Afenifere chieftain to Tinubu on Amotekun: You asked us to vote for Buhari that things would be better, we have gained nothing from him and you are keeping quiet

*Okurohunmu also lambasts APC leader over silence

*Oga won’t join issues with anybody on security outfit – Spokesman

*Respondent slams Adebanjo over comment to Tinubu, asks if any Afenifere member voted for Buhari or supported Tinubu

*Amotekun is now clear a version of Afenifere, Ohaneze, Middle Belt CAN, PDP coalition to make Nigeria ungovernable for Buhari – Contributors

“Is Baba Ayo Adebanjo saying that our memories have denied us so that we won’t remember how Afenifere formed alliance with PDP in 2015 and repeated same, this time, along with Igbo, Middle Belt and CAN to work against Buhari’s re-election in 2020? Well, we now know that Amotekun is Yoruba version of their coalition against Buhari government after they failed at polls and in courts,” he slams Ayo Adebanjo.

Afenifere chieftains, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Senator Femi Okurounmu, have taken their fight to the doorstep of All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over his silence on the Western Nigerian Security Network code-named ‘Operation Amotekun’.

Particularly, Pa Adebanjo, now 91 was quoted in a media report to have asked to be shown what benefit the South West had got from the ongoing government headed by the North after Tinubu formed alliance with the Arewa ethnic side of the divides.

Tinubu’s Spokesman, Mr. Tunde Rahman, however, reportedly said the APC chieftain would speak at the appropriate time.

Tinubu, who is a former Lagos State governor and leading politicians in the South-West, is yet to speak on Amotekun security initiative launched by the six South-West governors 10 days ago, according to a media report.

The initiative ignited a controversy almost as soon as it was launched with the Federal Government and some leaders and interest groups in the North voicing opposition to the scheme while leaders of thought and the populace of the South West have shown overwhelming support for the initiative.

Tinubu’s continued silence on the matter has raised a few eyebrows given the strong support expressed for the initiative by the majority of Yoruba leaders across political divides.

A media report, however, quoted 91-year-old Adebanjo said Tinubu shouldn’t have formed an alliance with the North in the first place.

He said, “It was the likes of Tinubu that told us that the South-West would enjoy many privileges but what has the South-West benefitted from the alliance? He shouldn’t have forged an alliance with them in the first place.

“He asked the Yoruba people to vote for him (Buhari) and that things would be better. Now that they are being slaughtered and they don’t want us to have our security, you are keeping quiet all because you are being deceived that you will become the President which you will never be.

“I have continued to tell him that they are just deceiving him and he is deceiving himself. Which promise has Buhari made and fulfilled? In 2015, he said he would be a born again democrat but does he even obey court orders?”

Adebanjo said the silence of the likes of Tinubu would let the Yoruba people know who their real leaders were.

He said the Federal Government had no right to discredit Amotekun when it had failed to provide adequate security.

The Afenifere chieftain added, “I have always told you that the Yoruba people know who their real leaders are. The problems that the Yoruba people are facing today were caused by men like Tinubu. If they had not gone to forge an alliance with Buhari, we wouldn’t be in this problem.

“I told them then that Buhari was only after power. If not, how is it that they neither want to protect us nor allow us to protect ourselves? Why is the North allowed to have security agencies while we are not allowed to protect ourselves against armed persons?

“The police refuse to do anything because of the President’s body language. How could they have killed the daughter of our leader (Pa Reuben Fasoranti) and there has been a single arrest?

Also speaking, Senator Okurounmu said Tinubu’s silence had exposed him for what he is.

Okunrounmu, who represented Ogun-Central senatorial district from 1999 to 2007, said Tinubu did not need any prodding before speaking up.

The former lawmaker said, “Tinubu doesn’t need to be prompted before speaking. We have all been speaking on the matter. Their silence is ominous. This thing was launched by the governors, not Afenifere. And such initiatives should be supported by all Yoruba people.

“Yoruba people are not idiots, we are not fools. If he doesn’t talk now, then we will know how to describe him. Nobody needs to tell us what he is. Nobody needs to call him anything. Even the illiterate man knows what he is.

“If the ordinary man on the street is in support of Amotekun, if all Yoruba people say this is what they want and he is refusing to talk, then his silence has exposed him for what he is. His silence speaks loudly.”

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH said he expected Tinubu to have spoken on the issue of Operation Amotekun before now.

The YCE scribe said, “I expect him to have spoken much earlier. We are in a democracy and he (Tinubu) is the leader of the ruling party, as far as I am concerned, in the country and majority of the states in the South-West.

“But of course he also has the right to keep quiet if he doesn’t want to say anything. However, the general expectation of the Yoruba people is that being a political leader, he should speak on this type of issue.

“The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, is challenging the legality of our entrenched constitutional right to protect our lives and property. I expect our political leader (Tinubu) to be in the forefront of rebuking whoever authored the statement. We see him as a leader and we expect him to say something.”

However, Rahman who is Tinubu’s Media Adviser, said, “His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would not take issue with anybody on the important matter of Amotekun.

“You know he is a deeply reflective person and a deep thinker. I know that at the appropriate time he would speak on the matter. What time is appropriate is his prerogative in my view. And I think we must all grant him that indulgence.”

In the meantime, some of the Contributors who responded to one of the Afenifere chieftains are asking questions to be told how any member of the ethnic group supported the candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari or Tinubu over the request for Yoruba to vote for him.

“Is Baba Ayo Adebanjo saying that our memories have denied us so that we won’t remember how Afenifere formed alliance with PDP in 2015 and repeated same, this time, along with Igbo, Middle Belt and CAN to work against Buhari’s re-election in 2020? Well, we now know that Amotekun is Yoruba version of their coalition against Buhari government after they failed at polls and in courts,” one of them said under strict condition of anonymity as he slammed Ayo Adebanjo.