Yoruba Youth Council calls on leaders to promote unity, justice, mutual respect than ethnic superiority

… Cautions Gumi over comments

Alawode Rahmon Akintunde, president, Yoruba Youth Council (YYC), has called on leaders across the country to promote unity, justice and mutual respect rather than ethnic superiority.

The group urged Nigerian youth, particularly Yoruba youth, to remain peaceful and refuse to be provoked, stating that Nigeria belongs equally to all and that no region is superior to another, and no ethnic nationality should be treated as second-class.

Reacting to the recent statement credited to Ahmad Gumi, Sheikh and Islamic cleric, describing Arewa as “civilised” while asking IPOB and OPC to learn from the North, Alawode described the statement as reckless, provocative, insulting and capable of inflaming ethnic tensions at a time when Nigeria desperately needs responsible leadership, mutual respect and national unity.

According to the Yoruba youth leader, no ethnic group or region in Nigeria has the moral authority to arrogate superiority or civilisation to itself while denigrating others.

According to a statement he signed, the Yoruba people are peaceful, accommodating and civilised, but our restraint must never be mistaken for weakness. “Sheikh Gumi’s statement is an insult to the collective intelligence, history and dignity of the Yoruba people and other ethnic nationalities in Southern Nigeria. The Yoruba civilization predates modern Nigeria, and our contributions to education, democracy, culture, commerce and national development are documented facts that cannot be erased by provocative rhetoric”.

He questioned the moral basis for portraying the North as a model of civilisation amid the devastating activities of Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other violent groups that have killed and displaced thousands of innocent Nigerians across the region.

Alawode further called on the Federal Government and relevant security agencies to immediately invite Sheikh Gumi for questioning and investigate his persistent controversial interventions on matters involving armed bandits and terrorist groups, insisting that no individual should be treated as being above scrutiny under the law.

“We call for the immediate arrest and thorough investigation of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi over his persistent inflammatory statements and his publicly acknowledged interactions with armed groups. Nigerians deserve to know the full nature of these interactions. If no wrongdoing is established, the law will speak; but silence and selective enforcement only deepen public suspicion,” he said.

The Yoruba youth leader stressed that freedom of expression must not become a licence for reckless ethnic comparison, incitement or statements capable of undermining peaceful coexistence.