| Posted By Tunde Saani August 9, 2008 Governors of the six South-west political zone, except Lagos recently converged on the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State to brainstorm on the way forward for the Yoruba race. The meeting also had in attendance prominent traditional rulers from the zone including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. A closed door meeting took place recently in the ancient city of Ibadan between South-west governors and prominent traditional rulers in their respective states at the Government House, Agodi. The event was initially scheduled for the Cultural Centre but owing to the reduction in the list of those to attend the meeting, it was shifted to the Government House. Banke Akinlaja, the Co-ordinator of World Festival of Yoruba Arts (WOFEYAC), the organisers of the meeting, explained that the shift in venue was not meant to shut out some other prominent Yoruba leaders from the meeting. "This meeting was initially expected to be an all comers affair of distinguished Yoruba leaders but at the last moment had to be reduced due to logistics to a manageable size which necessitated the change of venue. It has no political undertone." The publisher of Alaroye, Mr. Alao Adedayo had every reason to be happy at the success of the meeting as it would be the first meeting where the governors and their monarchs would converge on a common platform of seeking unity for the Yoruba race. Previous efforts by the Alaroye organization through its pet project, World Festival of Yoruba Arts and Culture {WOFEYAC} to bring the governors and the royal fathers together under a common platform different from political setting has not been successful as some of the governors and the monarchs had not been showing up. Last Friday however marked a new dawn in the search for unity for the Yoruba race as the political and the traditional leaders met at a closed-door meeting to fashion out modalities through which the Yorubas can think, talk and act as one on various critical issues in the polity. Though the Lagos contingent comprising of the governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and the Oba of Lagos, Alhaji Rilwanu Akiolu were absent at the meeting, Adedayo told THISDAY that their absence had nothing to do with their seeming political difference with the other governors. According to him, Fashola and Akiolu might have set out for the meeting but had to turn back due to the blockage of the Lagos/Ibadan expressway by tanker drivers around the Ogere end of the highway. He however assured that his organization shall not relent in the concerted efforts at uniting the leaders and by extension the people of the race. He disclosed that another meeting of the leaders has been fixed for Abeokuta in October where he hoped that all the governors would be present. "We have started the process, there is no going back." Adedayo, charged the governors and the traditional rulers to wake up and contribute to the progress of the Yoruba nation, lest its people and cultural heritage be led into extinction. All the governors' in attendance except one, Olusegun Agagu, the embattled governor of Ondo State presented an address at the occasion where they saluted the organizers of the meeting for the leading role and assured that the idea shall continue to live. The host governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala stressed the uniqueness of the meeting and noted that inspite of the chequered history of the Yoruba nation; it has strings of firsts in almost all spheres of national life. "In the chequered history of the nation, the Yoruba race has consistently carved a niche for itself. In education, in Commerce and Industry, in politics and other areas of human endeavor, we have always shone like a million stars. So, if we have achieved such monumental feats as a race, why are we now retrogressing? He attributed the reason for the retrogression to the disunity of the people. "We engage in self immolation. We destroy our best and brightest minds; we are own enemy, all in the name of politics. Akala's speech which was laced with historical spices on the misfortune that have befallen the race since 1960 and how Yoruba man has been used to supplant fellow Yorubaman, recalling how Yoruba politicians were used to supplant Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the infamous 1962 treason charge while another set of Yoruba politicians were used to perfect the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election believed to have been won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola. According to him, "it is sad that while the rest of the country have put the issue behind them and moved on, Yoruba people still view one another with suspicion and mutual hatred." He called for soul searching if the Yorubas of the South-west zone of the country must move forward. He pointed to the pull him down (Phd) syndrome that is prevalent among the people of the race. "We bicker over trivial issues and keep malice and nurse everlasting grudges against perceived opponents and imaginary enemies. He added that several prominent families have become permanent mortal enemies because of historical political differences. The governor noting that in Nigeria today, the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has become the butt of wicked jokes and an object of ridicule, especially from his kinsmen. He admitted that the former President has his own faults and short-comings during his eight-year rule. "For instance, some of us feel embarrassed that Chief Obasanjo could not complete the Ibadan-Ogbomoso-Ilorin dual carriage way before he left government" but submitted that despite the perceived excesses of the former ruler in some areas, "Chief Obasanjo, a prominent Yoruba son, did his best for this nation. This should be a pride to the Yoruba race." "We need to go back to the drawing board. We need to look back and see where our roof is leaking. This is the time to be searching for what is right and not what is wrong. All cracked walls must be cemented. We need to close ranks and put behind us the bitterness and mutual suspicion of the past," Alao-Akala said. In his speech at the ceremony, Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel praised WOFEYAC for the initiative in convening the meeting. He lauded the rich intellectual endowment and socio- cultural enlightenment of the Yoruba nation, but however regretted that "upon the invasion of our culture by the colonialists and the cession of Lagos to the British in 1861, the Yoruba cultural heritage had continued to be impeded on". He said "my brothers, our elders, I have come to Ibadan today not so much to provide answers but to raise questions on where we are coming from, where we are now and where we should be going. The Yoruba people must wake up to fulfill their mission in the Nigerian polity. We need not jettison our 'omoluabi' values on the altar of vain glory in our quest for political power." He called for prayers for the successes of Yoruba sons and daughters in public offices and support for them to promote peace, love and unity in Yorubaland. He expressed regrets that despite the eight-year rule of a Yoruba man as leader, the nationality had not fared better. Daniel lamented a situation where sitting governors are still dragged before the election petition tribunals' years after the conduct of the election which he described as undesirable and having negative consequences both for good governance and the well being of the people. "Unfortunately, much of the contention that we now witness in Yorubaland is coming not so much from the stand point of a qualitatively superior ideology or a claim to a higher calling, but from unbridled ambition and selfish agenda." According to him, the Yoruba nation was fast turning into a theatre of political manoeuvring, with the emergence of various interests jostling for the control of Government Houses in the region. He pointed out that the only way out was unity among the people in the region. The governor preached the separation of governance from activism, noting that because of historical antecedents, the Yorubas have a large pool of activists, saying, "there comes a time when we need to reassess our strategy and evaluate our goals. We should re-channel our God-given energy and intellect into creating a better future for our people, rather than turn bemoaning the woes of the past into a meal ticket. Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola on his prt said that the meeting was a clear evidence of the good intentions for the Yoruba race to occupy its pride of place in the scheme of things. "Accordingly, we must learn to accommodate one another and different shades of opinions. We should also be able to speak with one voice on national issues." He charged the meeting to harmonise the interests of the Yorubas generally, including the Yorubas in the diaspora. "I believe we need to celebrate the richness of our race and give the people of Yoruba descent outside the country the required sense of belonging". he stressed that with unity, it will be easy for the Yoruba nation to forge ahead and break barriers, exuding that the race is blessed with intimidating mental endowment, with which it can stamp its authority on the test of time in the Nigerian nation. He called for the re-awakening of the spirit of brotherhood, unity of purpose and establish a unified entity that will hold the zone together as a bunch and possibly, a central hub that would project the race as one entity along the path of progress. In his address, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi canvassed for the revival of agriculture as the main stay of the nation's economy. He lamented the centralization of agriculture with the abolition of Marketing Boards which he noted did a lot of damage to the revenue portfolio of the Yoruba nation. The royal father sermonized that the Yoruba nation should not be caught unaware against the backdrop of contemporary developments on the control of oil in the Niger Delta region which has awakened the need for each region to go back to its root economically. Adeyemi, who spoke on behalf of other monarchs enjoined political gladiators in Yorubaland to shun violence and give peace a chance to reign among the people. The leader of the Kwara/Kogi delegates, Senator Suleiman Salawu pleaded for liberation of the Yorubas in the North Central states. He told newsmen at the venue that arrangements for the attendance of the meeting by two prominent Yoruba speaking obas in the states had been perfected until they were stopped at the 'last minute.' Salawu who is also the Chairman of the Yoruba Council of Elders {YCE} in Kwara state and the National Chairman of the Action Alliance {AA} said that the which Yorubas constitute the minority in the two states are suffering from cultural imperialism and needed concerted efforts from their kinsmen in the larger Yoruba states for liberation. "It is important to me to bring the ordeal of the minority group in Kwara and Kogi states to the public knowledge of our kinsmen for assistance. The imperialistic forces in the two states are making things difficult for us in these states. The Northern oligarchy wants to enslave us perpetually and we will not allow that. That is why we have come to make this protest". Let me state that we are in support of the search for unity in Yorubaland. It is long desired." Akinlaja later faulted the claim of Salawu as she stated that efforts were made for Salawu to attend the closed door meeting, "he declined as he insisted that he would rather be at the closed door meeting with the Obas and the governors' which was not allowed by security details of the governors." However as the meeting progressed, Nigerian newspaper ThisDay checks revealed that part of the agenda was the need for a parallel WOFEYAC in Abeokuta to review the installation of National Ambassador of WOFEYAC on former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu which held on March 2, this year. At the meeting were the Chief host, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun), Segun Oni (Ekiti) and Olusegun Agagu (Ondo). Also at the parley were chairmen of councils of traditional rulers from each of the states, namely the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade; Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo; Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adesina; and Alaye of Efon Alaye, Oba Emmanuel Aladejare.Others were Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, and the Chief Imam of Akureland, Sheikh Yayi Akorede, Convener of WOFEYAC and other members of the states' Council of Obas and Chiefs in the South West. | 
