BOLAJI ALUKO-OLOKUN, NURUDEEN ALIMI and BOLA BADMUS highlight some issues that surfaced at separate conferences, held by sons and daughters of Yoruba land, as Nigerians prepare for next Saturday’s presidential election.
They both had all the trappings of a high profile conference, as the dignitaries included very prominent and highly knowledgeable persons. Beyond that was the symbolism of the venues of the conferences: Parliament Building for the Ibadan summit and the Ikeja Airport Hotel for the Lagos conference. These structures are part of the enviable legacies of the inimitable sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whose footprint on the sand of time made him an icon to the humanity.
One has been privileged to attend several conferences and seen a number of impressive papers presented in the past but these two conferences held last Thursday In Ibadan and Lagos raised one’s curiosity, and questions would arise endlessly when both are compared and contrasted from their various perspectives.
To some analysts, the agenda of the leaders is the same: how to foster the collective interest of the Yoruba within the context of the Nigerian nation. But the two camps seem to have different strategies on how to achieve that overall goal of protecting the Yoruba.
It was no doubt a rivalry of sort between them as both of them are targeting the soul of the Yoruba in the South-West at the threshold of the 2015 elections. The venues were particularly significant. While Lagos remains the undisputed commercial capital of Nigeria, Ibadan is the political capital of the old Western region.
The conference in Ibadan, tagged the Pan-Yoruba summit was a delight to attend. It had in attendance, eminent men in Yoruba land, among them the All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice Presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the convener of the summit, Lieutenant General Alani Akinrinade (retd). Honourable Wale Oshun, Senator Bayo Salami, Senator James Kolawole, Ambassador Olu Sanu, among others, also graced the occasion held at the historic Parliament Building, located at state secretariat, in Ibadan.
The Lagos summit with the theme, Your tomorrow today, was the third in the series. The first one held in Akure, followed by another in Ibadan and the third in Lagos. Essentially, the final summit reviewed the outcome of the constitutional conference convened by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja in 2014 and what Yoruba Agenda. The dignitaries at the Lagos summit paraded intimidating credentials. It had in attendance prominent Yoruba leaders of the Afenifere family led by a veteran of pre-independence politician nad nationalist, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, as well as Dr Femi Okurounmu, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Chief Bode George, Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Mr Yinka Odumakin.
In a way to disabuse the minds of a few critics, the two conferences stated they were fighting the Yoruba agenda with the minds of the leaders on the presidential election coming up on March 28. Accordingly, in their unanimous decision, the eminent sons and daughters at the Lagos summit recommended that Yoruba should vote for President Goodluck Jonathan because of his commitment to implement the confab report.
Ibadan summit
The address of the convener of the Ibadan summit General Akinrinade was instructive on what he considered as the perversion of certain values in Yoruba land. “Our penchant to accommodate strangers with open arms has led to the bastardisation and in some instances total replacement of our culture, norms and values. Today, things we never thought could happen in the Yoruba nation are now the things we glorify. We have turned our core values on its head. We now have able-bodied Yoruba men and women begging on the streets or becoming ready tools for politicians to exploit as thugs.” He said there was the need to whittle down the powers at the centre to be in consonance with federalism. He said: “Power in Nigeria is too concentrated at the centre. We have a Federal Government that is too powerful, overbearing and with many resources at its disposal than it has the capacity to manage. All the powers and authorities at the centre are now being used to hold the rest Nigerians as slaves in their own country. This makes devolution of power a very important national issue and this is central to what we Yoruba people demand.”
General Akinrinade called on the Yoruba to ensure they used their votes wisely during the elections by voting for those who will live by their words. His words: “We must take this once in four years’ opportunity and use our votes to successfully empower or reject individuals based on their performance, principles, values, development aspirations and good character.”
In his contribution, Governor Ajimobi said the Yoruba have become a victim of exclusion from the scheme of things at the centre, despite “our historical contributions to the development of Nigeria.” He said the ball was in the court of the people to use the 2015 elections to restore the glory of the Yoruba. Another prominent son of the race, Senator Ayo Fasanmi, said the time had come for change that could place Nigeria on a better pedestal, while the national chairman, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Honourable Oshun, urged the Yoruba to vote for leaders, who have the interest and the nation at a large.
In his remark, Osinbajo said there was already light at the end of the tunnel, urged Nigerians to be patient at this trying moment in the history of the country. Osinbajo, who used the occasion to pledge his loyalty to Buhari, noted that the Yoruba were known for not betrayal. On her part, Rita Lori, while speaking on behalf of the Itsekiri, said they supported the demand of the Yoruba and urged them to plead on their behalf with the federal authorities to protect the Itsekiri from Ijaws who were allegedly unleashing violence on them.
Other speakers included Governor Aregbesola, Prince Oyinlola, who spoke in parables, cautioned Nigerians against allowing politics to divide them. Part of the communiqué issued at the end of the summit enumerated the travails of the Yoruba to include: alleged decimation of entrepreneurial ambitions of Yoruba people through federal institutions and agencies that are supposed to be enablers and facilitators of economic development, near virtual absence of reliable and critical infrastructure of electricity, energy, and transportation which has led to the collapse of economic activities in Yoruba land. They demanded regionalism, diversification of economy, holding free, fair, credible and transparent elections as scheduled to hold on March 28 and April 11 2015 respectively.
Some of the other dignitaries at the summit were Oyo State deputy, Chief Moses Adeyemo, former governors Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Otunba Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti State, former deputy governor of Ekiti, Modupe Adelabu. Professor Albert Olawale, a former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Professor Wale Omole, and his former counterpart of the Ekiti State University, Professor Akin Oyebode, Professor John Ayoade, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, Senator Bayo Salami, Senator James
Kolawole, Senator Anthony Adefuye, managing director of The News magazine, Bayo Onanuga, President of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, Ambassador Olu Sanu, Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, and traditional rulers.
The leaders then demanded that: Yoruba land will not be an occupied territory; Yoruba must pursue their destiny in line with the development priorities and ambitions of her people; that regional competitiveness should be the basis and indeed the key driver of growth and development of Nigeria. They said the Yoruba would not countenance any form of unelected government, be it government of National Unity, Interim National government or howsoever described.
Lagos summit
The dignitaries at the Lagos post-national conference summit entitled: Tomorrow Begins Today, included Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, who is also the Convener; the Chairman, pan- Yoruba socio- political group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti; Chief Ayo Adebanjo; national chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa; chairman, Presidential Committee on National Conference, Senator Femi Okunrounmu and former Governor Gbenga Daniel.
Others included the former deputy national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, Minister of State for Works, Mr Dayo Adeyeye; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro; Dr Kunle Olajide, Professor Dupe Olatubosun, former Lagos State deputy governor, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor- Akerele, president, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasheun and the national coordinator, Chief Gani Adams.
The summit had a cultural band, which thrilled the audience with evergreen songs of the late lengendry and icon of Nigerian theatre, Chief Hubert Ogunde, at intervals such as Yoruba Ronu to draw home the importance of the gathering to the future of the race.
Nearly all the speeches by the leaders touched on the report of the 2014 National Conference and how the report would benefit Yoruba land in particular and the country in general if fully implemented by the government of President Jonathan who convoked the conference. So, the leaders, in their various submissions, had a word of appreciation for the president for having the courage and commitment to convoke the conference which they said the Yoruba had renewed the for it in 1998, when the country was preparing to return to civil rule under the regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Among the notable speakers was an Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who is a close associate of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As one who had seen it all, he went down the memory lane, recalling the struggle led by Awolowo to ensure that the British colonialists gave the country a truly federal constitution that would address the problems of the multi- ethnic nation like Nigeria with the interests of the minorities fully guaranteed. He said that such constitution made the Western Region to make cocoa its main source of revenue under the administration of Chief Awolowo and transform the region into a model through landmark achievements that are still evident today. He said the Eastern and Northern with just mono products as well, also developed at their own pace. That was before Nigeria discovered crude in abundance. Adebanjo said the military coup of in 1966 disrupted the system and enthroned a unitary system, where everybody had to go cap in hand to the centre.
At the end of the summit, the leaders endorsed President Jonathan for a second term of four years, not as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, but as the race’s (Yoruba) preferred candidate. They urged all Yoruba to vote for him so that he can implement fully the 653 recommendations contained in the report of the Confab. In fact, they observed that the president had even begun to implement the recommendations with the adoption made by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting last Wednesday in Abuja.
“I am not supporting Jonathan because he is Jonathan. I am supporting him because he is championing the cause that is in the interest of Yoruba,” Chief Adebanjo said.
Mimiko had set the ball rolling, expressing appreciation for President Jonathan’s commitment and sincerity of purpose in convoking the Confab. He said the president remained the candidate of the Yoruba for the election. Mimiko recalled the struggle by the Yoruba led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo to ensure liberty and freedom for the Yoruba and nay all Nigerians irrespective of ethnic or religious background by putting in place a truly federal Constitution prepared by the people themselves.
The Minister of State for Works, Adeyeye, in his remark at the summit, declared that there was need to restructure the country, expressing optimism that the implementation of confab report would bring about a better country run under a true federal system of government. “Let us face it, the way things are today, there are fundamental structural problems and we need to restructure the country. This is a clear issue.
“Having gone through the recommendations myself, I believe the National Conference did a wonderful job and I think if we faithfully implement them, the recommendations, we would have a better Nigeria, a more federal system, a system that allows for rapid development of the country, a system that allows each geo- political zone, each of the states, even each of the local governments to take their destiny into their hands, a system that free us from the excessive concentration of powers at the Federal level and a system that fully accommodates the diverse nature of this country. We must recognised that. This is what the Confab has done,” he said.
A former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, described the quality of attendance at the forum as an attestation that the Yoruba nation had eventually found its voice. He, however, lamented that it was a tragedy the fact that the minority had continued to oppress the majority in Yoruba land, adding that the Lagos gathering lent credence to the fact that the Yoruba people had decided to take their destinies in their own hands. He insisted that the Yoruba Nation had nothing against the Hausa/Fulani, recalling that this was fully demonstrated by the sage, Chief Awolowo, when he made Mohammed Kura his running mate in the 1983 presidential elections.
He also declared that Jonathan remained the candidate of the Yoruba for the 2015, contending that when it was the turn of northern zone, the Yoruba through their leaders would surely pick a choice.
Chief George, in turn, spoke passionately about the laudable recommendations of the Confab, inspite of the opposition and boycott of the conference by APC leaders. He said that with the outcome of the conference, President Jonathan had won the heart of majority of the Yoruba, who he said were eager to vote for him on March 28.
