IBADAN – Following the current reported travail of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Yoruba leader, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has lamented that a group of cabals are turning Yoruba to slaves.
Akintoye made the assertion on Monday at the House of Chiefs, Ibadan, venue of the event marking the 126th anniversary of the Kiriji War, the civil war that engulfed Yoruba land from 1877 to 1893.
Akintoye, while expressing worry over the reported travail of Osinbajo, noted that Osinbajo problems were visible to discerning Yoruba sons and daughters.
The Yoruba leader, who was fielding questions from journalists after the event, which featured a special public lecture on “Yoruba: Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow,” remarked, “There cannot be a smoke without fire. Although we don’t know where the fire is, but, we can see the smoke all around.
“Yoruba are in a terrible situation in Nigeria because all the travails Osinbajo is going through show that we Yoruba are now like slaves in this country. So, we need to dig ourselves out of it.
“We have been hearing a lot of negative things about the Vice President in the presidency, but the important thing is for us to find out exactly what is happening.
“All we are hearing is just like a smoke. But, we don’t know where the fire came from. So, whatever that might be happening to him now demonstrated that whoever that is not part of the people who control the Federal Government of Nigeria is only allowed in the Federal Government on surveillance. So, the person can be kicked out whenever they like.
“There are people among those controlling the Federal Government of Nigeria who have a lot of heavy questions to answer. But, they are protected by the power that be,” Akintoye stated.
After 126 years, Yoruba leaders from all walks of life, including traditional rulers, met in Ibadan, to mark the Kiriji war, an epic battle; the longest fought war ever among people of the same historical and traditional descent and lineage.
