AS the 2019 General Election is fast approaching, preparations for the exercise are also increasing with politicians and political parties getting busier to position themselves for victory at the polls. It is also the right opportunity for groups, associations and individuals, among others to express their minds and communicate such to those who are canvassing for votes and deliver their support for whoever amongst the politicians or political parties they feel can deliver to them their yearnings and aspirations within a four-year term of office.
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Just a few days ago, Yoruba elders and leaders from across the country were in Lagos for an important assignment to promote the cause of the race. They had the opportunity to rub minds on the way forward for a part of Nigeria that has always taken a leading position but could have far outreached where it is currently.
At a day South-West Colloquium with the theme: “2019: The South- West Speaks,” and coming out with a 12-point communique, were a chieftain of pan- Yoruba socio- political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who was represented by a foremost historian, Professor Banji Akintoye; former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George; Senator Femi Okuronmu, former Minister of Works, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; former deputy governors, Kofoworola Bucknor- Akerele and Erelu Olusola Obada; Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abiodun Olujimi; Dr. Bode Olajumoke, Dr. Remi Akintoye, Dr. Saka Balogun, governorship candidates of PDP in Lagos and Oyo, Mr. Jimi Agbaje and Engineer Seyi Makinde, respectively, among others.
The gathering, having taken views about the state of affairs in Yorubaland in particular, and Nigeria in general, observed that the situation was not as bad as it is currently in terms of high degree of poverty, insecurity and hopelessness as all manner of insults and harassment are now being unleashed on the race like never before in the structure called Nigeria and declared that the country must be restructured, by going back to the Regional System of government which was in operation at independence in 1960.
It was the resolution of the gathering of eminent Yoruba elders and leaders that were Nigeria to revert back to that kind of system of government, states in the federation would run better without having to go cap in hand to the Federal Government to beg for anything. According to the elders in the 11-point communique read at the end of the exercise by Prince Uthman Shodipe, the system will also be such where the Federal Government would be devolved of its enormous powers to the advantage of the states.
The communique, while noting that the Yoruba remains cohesive, indivisible and strengthened by a common cultural bond and ideological vision, reiterated that: “The Yoruba believes in the restructuring of Nigerian union in order for the prevalence of equity, fairness and the dominating anchor of justice.”
And towards realising this dream for the race and the country in general, as the 2019 polls draw closer, the Yoruba elders and leaders resolved in their communique to throw their support behind the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
While doing that, the Yoruba leaders said the decision came in view of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s support for the restructuring of Nigeria to create equal opportunities, fairness and justice for all stakeholders.
“The Yoruba people resolved to adopt the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the presidency in the 2019 elections in view of his support for the restructuring of Nigeria to create equal opportunities, fairness and justice for all stakeholders,” the communique said.
“We must encourage every state in our federation to grow on the momentum of the abundant resources within their soil. The centre is too unwieldy, too disproportionate, effectively creating inequity in the distribution of the collective wealth. We (Yoruba) must liberate ourselves from the present state of inequity and poverty,” the communiqué said.
Delivering his speech at the colloquium, an Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, while noting that the Yoruba was known to be the foremost race in Nigeria, argued that the race was now endangered to, the extent that the country, which it belonged to, was equally endangered and, therefore, the need for Yoruba elders and leaders to join hands to rescue the situation.
According to Adebanjo, the Yoruba are endangered as a result of high degree of poverty and hopelessness that the country is going through, saying that the race, known for its outstanding firsts in developmental strides in all spheres of endeavour, cannot continue to fold its arms and watch things deteriorate, while some sections were trying to lord over it.
Therefore, Adebanjo charged Yoruba elders and leaders to come together and protect their people. “We must come together to protect our people,” he charged the elders and leaders at the gathering, saying that the race was not known to submit to failure and was not common for Yoruba to agree to poverty.
“Yorubas don’t know how to submit to failure to anything. It is also not common for Yoruba to agree to poverty. We Yoruba are going through high degree of poverty right now, we are going through high degree of insecurity and we are also going through high degree of hopelessness. I have confidence that Yoruba would rise and fight the battle and we will achieve success,” he said.
Speaking further, the elder statesman reiterated his support for restructuring of the country, saying the message everyone should take home was that the Yoruba wanted to live in a decent community and would not want to be gagged by any group within the Nigerian nation, declaring that Yoruba remained a great nation.
In his submission, former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, while also lamenting the state of affairs in the country, said these were challenging times for the Yoruba as the race is “now rudderless, flung in all winds, lacking the cohesive bond and leadership of the old which once put our people at the cutting edge of significant leadership in the Nigerian union.”
“We seem adrift, unsure of the pivotal steadiness of old, stripped of a rallying guidance, forfeited upon a dark unknown ancient shore. Where is our anchor? Where is that firm footedness that once gave our ancestors the leading supremacy in all endeavours in the Nigerian Union? George queried, saying notwithstanding all these attributes, the Yoruba were always accommodating and ready to collaborate with all other ethnic groups in the country, but would resist any attempt to subjugate it.
“We have remained as a nation for 104 years now. That itself is a great achievement. Let us now build further on the path of progression and pacific relationship. Let us continue to condemn and stamp out the primitive ideology of hatred and division. We have been brought together by the unfathomable hands of fate. Our strength is in our plurality. Our significance is in the depth of our multifarious identities.
“As we grapple with the dawning challenges of the 2019, naturally like all other ethnic group, the Yoruba people want to ensure that they do have an important seat at the table when the dividends of democracy are being apportioned. We do not ask for more than what is fair and just. We do not ask for more than what is equitable and balanced in proportion.
“Yoruba insist on a balanced, equitable expanse where every section of the Nigerian society would be free and unhindered in the cultivation of their natural resources,” he declared.
While maintaining that restructuring was the way out for the country, George, who is also the Atona Oodua, said he has travelled across the length and breadth of Nigeria and could see that every state was blessed abundantly with either agricultural or mineral resources, contending that if all Nigerians could get up and work hard, every state in the country can survive without any largess from the central government.
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olujimi said there was need for Yoruba must come together, speak loud about restructuring, just as she charged the elders and the leaders of the race to represent their people well by presenting their views clearly.
“As 2019 approaches, we must come together, we must talk of restructuring, we must have unity of purpose, our leaders must represent our views. I believe we must demand the right of our people, we must change the narrative, we must allow ourselves to be led by leaders who believe in our cause,” she said.
Speaking further, she equally charged the elders and leaders to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Bill into law in order for every Nigerian vote to count, come 2019, saying this must be done in order to avert a situation where a 2-year-old would be allowed to vote in some parts of the country.
Former Minister of Works, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, who also threw his support for restructuring, charged President Buhari to give Nigeria proper democracy, observing that the anti- corruption war of his regime had been one- sided rather than been wholesome. He also called on the Yoruba elders and leaders to unite and free the race from its present state of helplessness.
For Senator Femi Okunrounmu, the last three and a half years that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has being in the saddle has been traumatic, with poverty and job loss on the increase, declaring, however, that: “Yoruba will never be slave to anybody, we reject it.”
The elder statesmen, who also spoke on the need to restructure the country, however, said the option left for the Yoruba in the 2019 poll is to vote the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar as the next president of Nigeria, being “the only vehicle available to board.”
Also speaking, former Minister of State for Defense, Erelu Obada, who is also former Osun State deputy governor, while lamenting that there had not been improvement in power supply and infrastructural renewal in the last three and a half years and that the key positions of vice- president and others occupied by Yoruba had not translated to anything significant to the race, declared that Yoruba had been highly impoverished within the period.
“How are we going to get out of this problem we have found ourselves? She queried, but quickly provided the answer by herself, saying: “Restructuring,” urging the gathering to think deeply.
Mr. Jimi Agbaje, the Lagos State governorship candidate of PDP, in his own contribution, said for Yoruba to win the battle before the race, which is about not allowing the race to become slaves to other races or be subjugated, the battle must first commence in Lagos and a stop put at how some people were using the resources there for their personal benefit.
For him, he said it was imperative to remove those involved in the act from the equation so that nobody would come again to them to consult them on any of Yoruba issues.
And in his own remark, the governorship candidate of Lagos State chapter of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Mr. Gbadamosi, while also supporting need for Yoruba to unite and bring the race back on course, recalled that the sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his lieutenants were in their youthful age when they were all in charge of affairs in the country.
He said Yoruba youths had been abandoned for too long and now was the time to allow them to be foot-soldiers that would be pushed forward and encouraged to deliver for the race and the country.
With the conclusion of the colloquium, which was attended from all states in the South- West zone, it is expected that the messages from the August gathering would have by now be getting across to the nooks and crannies that, come 2019, the Yoruba are asking vehemently that only restructuring can move the country forward like it did in the 60s when region under Regional System of Government was able to grow at its own pace without having to go cap in hand begging the Federal Government for assistance and that the Yoruba already have their candidate in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential standard bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll exercise.
and then