Igbo ancestry: Obasanjo speaks tribe controversy, says he's from Owu

- Olusegun Obasanjo inadvertently lifted the lids on his ancestry even prior to the recent controversy on his lineage

- The former president in his book said he is a Yoruba man from Owu, Abeokuta Ogun with his tribal marks pointing the direction to his ancestry

- Earlier, APC chieftain Anthony Adefuye had sparked off controversy after submitting that the former president is from Anambra state

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Olusegun Obasanjo has addressed the claim by Senator Anthony Adefuye that his ancestry is not Yoruba but Igbo, with the former president maintaining that his "two parents were from Owu in Abeokuta."

Legit.ng recalls that amid the political permutation preluding the 2023 presidency, Adefuye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had said the southwest region has not produced a president for Nigeria.

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While backing the southwest to produce President Muhammadu Buhari's successor, the former lawmaker alleged that Obasanjo is an Igbo man and that his father hailed from Anambra state while his mother was a Yoruba woman.

But in his book titled ‘My Watch Volume 2: Political and Public Affairs', the former president had traced his ancestry to the Yorubas, maintaining his parents are from Abeokuta, Ogun state, Sahara Reporters reports.

The former president who ruled between 1999 and 2007 said as a Yoruba man, he has the tribal marks of Owu, settling the specks of dust on his race.

Obasanjo said in the 675-page book:

"If the other can hide their identity, I cannot, because my two parents were from Owu in Abeokuta. And you cannot be more Yoruba than an Owu man as the first child and daughter of Oduduwa, the father of Yorubas was the mother of all Owus. What is more, I bear Owu tribal marks. And better or worse still, I speak English with my Owu dialect.

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“I have always maintained and felt proud of my Owuness, Yorubaness and Nigerianess in that order. They are all part of my cherished identity."

Afenifere, Yoruba socio-cultural group, reacts

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Meanwhile, Afenifere, the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, has dismissed the allegation that Obasanjo is not a Yoruba man.

Speaking through its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, the group also took a swipe at Yoruba sons whom it accused of trying to join others to denigrate the heritage of the former president in a bid to advance their political interests.

Describing the allegation as "a twisted and perverted logic", Odumakin reiterated that the southwest produced Nigeria’s president in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years (1999-2007).

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Source: Legit.ng