National Confab: Youths, Traditional worshippers protest substitution, exclusion

Adherents of Traditional African Religion and youths under the aegis National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) have protested their exclusion from the coming National Conference and have threatened to embark on nationwide protest.
This is contained in separate petitions sent to President Goodluck Jonathan by the Chairman of the traditionalists and President International Council for Ifa Religion, Prof. Idowu Odeyemi, and another jointly signed by Comrade Abduljalal A. Dauda and Comrade Temple Chinedu Chika, chairman forum of NYCN chairmen and secretary respectively.
Prof. Idowu predicted that national conference would amount to nothing and end in futility saying anything built on pretence self-deceit and hypocrisy cannot and will not stand.
“We the practitioners of African Religion in the country totally rejected the list of delegates to the conference as presently constituted. Our exclusion reinforced the shaky, unworkable and neo-colonial foundation on which the barely 100-year old Nigerian nation was built,” he said.
He said the official pretence, hypocrisy and self-deceit were reflected in the composition of the National Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) which is made up of only Muslims and Christians to the deliberate exclusion of African Religion.
The NYCN on their part said the substitution of their elected representatives by others is illegal and unacceptable.
They said the inclusion of some non-members of the NYCN and their conspirators in the delegates list was an attempt to short-change members of the youths and denied them the opportunity to participate fully at the conference.
The petition reads in parts: “We wish to register our protest concerning the illegal replacement of truly elected representatives of NYCN from the various zones to the national conference which was submitted to your office by the six geo-political zones. As young people without adult supervision democratically in a free, transparent and fair exercise elected Comrade Ibukun-Oluwa Oluwole as the South-West representative, Temple Chinedu Chika was elected from the South-East, Ambassador Hope George from South-South zone, Engr. Saleh Alhassan Kubah from North-West, while Comrade Abdullahi Abdulmajeed and Comrade Abduljalal A. Dauda from North central and North-West respectively.”