Afenifere blasts northern elders over claim to rule Nigeria for 1, 000 years

Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba cultural group in southwest, Nigeria, on Sunday chided Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Chairman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), over the provocative statement that the North will rule Nigeria for long.

Spokesman of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, was cited to have said that the North will rule only its “corner” of the country for 1,000 years and not Nigeria in general.

Odumakin, dismissing Abdullahi’s statement, warned that the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 must come from the Southern part of the country.

Odumakin was cited to have declared: “Congratulations to Ango Abdullahi for making such remark; if they have the ambition of ruling Nigeria for the next 100 years. But let me state that they will only rule their corner of Nigeria for 1,000 years and not the country as a whole.

“They will take their corner of Nigeria up to Sambisa Forest and govern for a decade, we have no problem with that.

“As for United Nigeria, going beyond what is obtainable now, I think they are joking.”

Abdullahi was reported to have said that the North will hold onto power for the next 100 years. He had also said that the North will only support candidates from the northern region for president in 2023.

“Based on understanding of what is on ground, the next President of Nigeria should come from the Southern part of the country, but to some of us, ultimately if Nigeria is restructured, it does not matter where the president comes from.

“In the first republic, Ahmed Bello sent his lieutenant to be Prime Minister of Nigeria while he stayed back to be Premier of Northern Nigeria.

“And this was because we practiced federalism but as long as we are locked up under this idea of the president of Nigeria controlling everything, we will continue to be enslaved.

“The North has reduced Nigeria and has used their power to the detriment of others, so after Buhari’s second tenure, power should come back to the Southern part of the country,” Odumakin had declared.