THE Federal Government has been warned to address the marginalisation of the Yoruba to avoid overheating the polity.
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, said if the interest of the Yoruba is not put into consideration in the scheme of things, they would rebel against the government.
He spoke at the 74th birthday lecture of Chief Adebayo Akande, the Chairman of Splash, an Ibadan-based private FM radio station held at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan.
Speaking on the topic: “The place of the Yoruba in the ethno-political configuration of Nigeria”, Osuntokun said: “It is in the overall interest of the country that the Federal Government must be fair to every zone irrespective of its political leaning.
“Government must not wait until there is rebellion or armed militancy of the youth of the South-West before embarking on fire-brigade or palliative measures”.
Classifying the political structures in Yorubaland into ‘mainstream’ and ‘home rule’, he said: “The people, who believe and advocate belonging to mainstream and joining those in government, have had their position weakened by the fact that there is nothing to show for the time when one of their sons was at the helm of the presidency between 1999 and 2007.
“Yoruba people watched helplessly as their roads become unmotorable and all other features of modern life collapse. They were rightly not singled out for favour.
“If the truth must be told, the Obasanjo government bent over backward to accommodate other ethnic groups at the expense of the Yoruba. Since 2003 and until recently, no Yoruba woman has been found suitable for ministerial appointment in a country where Yoruba women led in the acquisition of Western education since the imposition of colonial rule.
“Even in the distribution of ministerial positions, the Yoruba have faired worse than other ethnic groups. It is open to debate if the Yoruba would have faired worse if they had not belonged to the mainstream.
“It is true that if Yorubaland is perceived as the land of opposition, its people would be subjected to political victimisation.
“There will be avenues of redress in the courts and in forming political autonomy. Things are in fact in a state of political flux and it seems most Nigerians would rather have a weak centre and a fiscally strengthened state or regional governments.
“The Yoruba ought to be able to manoeuvre its way through this labyrinth of political and economic negotiation necessary to see the Nigeria of our dream”.
He said it was in the overall interest of the country that the Federal Government should be fair to every zone, irrespective of its political leaning.
