Speculations that Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a one-time military Head of State who later ruled Nigeria for eight years as an elected civilian President, is not a Yoruba man are bound to heighten following a claim by a Yoruba elder that Obasanjo himself once confirmed that he is indeed not of the Yoruba ethnic stock.

Unverified reports in the past had claimed that Obasanjo, who is officially listed as a Yoruba from Ogun State in the South-West, actually has an Igbo father from Anambra State in the South-East.

In an interview published this morning in Sunday PUNCH, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi was a National Conference delegate and chieftain of the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, revealed how Obasanjo told members of Egbe Omo Yoruba cultural group to which he (Sir Ajayi) belongs that he is not Yoruba. Sir Ajayi said the incident took place in 1998 in the run-up to the 1999 presidential election, in which the Yoruba rejected Obasanjo and preferred to support Chief Olu Falae.

Sir Ajayi said: “Obasanjo had said that he was not a Yoruba man. We invited him to Egbe Omo Yoruba (a cultural group) and he said no, he was not a Yoruba man. Apart from that, he had not done well with our circle. He didn’t like us politically. He didn’t like the Yoruba and he had done a lot of things to the Yoruba, which we thought was bad enough. He took a very prominent part in seeing to it that Awolowo did not win the presidential election against Shehu Shagari. He made sure that Awolowo did not win the election; although Awolowo won, he was not declared. The Yoruba did not like that and they did not vote for him during his first term (1999 to 2003). Since he was in charge of the caliphate, he used all the skills and strategies that he had to make himself president for the second term, irrespective of the feelings of the Yoruba people.”

Asked if Obasanjo has been showing interest in the affairs of the Yoruba after then, Sir Ajayi replied: “Not to my knowledge.”

•Photo shows ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

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