The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said the Yoruba race needs to be more tactical if the ethnic group is desirous of actualising its advocacy on the issue of restructuring .
He urged the proponents of the idea in the region to change strategy and reach out to other regions on how to actualise the dream of Nigeria being restructured economically and politically.
Fayemi spoke in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday at a national retreat held by Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG).
He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors in the southwest will work with the governor elect in Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde in the interest of the region.
Fayemi said: “There are those who entertained fear on this issue of restructuring and whether this is legitimate or not, we must reach out to them, because we are not an island onto ourselves.
“We don’t need to be shouting on the roof top before we get it, but if we want to do it alone, it will the agitation will fall,” he warned.
Expressing regret over voter apathy in the southwest, Fayemi said : “in the last presidential poll, Ekiti registered 909,000 voters , only 381,000 voted, 0sun 1.67million , only 737,000 voted, Ondo, 1.8m registered , 586,00, Oyo, 2.7m registered , 891,000 voted, 2.36m registered in Ogun, 605,000 voted and Lagos with 6.3m, only 1.56m voted.
“This might be caused by deficit of trust or fraudulent multiple registration, but whatever the case was, as long as we remain a constituent part of this country, ARG should reflect on this and act appropriately.
“If it was as a result of deficit of voter education, then the ARG and governments need a lot to do. Religion also affected us, because some people were brainwashed to vote based on religious consideration”.
The governors of Ondo, Rotimi Akeredolu and his Osun counterpart, Gboyega Oyetola, said all the distinguishable traits of the southwest region initiated during the old western region must he brought back in the interest of the zone.
The Osun governor, Oyetola, represented by his chief of staff, Dr. Charles Akinola said: ” the Yorubaness in us and those things that separated us from others are our developmental drives, our intellectual rigour, our brilliance, circumspection and those values however, have not really taken us to where we deserve”.
Oyetola also appealed to the southwest governments to leverage on its human capital in the diaspora and bring them home for the benefit of all.
Also speaking, Ondo state governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, represented by the commissioner for Regional Integration, Prof Bayonle Ademodi, added that the southwest is also facing serious economic and political crises that needed to be addressed.
“We have to be really worried that the instability and insecurity in the sahel has started affecting us and we need to get worried.
” We knew we had to think outside the box in the southwest on how to bring our own paradigm and we thought of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) to work on how to put us back on the right track.
Akeredolu said the act of using desperation to get into power is becoming high in the region, saying this has made it difficult for people to have control over their leaders.
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