“You Are Disgrace To Yoruba Nation” – AOKOYA Tells Senator Bamidele

By Akinwale Kasali

Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Leader, representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District has come under strong criticism from Pan Yoruba Group,  Apapo Oodua Koya, AOKOYA. It has labeled the Senator a disgrace to Yoruba Nation.

The Group said that since Bamidele was voted into the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, he has never promoted the interest of the Yoruba People.

In a statement released on Thursday by Apapo Oodua Koya, AOKOYA, signed by Ahmed Korede, Publicity Secretary, the Group said Senator Bamidele has not only betrayed his constituency but, like many of his counterparts, betrayed the Yoruba Nation.

AOKOYA said since 1999, Bamidele has done nothing to promote Yoruba interest even though he rode on the crest of Yoruba agitation to climb the political ladder since 1999.

The statement reads, “His office located at Mushin was one of the places used by many Yoruba self determination groups, including the O’odua Peoples Congress, OPC, to hold meetings in the 1990s. He was a former President of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, and a sympathiser of the Campaign for Democracy, AD. All these traditions, this history, Bamidele has shamelessly betrayed in deed, in speech and in action”, Korede stated on behalf of the Pan Yoruba coalition.

AOKOYA, a coalition of several Pan Yoruba groups stated that inspite of the armed attacks on Yoruba people since 2011, not for once has Bamidele made a comment to defend the Yoruba Race.

It added that Bamidele so neglected his People to the extent that even when four Yoruba traditional rulers were gunned down by armed bandits, and  hundreds of Yoruba people killed in the North East by Fulani armed men in the North West, he did nothing.

AOKOYA described Bamidele as ‘extremely opportunistic, cunning, deceitful, unreliable and above all distrustful.’

The group added that the Ekiti born Senator is an outstanding enemy of restructuring in Nigeria, and a saboteur of freedom for ethnic minorities.

“These traits he has consistently demonstrated in his political career since 1999. That was why he jumped from one party to the other, back and forth, driven by desperation and personal ego”.

The Group.also, alleged that the Senator is known for not picking calls when it has to do with Yoruba issues.

It said that when he gives you his number, he might give you up to 10 numbers showing his deceitful  character.

AOKOYA described Bamidele’s response to allegations that he opposed regional government as ‘weightless and meaningless.’

The group said all his actions since 1999 put him in the class of the worst political class in Yoruba history, someone who disdains his own people but promotes false impression about his vain glory through offering crumbs to his army of ignorant poor made to promote his  image.

“In his characteristic manner, he was evasive on what he said and did not say on regionalism. He has found it difficult to stand on any Yoruba issue. He said he did not speak on Yoruba regionalism but at the same time he has refused to make his stand known on the debate regarding regionalism, being the minimum request of the Yoruba people”, the group stated.

It also alleged that at critical moments in Yoruba history, Bamidele has been a traitor, a conscious one and agent provocateur in the midst of the long suffering Yoruba people.

AOKOYA: ‘We assure you, Bamidele that at the fullness of time, you will not have a dignified place in Yorubaland. You are a big disgrace to the Yoruba people, a threat to the collective aspiration of Yoruba people. Today, you are a ‘hero’ as defined by the rogue Nigerian state that feeds on the blood of mankind. You are a rich man that has made his money from the misery, pain and anguish of the multitude. You are comfortable, at the discomfort of the multitude. This is the tradition in every society ruled by tyranny and vicious leaders, but the fact is that your status is temporary and will inevitably be crushed and swept away by the whirlwind of revolution that is inevitable in Nigeria and in Yorubaland.

“The sky and the moon, the stars, the comets and the scurrying cloud will sing the praises of the new Yoruba nation that will emerge from the ruins of the present to the glory of God, the creator of heaven and earth.

“At that moment of history, you will be a pauper, at the mercy of those who have spent the greater part of your life to oppress, intimidate and impoverish”, the statement reads.

AOKOYA however urged the Yoruba people to be patient and resilience in the face of provocation and onslaught of policies since 1960 that have reduced Yoruba people to beggars and scavengers in their motherland and even across the world.

“We are a great and decent people, a people with glorious past and future that have been chained with the fetters of iron by greedy criminals that dominate the economic and political spaces. We Yoruba should take solace in historical truth in the words of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo that sunrise is bound to succeed nightfall and every darkness will inevitably be defeated by the glow of light”.