The pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group -Afenifere – has warned against calling President Bola Tinubu as a Yoruba president. 

Afenifere emphasised that Tinubu did not ascend to the presidency by tribal inheritance but by democratic choice through the result of votes cast in faith by Nigerians of every tongue, creed, and religion.

National Organising secretary of Afenifere, Abagun Kole Omololu stated this in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Friday.

While maintaining that since the opponents of former President Muhammadu Buhari did not describe his government as Fulani Presidency, it would be wrong to describe that of Tinubu as the Yoruba’s presidency.

According to Omololu, Afenifere would not fold its arm and allow other ethnic groups and nationalities to give the government of their kinsman an ethnic colouration. 

He further noted the expose by United States-based Dr Sandra Duru that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation of sexual harassment against Senator Godwill Akpabio was an attempt to stigmatise the government of President Tinubu.

He stressed that Afenifere has taken due note of the revelation detailing the conversation with the suspended Senator, particularly her alleged shocking admission of a clandestine plot to sabotage the administration of Tinubu, “which the conspirators have stereotyped as a “Yoruba government,” and thereby stir the embers of division to deny him a second term.”

According to the mainstream Yoruba group, there is no light accusation of ethnic colouration, noting that the revelation demands reflection from patriots and repudiation from those who still hold Nigeria dear.

“Let it be said, plainly and without ambiguity, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government is not a Yoruba government. It is a Nigerian government. He did not ascend to the presidency by tribal inheritance but by democratic choice — the result of votes cast in faith by Nigerians of every tongue, creed, and religion.

“To label this administration as “Yoruba” and weaponise that label as grounds for sabotage is not only dishonest, but a vile act of tribal opportunism and sedition. We reject it utterly.

“We remind the nation: When President Muhammadu Buhari held office for eight years, no one branded his leadership as a “Fulani government.”

“No tribal coalition was formed to deny him a second term on the grounds of ethnicity. He was allowed to serve out his mandate in full — and rightly so. The same principle of equity and continuity must apply now.

“Let no one demand justice only when it suits them, but deny it when it is owed to others,” the statement noted.

The organisation insists that Tinubu “will serve his full term of eight years, by the will of the good people of this country and under the watch of the Constitution. To suggest otherwise is to play Russian roulette with our national destiny.”

While commending Duru for her uncommon courage for speaking truth not only to power, but to conspiracy, Afenifere said her voice is “a reminder that integrity still walks among us, and that silence, in the face of wickedness, is not an option for those who love this country.”

Afenifere said it strongly decried the internationalisation of fabricated domestic issues by those who authored the falsehood in the first place.

“This is akin to setting fire to your own seat in a cinema and running out crying “Fire! Fire!” — not out of alarm, but out of selfish ambition. It is selfishness that seeks to burn down the image of the nation to satisfy the ego of one person who believes that except she has her way, the country should not have peace.”

Afenifere declared that, “Nigeria is not a personal or tribal empire. Our nation will not bow to tribal blackmail. It will not bend to invented narratives. And it will not break under the weight of the conspiracy.

“Let all patriots rally to the defence of truth, justice, and constitutional order. Let us remember that nations fall not only when tanks roll through streets — but also when lies, repeated often enough, begin to sound like truth.

‘We have come too far to be dragged backward by petty ambition disguised as activism. Let us reject the agents of sabotage — not because they threaten one man, but because they threaten all of us,” Afenifere stressed.