondo state is misguided, misinformed and unacceptable.
“Igboho and his supporters have every right to agitate for the emancipation and self-determination of the Yoruba people and to call for a referendum on Oduduwa Republic as long as they do so without breaching any laws or indulging in any acts of violence.
“Ondo state is part and parcel of Yorubaland and it would be a grave error on the part of Governor Akeredolu or anyone else to assume thst the majority of people in his state are against the establishment of Oduduwa Republic or that they do not have the right to even meet and talk about it.
“The truth is that those who want to keep Nigeria one ought to reach out in love to the dissaffected and disillusioned that do not and try to convince and persuade them to stay in Nigeria and give he another chance rather than talk down to them and say that they have no right to seek to leave.
“There is absolutely nothing that is “settled” about the unity of Nigeria. If we want to keep her one then we must work at it and build bridges of peace, mutual respect and understanding.
Outside of that those that seek to resist and oppose slavery, subjugation and tyranny have every right to do so in a lawful and legitimate manner.
“I have always believed in free speech and the right to self-detemination but I am also committed to peace, non-violence and stability.
“As long as Sunday Igboho and those who are with him do not violate any of the latter three I think it is unwise, inappropriate and counterproductive to tell them to stay out of Ondo state.
“This is because theirs is a call and a quest for freedom and liberty and it cannot be easily subdued or resisted
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