The pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere on Sunday, asked its northern counterpart, the Arewa Consultative Forum to stop making the claim that the North occupies 80 per cent of the nation’s land mass and has a higher population than other parts of the country.

For Afenifere, the ACF’s “fallacies have been laid to rest.”

The call came in reaction to a statement made last week by the ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim relating to the 2014 national conference.

Ibrahim had said that, “The selection process of delegates by President Jonathan’s government to the confab made the North, that has a population of 75,268,686 people (2006 Census) with a land mass of 730,885 square km (80%) as a minority with 189 delegates while the South with a population 65,151,458 people (NPC 2006) with a land mass of 193,438 square km (20%) as a majority with 303 delegates.”

But Afenifere, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin countered that assertion vigorously.

“All the over 600 resolutions taken at the conference were by consensus as delegates never had to vote once. The only issues that remained contentious were the percentages of increase in derivation, the minerals development fund and the disaster reliefs fund.

“The point of disagreement was when some Arewa delegates insisted that they would only agree to the five per cent increase in derivation and same for mineral resources development all over Nigeria on the condition that the five per cent earmarked for disaster intervention fund should be only for areas where Boko Haram are operating, while other delegates frowned on making Boko Haram a derivation item.

“The compromise struck was to refer the items to the president for a technical committee harmonisation.”

For the Yoruba socio-political group, the allegation “laced with the usual feudal arrogance, outright misinformation, atavistic obfuscation and delusory myopia” would have been ignored “were it not that falsehood repeated time and again may start to wear the garb of truth.”

Odumakin stated further that it should be, “clear that the unitary order, which the House of Arewa, has used to limit the flourishing of the component units of Nigeria for decades, has now entered a terminal crisis with shrinking receipts from oil and like a one-legged man dancing “skelewu,” will sure hit the ground even if he has all the stage to himself.

“And when the fall comes, ACF and co-travellers would wish we had done the needful. They should therefore perish the thought that Afenifere is cajoling them to allow a restructured Nigeria.”

The statement recalled that during the national conference, delegates were unanimous that the figures of all the censuses held in Nigeria were not credible due to hegemonic interferences with what should simply be an exercise to provide accurate data to aid planning and development.

It was also agreed that the natural boundaries of the North and the South are the Rivers Niger and Benue “but the British drew artificial boundaries to favour the North and punish the South for agitating for independence.”