LAGOS — PAN-Yoruba socio-cultural
organisation, Afenifere, has chided a
former chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Col. Ahmadu
Ali (rtd) for making uncharitable
comments about the Yoruba people. It would be recalled that Ali, in a
recent interview, was quoted as
describing the Yoruba as ungrateful
people. The group in a statement by its
Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka
Odumakin, said it would have ignored
the utterances against the South-
West, but maintained that “it is
crystal clear that Ahmadu Ali has no lesson to teach the Yoruba in the art
of gratitude and his uncouth remark
only portrays him as ill-mannered and
foul-mouthed. “This type of remark against a whole
people is totally unbecoming of Ali
whom we thought should be a
cultured man having come from Igala
kingdom that has centuries of
civilization behind it.” While it berated the former PDP
chairman over his utterances, the
group said “the grouse of Ali against
the Yoruba is that they would not
worship his god (Obasanjo) and as
such demonized them.” The statement read in part: “For Ali
and those who think like him, Yoruba
don’t venerate mere positions but
rather leadership through service to
the community. This explains why the
Yoruba adore Awolowo who contested the highest office in the
land three times and lost and resent
Ali’s hero who occupied the same
office three times. “The difference is that as Premier of Western Region, Awo used the resources of the region to banish ignorance through free education, eliminated diseases through free health, introduced television culture to the Yoruba even before France, made Yoruba to aim for the sky by building the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan, among other imperishable. “In contrast, the years Ali’s hero spent as leader of Nigeria institutionalized corruption which deepened poverty for all Nigerians including the Yoruba.
The poverty index in Nigeria was 45
per cent in 1999 and jumped to 67 per cent in 2007 in spite of unprecedented oil earnings in the same period.”