Yoruba youths apologise to Nigerians over Obasanjo’s recent outbursts

As reactions continue to trail the recent statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the nation, the Council of Progressive Yoruba Youths has apologised to Nigerians.

The youth group said the latest missive in circulation entitled “Points For Concern And Action by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo” was off-point and should be discarded in its entirety.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos on Tuesday, the National President of the group, Kola Salawu, said Nigerians needed to forgive Obasanjo for the eight years he spent as a civilian president and for the wrong path he set the nation on.

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Salawu said the Yoruba race was deeply ashamed that a so-called elder from its ethnic stock decided to remain in a muddy gutter by penning such nauseating content.

The youth leader said: “In Yoruba land, we take pride in answering our names. Only a bastard will deny his name. In practical terms, this translates into us standing by our decisions and actions, irrespective of what outcomes they produced. Where the outcomes are good our head swell with the accompanying accolades; where the results of our actions are undesirable, we accept responsibility with honour and explore how to make amends so that we remain an integral part of the society.

“The taint on the military from Obasanjo’s directives for troops to disregard rules of engagement in Odi and Zak-Ibiam remain an obstacle to the military. Even when their recent and ongoing operations meet the global standards for the rules of engagement, the stain from the Obasanjo years remains a perspective from which the military is perceived. This affects the ability of the military to procure arms when they need it and the same tyrant under whose watch this happened is today playing the saint.

“The outcome of that election produced Mallam Umaru Yar’Adua as president. Yar’Adua’s demise paved way for Goodluck Jonathan, whom Obasanjo did much to mislead and abandoned after he incurred the anger of Nigerians pleasing the former President. If Obasanjo thought he would have a pliant President Buhari following his opposition of Jonathan he was in for a rude shock.

“If Obasanjo supported Yar’Adua and later disowned him over ill health, supported Jonathan and later disowned him for consulting others and supported Buhari and now disowning him for not bending to his wishes, then maybe it is not the president that something is wrong with. The problem is Obasanjo. He feigns support for successive presidents in the hope of being able to use them as puppets and continue as a life president while they act as the symbolic leaders. Such deviousness is not the Yoruba way because it is without honour.