Options, strategies as Yoruba continues search for true federalism

As the clamour for the restructuring of the country continues to increase, leaders of thought in Yorubaland under the aegis of the Conscience of the Yoruba race, converged on the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State, where a series of stratagems for achieving true federalism in the country were suggested, reports MOSES ALAO.

Three years and few months after the 2014 National Conference convoked by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to address political, security and ethnic issues affecting the country, the report of which was submitted to the former president after three months of extensive work on various aspects of the national life of the country, the chicken appears to be coming home to roost for the country due to the failure to implement the report.

With the growing tension and emotional outbursts as we well as threats and counter-threats flying around in the body-politiy, a development that is reminiscent of the pre-National Conference days where several ethnic agitators made serious cases for a national dialogue to address the deep-seated distrust among the ethnic nationalities making up the country, political watchers have maintained that the country might be tethering on the edge of a precipice if an urgent action is not taken by the Federal Government to arrest the situation.

For keen watchers of political developments in the country, the October 1, 2017 deadline issued to the Igbo to leave the North and the activities of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), the terrorism of the Fulani herdsmen across several states in the North-Central and the South, among other issues, were situations that demand more attention from the Federal Government than they were currently being given, developments which they noted could be brought under control through the restructuring.

Indeed, for those in this school of thought, the solutions to the myriads of challenges confronting the country lay in political restructuring and especially the implementation of the 2014 National Conference, which appeared to have addressed some of the critical issues. But these solutions, despite their not being far to seek, appeared to be elusive, as the Federal Government continues to maintain its stance on not implementing the Confab report or yielding to the clamour for restructuring, which is fast gaining more acceptance across the country.

Yield or not, however, the advocates of restructuring have continued to soldier on, demanding at the loudest decibels of their voices, for what they have described as the only path to the future of the country—true federalism and restructuring. Some of these advocates under the aegis of the Conscience of the Yoruba Race, last Friday, gathered in Ibadan, the political capital of the South-West to draw up a ‘battle plan’ for the actualisation of the mandates of restructuring and true federalism, which the Yoruba have been renowned for dating back to the days of the first Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who worked hard all his life to achieve a truly egalitarian and federal Nigeria.

The group, at its first public meeting with the topic: “Restructuring Nigeria: Options and strategies,” according to its administrator, Chief Kole Omololu, was borne out of the need by the Yoruba race to mobilise intelligence and ensure social justice for its members following the various developments in the country. Omololu, who said that the group started as a social media group for the mobilisation of the Yoruba worldwide, stated that the time has come for the Yoruba race to fashion out the ways to implement the resolutions reached in the 2014 national conference where all groups were represented.

Omololu, like the chairman on the occasion and former Secretary to the Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae, as well as the four discussants at the event, were of the view that it was not enough for the Yoruba to continue to advocate for restructuring, but that it must come up with clear-cut strategies for the actualisation of its demands.

The event, which was held at the Banquet Hall of the Premier Hotel, Ibadan, had in attendance Yoruba indigenes cutting across the public and private strata, withFalae; former Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel;Dr Amos Akingba,who was the keynote speaker and several other Yoruba indigenes coming together to brainstorm on the strategies and options available to the race on the subject matter of restructuring and how the National Conference report would be implemented.

It will be recalled that the conference was convoked as a platform for national dialogue, following the challenges facing the country, with the final report of the Confab noting that “on October 1, 2013, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in his Independence Day broadcast to the nation, declared the intention of his government to organise a national dialogue as a way of resolving the intractable security and political crises in the country. Government’s resolve to convene a National Dialogue amounted to the acknowledgement of the agitation for a conference to find solutions to the myriad of problems confronting the country, particularly those issues that continue to militate against national cohesion and development.”

But while the former president inaugurated the National Conference, headed by a retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, Idris Kutigi, on March 17, 2014, describing it as a historic National Conference “which promises to be another significant landmark in our efforts to strengthen national unity and consolidate democratic governance in Nigeria, “the outcome of the Confab has been ignored by the government, to the detriment of the nation’s unity, a trend that discussants at the Conscience of the Yoruba Race meeting believed must be halted.

Falae, while speaking at the event, maintained that the Federal Government must address the issue of the country’s unity “if Nigeria is to have a future,” noting that though there might be many options to restructuring, the best way forward for the country “lies in the implementation of the 2014 national Conference report.”  According to Falae, the options of regionalism and devolution of powers currently being advocated is to ensure that “the country makes progress.”

On the strategies for the actualisation of the restructuring mandate, Falae noted that the Yoruba must acquire everything needed for self-determination, including economic integration among the six states, by gaining control of its resources while the states will also have state police.

“Massive devolution of powers, responsibilities and resources must take place from the centre to the federating units. I want to add that the devolution will not stop at the old regional capitals of power. It must continue to the states created in the regions and the local government, which is where our people reside,” Falae said.

Similarly, the keynote speaker, Akingba, urged that the Yoruba must no longer treat the demand for restructuring with kid’s glove, noting that the race was already at the war front without knowing it. He cited the attacks of Fulani herdsmen on Yoruba states and their incursion into the region as one of the reasons the clamour for restructuring must be given all the attention it can get.

Noting that Nigeria’s unity was already being threatened and that restructuring remained the only way out, Akingba maintained that the 2014 National Conference was able to address critical issues of region/states, devolution of powers, resource control and state policing and that had the report been implemented, it would have address the current threats of ethnic violence.

Also in their respective views, the four discussants, namely; former TELL Magazine Editor, Mr Dare Babarinsa; Mr Eric Teniola; Special Adviser to the Oyo State governor on Communication, Mr Yomi Layinka and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Osun State Signage, Hoarding and Advertisement Agency, Mrs Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, gave suggestions on the key strategies that can be employed by the Yoruba race to achieve restructuring and the options before the race.

According to Teniola, the demand for restructuring must no longer be done by words of mouth alone; it must be followed by a concrete action including sending the 2014 Confab report to the National Assembly for constitution amendment while Babarinsa believed that a viable way towards achieving restructuring would be to first rally all Yoruba people behind the cause and get them to unite. On his part, Layinka maintained that it had become imperative for the Yoruba race to streamline the clamour for restructuring, saying that like Falae noted earlier, self-determination, harnessing the God-given resources available to the South-West to develop the region, were viable options that the states must consider.

Similarly, a communiqué made available to newsmen after meeting noted that the Yoruba race must consider the option of self-determination, saying: “We need self-determination as a people. Self-government was what we fought for and obtained from the British even before political independence. We need self-determination today in the areas of powers, responsibilities and resources up to local government level. We must control the exploitation and management of all our solid minerals and we must be able to contribute directly to our railways, ferries, electricity, policing and other similar activities germaine to everyday living of the masses of our people. Many of the items on the Exclusive legislative list must be moved to the Concurrent legislative list of governmental activities.

The meeting also took the opportunity to conscientise Nigerians on the need to stop looking at federating states as just an avenue to appropriate money from the centre, saying states, especially in the South-West must begin to take their destinies in their hands; generate and manage their resources.

As the clamour for restructuring and true federalism, which has become synonymous with the Yoruba race, continues, the meeting submitted that “Afenifere and indeed all Yoruba patriots have a sacred responsibility to partner with all well-meaning compatriots across the rest of the country to disseminate accurate information for a pan-Nigerian understanding of the true meaning, benefits and consequences of restructuring,” saying it would not shirk that responsibility.