TRIBUNE

Yoruba leaders condemn Obasanjo's govt, score Yar'Adua high

By Tope Abiola - 04.04.2008

Yoruba leaders from the six states in the South West on Thursday unanimously condemned former President Olusegun Obasanjo's eight year's administration, describing it as a waste.

Rising from a meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, the Yoruba leaders gave credence to the 10-month old President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration, saying that "he has been doing well."

They claimed that Obasanjo's regime was a curse, rather than being a blessing to the Yoruba nation. They expressed the optimism that the revelations that had been emerging in the country since the inception of Yar'Adua's government would lead to the arrest and trial of the former president.

The closed-door meeting, which was held under the auspices of the Justice Kayode Eso-led Yoruba Reconciliation Committee, had in attendance the president of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), General Adeyinka Adebayo; the acting chairman of Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti; the Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae; Secretary of the YCE, Dr. Tunji Otegbeye; Secretary, Afenifere, Senator Femi Okunrounmu; Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi, Professor Kayode Oyediran, Professor Bayo Olateju and Professor (Mrs.) Ayo Ogunseye.

Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, a participant, Chief Falae, said the meeting was convened following the leaders' concern for the survival, unity and progress of the Yoruba nation.

"The Yoruba had not been fairly treated by the subsequent governments in the country, even when a Yoruba man was president. And the feeling in the country is that we have had our own slot. We cannot feel happy if our race is in crisis and disarray, hence, this meeting," Falae said.

VANGUARD

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