Olusegun Obasanjo has been under fire from Femi Fani-Kayode, a senior member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, over what he called the humiliation of monarchs in Oyo State.
In a widely circulated film, Obasanjo is seen berating traditional leaders for failing to stand up for him at a public gathering on Friday in Iseyin, Oyo State, because he was there.
The ex-president was seen urging the Obas to support him by standing up before ordering them to sit down.
Yoruba stakeholders have responded to the development, calling Obasanjo’s move disrespectful of the traditional leaders.
Fani-Kayode responded by saying he was “deeply saddened and utterly mortified” by Obasanjo’s behaviour in a message posted on his official X Twitter.
The former aviation minister emphasized that Obasanjo had spit in the faces of every Yoruba native, saying that the former president’s actions were not to be taken lightly.
The statement says, in part:
“I am deeply saddened and utterly mortified by the way in which former President Olusegun Obasanjo lambasted our revered traditional rulers in Oyo state and ‘ordered’ them to ‘stand up’ and ‘sit down’ as if they were children.
“This is the same OBJ that, once upon a time, displayed his respect, humility and I daresay greatness by bowing, kneeling and prostrating before our monarchs, even when he was President, yet today he talks to them as if they are his garbage collectors and orders them to jump up and down like a molue driver talking to his beleaguered passengers and a motor park tout talking to a bunch of jobless and worthless underlings.
“Many think that the whole thing is some kind of joke but I do not. We must not take it lightly and the truth is that by doing what he did he has spat on all our faces.”