The leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, has attacked the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the party of thriving on deceit, manipulation, and deliberate concealment of truth to hold on to power.
Olaitan made the remarks on Tuesday morning while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme monitored by SaharaReporters.
The Afenifere leader said the APC government has continued to mislead Nigerians through propaganda while failing to deliver on basic governance and security.
“Well, APC is good at what they know how to do — deceive people, manipulate people, conceal issues. That’s their job; they know how to do it,” Oba Olaitan said.
He challenged Nigerians to reflect on their personal safety and the state of insecurity ravaging the country, asking pointedly whether citizens still felt safe returning home after work.
“Do you feel safe where you are now? Going back home after work, do you feel safe? That’s the question. Nigerians, we tell them that they haven’t done anything to us, they’re serving their lives. We, you must have an agenda,” he added.
Speaking further, the Afenifere leader alleged that certain elements within the ruling party, including those who served in the previous administration, were willing to destroy the country to retain political power.
“The last administration before the present government, that is to say, the government they still have there, just because they want to rule this nation, they had to go to the extent of importing foreign nationals, Fulanis to be precise, to come into the country and destroy the nation,” he alleged.
“If they could not get power, they were prepared to destroy the nation. If anybody has that type of mind, what good can come out of it?”
Meanwhile, last week, former President Goodluck Jonathan also made a startling revelation about Boko Haram’s willingness to negotiate with the Nigerian government.
Speaking at the public presentation of a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), Jonathan disclosed that the terrorist group had once nominated former President Muhammadu Buhari to represent them in peace talks with the government during his administration.
“I felt that Muhammadu Buhari would have negotiated with Boko Haram to stop the killings since the sect once nominated him to represent them during a peace talk with the Federal Government,” Jonathan said.
He expressed his surprise that despite this nomination, the insurgency persisted during Buhari’s presidency.
According to Jonathan, his administration had set up several committees to explore dialogue with Boko Haram.
“One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government committee,” he revealed.
Jonathan believed that this nomination could have been an opportunity for Buhari to negotiate with the terrorists when he took over as president.
However, Jonathan noted that the issue of Boko Haram is more complex than often portrayed.
He said, “I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there. The issue of Boko Haram is far more complex than it is often presented.
“So, it’s a bit complex, and not a matter of a single story. But I believe, as a nation, we have to look at the Boko Haram issue differently from the conventional approach. I believe one day we’ll overcome it. Once again, let me thank General Irabor for this, because I always appreciate people who document events clearly. That way, when we write our own accounts, we can borrow from such documentation.”
“I also believe that all the military officers involved in the Boko Haram saga should provide information about what the group truly stood for,” he added.
“If you conduct research and interview many people, you will only get part of the story, but never the full story of Boko Haram,” he said.
Jonathan also described the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014 as a permanent scar on his administration.