Kunle Olajide, secretary general
of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), says the north has been dragging Nigeria
down since independence.
Olajide said this on Thursday
while reacting to a statement by Ibrahim Coomassie, chairman of the Arewa
Consultative Forum (ACF).
Coomassie had said Nigeria will
not survive without the north.
But while speaking at the first
memorial lecture of Nathaniel Abimbola, a reporter with the Osun State
Broadcasting Corporation who died in a car crash in 2017, Olajide said the
north is home to all of the country’s negative indices.
“The newspapers reported the
Arewa Consultative Forum as saying that Nigeria cannot survive without the
north. Whatever was meant by that statement credited to the ACF chairman
remains to be understood,” the YCE secretary said.
“Illiteracy rate is highest in
the north and the number of out-of-school children is highest in the north. The
poverty index in the north is high while the twin evil bedeviling the North is
feudalism and religious fatalism.
“It will not be out of place to
say the north has in fact been dragging Nigeria down since independence. All
sorts of mischievous phrases were coined by the very tiny political/military
elite of the north to give undue advantage to the north.”
Olajide said the late Obafemi
Awolowo spent the greater part of his political career and his resources
struggling to liberate the people in the north.
“Let me assure Alhaji Coomassie
that much as we want a fair and egalitarian Nigerian society, it is not at all
costs,” he said.
“The rest of Nigeria will
survive, flourish and join the league of first world countries within two
decades if the north exits.
“If it desires to leave Nigeria,
join me in saying goodbye to the exiting north, I wish them a safe journey into
the desert.”
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