Former Vice President Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has extolled the virtues of the Yoruba race, vowing that if he becomes President he will protect the interest of the Yorubas and other Nigerians.
Atiku who described he Yoruba race as one of the best specimen of human race, said insinuation that he will favour the North is unfounded.
Atiku in a statement through Kola Johnson his Media Consultant in Abuja said “It is for this reason that I count myself extremely lucky indeed to have had a wife from amongst this noble specie of the human race, which by this token implies that the bond uniting me together with the Yorubas is aptly like the genetic bond of a family, and this is why the Yorubas whether individually or collectively have always occupied a special place in my heart .”
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“It is also for this reason that the interest of the Yorubas will always occupy a topmost place in my policy making and governance if by the special Grace of Allah, I am lucky to be president in 2027.Therefore, the fear that my ascension to presidency might lead to Hausa/Fulani domination over Yorubas or other ethic group does not only arise, but also absolutely unfounded because the entire Yoruba stock are my larger extended family and In-laws.”
The coalition leader said, ” in case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman in the 70s and we have 4 Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years and we are still together” – Atiku challenged the critics. My children with Titi sometimes called me “Baba Rere” meaning good father. “I am extremely in love with my children and serve as a good father to them as I urged every father to do the same to their children”.
” And besides, Yorubas are so sophisticated and highly educated that you can only toy with them at your own peril” Atiku stated further.
” My Ijesha-born Yoruba wife is more than a wife to me. Aptly put, she is my Jewel of Inestimable value and anybody who knows about my family, even from a distance can easily tell you this.
“This has indeed been the reason why both in my private and public life, Yorubas rank amongst my most intimate friends and associates. Therefore I have never joked with them.”
Narrating further he remarked: “Anyone who knows me will tell you with all sincerity that as a person I am naturally a highly detribalised person. Even before I could ever venture into politics, I flowed easily and effortlessly with people of diverse tribes, ethnicity, religion and whatever sectarian differences.
“This is why immediately I opted into politics without being immodest, I was essentially like a politician without borders, in terms of my absolutely detribalised outlook. Call it a statesman if you would not mind.
“But frankly speaking, however, I cannot but confess that my marital union to a Yoruba wife had indeed gone a long way in endearing the generality of the Yorubas in my heart”stated the Waziri of Adamawa.
“I see the larger Yoruba regional landscape, not only as my home just as I equally see the extended Yoruba tribes men and women as an extended larger family, so the question of Hausa/Fulani domination does not arise at all.”
