Former Aviation minister, Femi Fani Kayode has said it is wrong to describe Yorubas as silent in the face of happenings in the country saying only those in bed with the government like former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, are silent over the situation of things in Nigeria and not the entire Yoruba race.
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Fani-Kayode, was replying former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophilus Danjuma that the Yoruba had become too scared to speak about the mess Nigeria had become in recent years or simply did not care.
Danjuma, who later became Minister of Defence, had on Thursday in Ibadan after receiving the Platinum Awards, during the launch of a book, 70 Years of Progressive Journalism: The Story of the Nigerian Tribune, bemoaned a situation in which Nigerians had been cowed into silence, especially the South West.
Hear him: “In Yorubaland, everybody seems to have lost their voice, scared. And people appear not to care about what is happening. If I tell you what I know is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep.
“So, Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s warning and advice are very timely. If you want details, I will give it to you privately.
“We are in a big hole as a nation. And people who put us in this hole have continued today. So, we’ve to wake up. Only we can save ourselves.
“The fifth columnists’ activities going on among your people are not helping matters. May Almighty God continue to bless this country, but only we can save ourselves from ourselves.”
But in an elaborate reply, Fani-Kayode said instead of being silent, the Yoruba had actually found their voice and were speaking loud and clear through personalities like of himself, Ayo Adebanjo, Gani Adams and Yinka Odumakin.
Hear him: “I am not a Yoruba but an Anago. I am a proud son of Oduduwa. I appreciate General T.Y. Danjuma’s contribution but he is wrong about one thing: not all the Anagos and sons and daughters of Oduduwa have “lost their voices”.
“When he joined forces with others to bring the plague called Buhari to power we warned them that it was a grievous error and that they should back Jonathan instead. They refused to listen and instead stood with Buhari. Ever since Buhari came to power with their support in 2015 some of us from the south west have been fighting him and speaking out against him openly and fearlessly.
“I have done so at great cost to myself and so have Baba Ayo Adebanjo, Ayo Fayose, Gani Adams, Gboyega Adejumo, Deji Adeyanju, Yinka Odumakin, Dino Melaye, Baba Fasoranti, Akin Osuntokun, Bishop David Oyedepo, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, Prophet T.B. Joshua, Segun Mimiko, Seyi Makinde, Babatunde Gbadamosi, Afenifere, Yoruba Summit Group, OPC, President Olusegun Obasanjo and lately Omoyele Sowore, Femi Falana, Tunde Bakare, Professor Wole Soyinka and so many others.
“I agree that there are some traitors like Bola Tinubu, Yemi Osinbajo and others in our midst but they are a decreasing minority who are bound up and lost in their own slavish servitude, inexplicable greed, grave delusions and morbid fears.
“To them Buhari is a God but to us he is nothing but a tin pot dictator with feet of clay. To them the Fulani are to be worshipped and were born to rule but to us they are no better than any other ethnic nationality in Nigeria and we did not come into the world to be their slaves.
“For the last 5 years many of us have been as constant as the northern star, have refused to collaborate and have never lost our voices.
“As a matter of fact instead of losing our voices we actually found them and rose to the challenge despite the grave risks and challenges we are facing.
“Despite those risks and challenges we remain committed to standing against the evil called Buhari even at great risk to ourselves and our families”
