Our disagreements with Odumakin not personal, says ACF as it mourns Afenifere’s spokesman

PAN- NORTHERN socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, has commiserated with its Yoruba counterpart, Afenifere, over the sudden death of its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin.

The condolence message is contained in a statement titled, ‘Condolence Message To Afenifere’, issued today ACF’s Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe.

The statement said while Odumakin was alive, the Afenifere’s spokesman held his views tenaciously, adding that its disagreements with him were not personal but based on principle.

The statement read, “The Arewa Consultative Forum ACF today received the sad news of the death of Yinka Odumakin, the spokesman of the Afenifere.

“While he was alive, Yinka held on to his views very strongly. We often disagreed with him on many issues. Our disagreements were however on principle and not personal.

“The fundamental difference is that the Afenifere group admits only descendants of Oduduwa as members, while we in the ACF admit even descendants of Oduduwa who are northerners.

“The nature of our membership, accommodating hundreds of ethnic groups has made it very difficult to always agree with a group whose membership is limited to one ethnic group.

“We continue to hope that the Afenifere will one day turn a new leaf and see issues not from the narrow and limited perspective of one ethnic group but from the broad perspective of a multi ethnic federal republic.

“We had hoped that Odumakin will live long enough to work for and see the new day. His death today has robbed us of that opportunity. We however pray for the condolence of his family and his colleagues in Afenifere. We shall certainly miss him.”