Yoruba elders have come for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for keeping mum over Operation Amotekun, a security outfit established by his region’s governors.
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, and 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 a 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.
