Rescuing YCE from internal crisis

As the internal crisis rocking the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) deepens over the leadership of the association after the demise of its leader, Chief Idowu Sofola, HAKEEM GBADAMOSI writes on the intrigues, accusation and counter accusation by the major players.

Obviously, it is evident that things have fallen apart within the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), as the leadership crisis within the group is set to tear it apart, if not handled maturely within the shortest time. Things appear to have fallen apart following the controversy that trailed the appointment of Colonel Samuel Agbede (rtd) as the president of the association.

It was a war of words within the group, as some elders of YCE are fighting dirty over the choice of Agbede who they claimed is a leader eminently qualified to steer the ship of the association,m following the demise of Chief Idowu Sofola, while the Secretary General of the association, Dr Kunle Olajide, held a different view on the choice of Agbede as the new leader of the group.

While Olajide maintained that there was never a properly constituted meeting of the elders of the group where Colonel Agbede was said to have been unanimously chosen as the new YCE president, after the death of Chief Sofola. However, some YCE elders kicked against Olajide, saying the new president have their support and that his choice was made after an agreement by the elders of the association.

The cold war has been within the YCE for a long time until recently when Olajide went public to inform that the group did not have any leader for now and that the person who is seen as the leader was yet to be declared as the president.

Olajide said the demise of Sofola, who died on March 23, 2018, led to the need for a new leader of the association. He went further to assert that attempt to elect a new successor on June 27, 2018 ended in chaos, leading to the appointment of an interim president. He further said the action of the group was however unconstitutional but became imperative as the association needed a leader to oversee the affairs of the group. 

“Colonel Agbede (rtd), who had never been a member of the YCE National Executive Council (NEC) before, was appointed in the belief that he was not likely to be ambitious and will therefore be able to impartially supervise the election of the new president.

“Unfortunately and unbelievably, he became so ambitious that he has resisted every attempt to elect a new president. He had unwholesome actions, including bringing uniformed bouncers to terrorise members at a meeting. On another occasion, he brought miscreants and thugs to disrupt the meeting of state chairmen of YCE. At a point, he got five members to pronounce him president and he had insisted he remains president without due process,” he said.

The YCE Secretary General concluded by describing Agbede as very ambition and added that his leadership was unacceptable to the members of the council and added that his choice as the leader of true group would not stay.

Olajide’s comments however drew the ire of Agbede and some leaders of the group who discarded his claims. While Agbede accused Olajide of being economical with the truth, saying he is driven by an alleged ambition to become the president of the group at all costs but lacked the support of the majority of the elders, members of the group from Ondo State also refuted the claim of Olajide.

Agbede, while justifying the authenticity of his choice by the elders of the council, claimed that there no was division or dissension over his choice as the leader of YCE except the lone voice of Olajide. He recalled that a similar crisis erupted in 2007 which led to the suspension of Olajide from the council over some irreconcilable differences

Agbede described the submission of Olajide as false and distorted information. He, however, acknowledged that the elders of YCE picked him as the interim president of the association. He went further to say he was later confirmed as the president after the elders noticed his achievements in office within a short period. Ho said the Secretary General was however at loggerheads with him because the elders rejected his (Olajide’s) entreaties to be made president.

Agbede further attributed the rejection of Olajide by the elders to the suit instituted against the group by Olajide, saying “the elders are united in their decision” and have cautioned the council leadership from talking to newsmen on Olajide so as not to expose his alleged misdeeds in the running of affairs of the council.

The Ondo State chapter of the group, while refutingd the claim of Olajide, threw its support behind the presidency of Agbede as the new leader of the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organization. In a statement signed by the state chairman of the group, Anthony Meraiyebu and the secretary, Festus Akinyele, YCE, Ondo State, condemned the submission of Olajide and described as “fallacy and distortion of facts.”

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According to the duo, the group unanimously appointed Agbede as the interim president following the death of the immediate past president of YCE, Chief Idowu Sofola. They further said Agbede was confirmed as the substantive president in recognition of his ability to reposition and transform the group within a short period. These attributes, they claimed, subsequently led to his confirmation as the President General of YCE.

The statement, which maintained that Agbede’s presidency of the YCE was confirmed against Dr Olajide’s submission, further read: “To state clearly for the entire members worldwide, all members were in the National Executive Council meeting at the YCE National Headquarters at Ibadan where Agbede was unanimously appointed as the interim president of YCE. This was as a result of the demise of our immediate past President General, the late Chief Idowu Sofola.

“During the short period of Agbede as the interim president, he transformed the YCE Headquarters’ secretariat to an enviable and presentable outlook. He supplied all the necessary facilities required in the offices.

“As a result of his performances since March 23, 2018, Agbede was confirmed as the President General of YCE by the elders who were above 80 years of age on 29 August, 2018. Those present at the meeting included Professor Tunde Oluwasanmi, Barrister Akinremi, Professor (Mrs) Adetoun Ogunsheye and Chief Ajibade Oyekan, just to mention a few members. For Olajide to turn around to say that Agbede was appointed in error is a fallacy.

However, onlookers and analysts opined that the crisis within the leadership of YCE might spell doom for the group which has been widely recognised as the voice of the Yoruba. Many are also of the view that the purpose and formation of the YCE to rival the pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, as a means further seek to promote and protect the Yoruba interest would be defeated. To avoid a calamitous end of YCE, concerned stakeholders are therefore of the view that the protagonists and the antagonists alike should seek to end the crisis and embrace peace.