The Congress of Yoruba Sons and
Daughters within the Peoples Democratic Party say they are outraged by
the insults allegedly hauled on the Yoruba by the Governor of Rivers
State, Nyesom Wike.
They said they took a strong exception
to Wike’s comment that the Yoruba were inconsequential and had no
practical political importance in the PDP.
According to them, Wike also described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a failure.
The group at a press conference
addressed by its chairman, Dayo Ogunjebe, in Lagos on Wednesday lamented
that Wike’s comment was a reflection of how much the Yoruba in the PDP
had been “pushed to the edge of the cliff” and relegated in the
opposition party’s scheme of things.
The group in a statement titled, “The
Yoruba people: Time for reflection,” read by Ogunjebe said the Yoruba in
the PDP had been cheated by the party’s failure to elect a Yoruba man
as the national chairman of the PDP.
He said, “Our leaders are being mocked.
Our symbols of truth and sincerity are now being derided, snubbed,
treated with contempt and disowned.
“The irreverent, scandalous, arrogant
and most myopic statement of the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom
Wike, is the crowning of all insults upon our people.
“Wike, in his most arrogant and selfish
swagger, openly derided our people as being inconsequential and of no
practical political importance in the PDP.
“This is rather scandalous and very
benighted. He even insulted our former President, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo, as a failure. This is an aberration.
“We, at the Congress of Yoruba Sons and
Daughters within the PDP fold, are outraged, angry, disappointed, very
sad and sickened about this very primitive utterance of Governor Wike.
“We demand an immediate and full apology from Mr. Wike for his gutter language against our people,” Ogunjebe said.
He said the Yoruba did not deserve to be
unfairly treated in the PDP having “worked assiduously for the growth
and development of the PDP.”
He said, “In both financial and moral
terms, the Yoruba people have been selfless, making tremendous
sacrifices. (They have been) consistent and devoted to the growth of our
party.
“But we have been cheated. We have been
maligned. The chairmanship position that rightly belongs to us has been
taken away. It has been sold to the highest bidder.
“Let Wike and the Yoruba betrayers at
home know that we will never play the role of a second fiddle to anyone.
We are proud of our heritage. We are proud of our achievements across
this nation. We do respect the feelings and the tradition of other
people. Surely, we will never sit idle while anyone attacks the
collective interest of the Yoruba race.”
The group insisted that Wike must apologise for “his indecent statement.”
It argued that with the failure to give
the PDP national chairman’s position to a Yoruba man, the opposition
party had “slowly dwindled into a regional party with Wike swaggering
like an overlord.”
