By Ayodele Oni
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed shock over the death of Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere Spokesman.
A statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Yawe, stated that “while he was alive, Yinka held on to his views very strongly. We often disagreed with him on many issues.
“Our disagreements were, however, on principle and not personal.
“The fundamental difference is that the AFENIFERE group admits only descendants of Oduduwa as members, while we in the ACF admit even descendants of Oduduwa who are northerners.
“The nature of our membership, accomodating hundreds of ethnic groups has made it very difficult to always agree with a group whose membership is limited to one ethnic group.
“We continue to hope that the AFENIFERE will one day turn a new leaf and see issues not from the narrow and limited perspective of one ethnic group but from the broad perspective of a multi ethnic federal republic.
“We had hoped that Odumakin will live long enough to work for and see the new day.
His death today has robbed us of that opportunity.
“We, however, pray for the CONDOLENCE of his family and his colleagues in AFENIFERE. We shall certainly miss him.”
