A pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, has condemned in the strongest terms, the political violence against Nigerians of the Ndigbo extraction in Lagos during the Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Odumakin declared: “we frown at
Afenifere in a statement by Yinka Odumakin, National Publicity Secretary, decried that dirty political merchants and their band of thugs apart from engineering political disenfranchisement of Ndigbo, went ahead to burn their votes en masse.
Afenifere remarked that the political vandals they used were said to have been calling themselves members of the Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, noting, “but our checks with the genuine leaders of the group have shown that the deragend elements had no affiliation with the OPC known to Afenifere.”
Afenifere declared: “we frown seriously at the failure of the security agencies to give adequate cover to Ndigbo in the affected communities as these thugs went berserk, carrying out the instructions of their sinking political godfathers .
“We want to assure our Igbo brothers and sisters that the bond of friendship the Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo has built, particularly, under the dynamic leadership of Chief John Nwodo remains strong and will not be broken by the nefarious activities of a few strange children in our midst “
Afenifere further stated that discussions are already going on between its leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo leaders on the matter .
Afenifere, therefore, appealed for calm, noting : “these political vandals are only engaging in death kicks”
Afenifere, then, called on security agencies to give adequate security cover to Ndigbo in subsequent electoral exercises and reassure the country of its sustained transparency and acceptability in dealing with citizens.
Afenifere encouraged Ndigbo not to succumb to intimidation and harassment by political vampires.
“Our historical connectivity with Ndigbo will survive the Saturday madness and the perpetrators will be shamed entirely, Afenifere declared.