The umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, has slammed the Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for allegedly calling agitators of Yoruba nation ‘foolish.’
Ilana Omo Oodua in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan late Sunday by its Media Communications Secretary.
Maxwell Adeleye, condemned the utterances of the minister.
The body said with such a statement coming from Ogbeni Aregbesola, who was a former governor in a Yoruba state, it shows that he ” lacks the much coveted Yoruba Omoluabi ethos.”
” We at Ilana Omo Oodua, the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, under the leadership of Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, want to say very expressly is that for Aregbesola to call the age mate of his father foolish shows that he lacks the much coveted Yoruba Omoluabi ethos,” it said.
Ilana Omo Oodua added, “Aregbesola was governor in Osun state for eight years and he governed the people. It is very unfortunate if he said Yoruba nation agitators are foolish. Was he saying that the over 40,000 people who participated in the Yoruba nation rally in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state Monday were foolish?
“Was he saying that the Osun state people that he governed and who are currently at the forefront of the Yoruba nation agitation are foolish? We were in Osogbo, Osun state and the crowd of people that received us was huge. Was Aregbesola saying those people are foolish? We in Ilana Omo Oodua know that we are not foolish and that the people who Aregbesola governed in Osun state are not foolish.”
The body stated further: “He is merely expressing his frustration that the Yoruba nation self-determination crowd, passionate and determined, is increasing, from one state to another, against the expectations of the Caliphate he speaks for.”