Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has stated that it would be a disaster for Nigeria to vote in former Lagos State Governor and leader of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu as President in 2023.
Responding to the resolution by the South-West leaders of the APC in Lagos State on Sunday, FFK made it clear that the people who attended the meeting does not represent the over 70 million Yoruba people but rather their ambition.
He disclosed that if there’s a referendum, those people will be flushed out of the affairs of history.
He further advised that the way to address the concerns of the separatist was not to hold them to contempt but rather, assuage their fears, understand their plight and ‘give them guarantees about their place & role in a new & restructured Nigeria.’
“One of the lessons that Bola Tinubu & those with him will soon learn is that it is a very dangerous thing & an exercise in futility to move against a moving train. Those that met in Lagos yesterday only represented their own narrow mindset & band of thinking & their political party. They didn’t represent the position of the Yoruba people. There are 70 million Yorubas in the world today & Tinubu does not speak for or lead most of them. He only leads part of the APC in parts of the SW & those that are with him are mainly members of the fading ruling elite.
If there is a referendum on self-determination in the SW tomorrow these characters would be flushed down the toilet & thrown into the dustbin of history. The way to counter those that want to exercise their right of self-determination and leave Nigeria is not to act as if they do not exist, impose your will on them, dismiss them with contempt and attempt to publicly rubbish & dismiss their legitimate concerns and aspirations but instead to try and understand where they are coming from, assuage their fears and anxieties, negotiate with them & give them guarantees about their place & role in a new & restructured Nigeria.
Outside of that, it is only a question of time before they break away and determine their future. Tinubu does not control the streets of the SW: the Yoruba nationalists & separatists do. Those that met in Lagos only represent a tiny group of those in the SW. They cow tow too, beg and lobby the separatists behind closed doors and they condemn and disown them before the world. Such intellectual dishonesty, doublespeak and cowardice are reprehensible.
Deep down in their hearts they want to break off from Nigeria as well but instead of having the courage of their convictions they tell the world otherwise simply because they want Bola Tinubu to be President. They forget that the prospect of a Tinubu Presidency disgusts the Yoruba nationalists and the majority of people in the SW. Such a Presidency will not stop the the separatists: it would only strengthen and embolden them.
Worse still it would be a disaster for Nigeria.”
