OPINION: Is Tinubu Truly Serving Yoruba Interest?
A friend posted a small piece below on my WhatsApp platform and asked for my candid opinion. In fact, the comment was inapt and gibberish. Please, endeavor to read the piece as a prelude to my article. To my kinsmen, I come in peace and nothing personal. Isé orí rán mi ni mò n se o. Kí Elédùmarè fi àánú gbàmí.Fairness and justice will remain my watch words, regardless of my prejudices as a Yorùbá man. Yes, we all have prejudices as human beings. No qualms.
“Yes, I love my people dearly but, we must not sow any seed of discord that will haunt the coming generations of Yorùbá sons and daughters if Nigeria will remain a sovereign country.” David Adeyinka Adenekan.
Ire o!
A Prelude To My Article
Excerpts From My Private WhatsApp Platform: “As a Yorùbá man can you tell me why you hate Tinubu and wish for his destruction, in a country where people like Buhari are protected by his people and failures like Obi are packaged as the Messiah of Africa by the Igbo nation?
Kindly tell us why the hate for your fellow Yorùbá has made you lose your sense of logic and common sense.
I sincerely want to know. Nobody in his right senses will go for vacation in Adamawa or Anambra, everybody will choose Lagos state. The same state you still accuse him of Godfatherism???
Tell us who poisoned you with self hate and reckless self immolation never to see good in your own leaders, land and people.
We want to know.
They jailed Awolowo…
They killed Akintola….
They killed MKO Abiola….
You have also joined them to demand for the head of another Yorùbá leader???
How many Igbo leaders have the Yorubas killed in Nigeria???
How many Arewa leaders have the Yorubas killed in Nigeria? None!
But you must handover your own people to them in order to prove loyalty or detribalised???
No race with this level of internal sabotage can be great.
My Answer
No reason. Most of the hatred against Bola Tinubu is all about ‘Jealousy.’
For some, it’s about “is he the only one?” The man gave everything to make Lagos state great again. He gave free Education, Free Child Healthcare, Free Eye surgery, six Hospitals, eight Estates, over 200 completed roads, BRT, RRS & made his state ten times richer, yet, they vilify him. If it’s easy, why didn’t others you see as Messiah do it in their various states?
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the greatest Yorùbá leader we have in Yorùbá land today. All true born of Yorùbá land should be very proud of him regardless of your religion or your party affiliation.”
My Article
To start with, nobody will be proud of a president that is pauperizing his own people with severe hunger in the land, weaponizing poverty.
Prior to the inception of this administration, a 50kg bag of rice was less than N25,000, it is now between N85,000 and N110,000, depending on the quality. Five tubers of yam that used to be sold for less than N2,000 is now 10,000; a crate of egg that was less than N1800 is now N7,000. Bread that was between the range of N200 to N700 is now between N2,000 and N2,500, depending on the sizes. A liter of petrol that was N146 is now between N950 to N1,100. The dollar exchange rate that was one dollar to N700 has skyrocketed to N1600. This is coupled with an inflation rate that defies all logic and a rising surge of insecurity across the land that has resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent lives.
Hmmm, “Òrìsà bí o kò le gbèmí,se mí bí o se bá mi.” What is it to be proud about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu(PBAT)?
Yes, you can go ahead and say to the marines that, PBAT is the greatest president in the history of Nigeria even in the face of these “social economic maladies” that are plaguing the entire country.
At this juncture, some of my kinsmen don’t need to be economical with the truth; is Tinubu truly for Yorùbá interest?
Are the Yorubas not affected by the economic hardship created by this administration when President Tinubu removed the oil subsidy without alternative remedies to cushion the effects?
Is the monumental corruption that is presently affecting every sector of the country not affecting the Yorubas as a people?
“Oore wo ni ìpá se fún epòn What do we really benefit from a Yorùbá man as president with severe hunger in the land and many out of school students in the south west that used to be the pride of western education?
E kó Ilà kúrò l’éko, èko kò ko Ilà.
E jáwó kúrò nínù àpòn tí kò yò, kí e gbé omi ilá ka orí iná, this government is not promoting Yoruba cultural value of economic prosperity for all as it was during the golden era in the sixties under the able leadership of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. PBAT’S administration is a government for the special elites (the so-called Lagos boys). A bourgeoisie government indeed!
This ethnic bigotry and primodial sentiment must stop because hunger is a faceless virus; regardless of your color, creed, race and ethnicity. We all buy food in the same market.
The so-called euphoria of the lopsided appointments that largely favour our kinsmen at the detriment of other geo political zones is just for a moment because power is transient.
That former President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Muhammadu Buhari lopsided the appointments at the detriment of other geo-political zones does not in any way means we have to toe the same line. Why? The answer is simple; Yorubas are pace setters, “a jí se bí Yorùbá làáríi, Yorùbá kìí se bì í se bí i baba enikéni.” That is why we are a unique ethnic identity across the world. We set the pace for others to follow. What a golden opportunity for a Yorùbá man as president to change the course of history and live above board.
This retaliation policy of lopsided appointments that is being orchestrated by PBAT is needless and it is going to backfire in future if the fraudulent political structural arrangement is still what it is.
History will judge.
Also, who are the Yorubas that are getting the plum jobs? Are they not Tinubu’s Lagos boys? The bottom line is that Tinubu is not just representing the strong cultural value of Yoruba as a people, Afénifére (love thy neighbors the way you love thyself). This is our “Omolúàbí ethos.”
Stop promoting PBAT to denigrate what we truly are as Yorùbá people.
Most of the protagonists of Tinubu are blindfolded with ethnic bigotries. It is also called suffering and smiling.
Emphatically, Tinubu’s mal-administration is not who we are as Yorùbá people.
The only legacy that Tinubu will have is to dismantle the fraudulent country called Nigeria or, go back to regional autonomy of 1963 Republican Constitution vis a vis, resource control. If he does that, Tinubu will forever be a great placard in our minds because he would have saved the coming generations from a wasted life of vicious circle. Lóbátán!
Sometime, òwe tó so pé “Omo eni kò ní sè’dí bèbèrè kí á fi ìlèkè sí ìdí omo elòmíràn” Àsìpa òwe ni o.
Look before you leap. Gbam!
The kind of characteristics that PBAT has displayed in his journey so far as the president of Nigeria may not call for the collective support of the Yorùbá as a people because that is not who we are.
Gbogbo wa ni ebi n pa, we are all suffering from acute hunger in the land. Lóbátán!
David Adenekan is the Editor of Shekinah International Magazine and a Media Expert. He Is Also the Secretary of Afenifere Diaspora USA. He Writes From Chicago Illinois.davidadenekan5@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.
OPINION: Is Tinubu Truly Serving Yoruba Interest? is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
