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Tag: Oodua

Omo Oodua, oko ya!
- It is good that southwest governors have now realised that they can only continue to neglect agric to our collective peril
Some years back, I wrote on this page of the urgent imperative for governors in the southwest region of the country to return the region to its former place of pride in agriculture. Some of them were angry because I said they needed to be creative. They detested being told to stop calling their states civil servants states, because it has not always been so.

Apparently the southwest governors who perpetually wring their hands in frustration and continued attributing the lack of money to do worthwhile projects in their states to being “civil servants’ states” have forgotten the region’s glorious past. That was the same space that the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo did wonders with agriculture and we never had any complaint about lack of money.

Then, civil servants were doing their own and agriculture was also thriving. How come that same region is now complaining of lack of money? Something must be wrong somewhere.

The problem with many of our political leaders, particularly governors nationwide is that they simply cannot live with the bitter truth, including of course, criticism, no matter how constructive. They always assume they are right and that they have the right after being elected or rigged into power to run or ruin the lives of the rest of us. They want us to be following and agreeing with them like a sheep that is being taken to the slaughter slab, deaf and speechless, even when it is clear they are leading us to nowhere in particular.

I am a happy and proud Yoruba man today that the current governors in the region have at last vindicated my position and the position of people like me who know that if we must continue to be relevant in Nigeria, then, we must be able to feed ourselves. They have realised the need to return the region to the farm. Not only that, they realised that for optimal effect, this has to be collectively done, with every state focusing on areas where it has comparative advantage. This is one of the best decisions the Southwest Governors Forum has taken in recent times. Although the governors deliberated on a lot of other issues, the one that was most fascinating to me is the collective resolve to return to the farm.

I am here talking of the governors’ meeting hosted by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday, last week. It is heartwarming that all the six governors in the region –Sanwo-Olu (Lagos, APC), Seyi Makinde (Oyo, PDP), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun, APC), Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo, APC), Ademola Adeleke (Osun, PDP) and Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti, APC) – attended the meeting. Equally soul-lifting was the fact that the attendees cut across political party lines.

At that meeting they gave what looked like a marching order to their commissioners for agriculture to begin the process that will lead to food security in the geo-political zone. “On food security, the forum acknowledges the efforts of the Federal Government and decides that the honourable Commissioners for Agriculture of all the states should begin to meet and set up a working template, which will ensure collaboration based on each state’s comparative advantage”, the governors said.

One of the things that have been lacking in the Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the effects of the harsh economic situation in the country is the contribution on the part of some state governments. The increase in their monthly allocations is not reflecting on the well-being of their citizens. This kind of collective resolve on the part of the southwest governors is therefore akin to killing two birds with one stone. One, their efforts would complement the efforts of the Federal Government in the crucial area of food security. Second, it would also lead to agricultural revival in the region with the attendant multiplier effects.

But to revive agriculture is not a thing that can be done by political rhetoric. It demands practical, determined and sustained efforts to see it through.

This is where the new chair of the forum comes in.

I congratulate Sanwo-Olu on his being picked as chairman of the forum to replace the late former Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who passed on in December, last year. But Sanwo-Olu’s selection is a call to service. It is the reward for what he is doing in Lagos; and, as they say, the reward for hard work is more work.

Akeredolu is dead now, but not so his contributions, particularly in the establishment of the region’s security outfit, Amotekun. Anybody may have certain reservations about the former governor but nothing should becloud the sense of judgement that Akeredolu gave his all to see that Amotekun saw the light of day. Today, in spite of its imperfections, the security outfit is contributing to the relative peace in the region.

Akeredolu’s main challenge at his time was insecurity and he confronted it headlong. The result is still speaking in the region even now that he is gone. Governor Sanwo-Olu has to understand that his chairmanship of the forum is coming at a time of acute food challenge or, if you like, food security problems. The Yoruba people want to see a marked difference between what obtains with regard to food production now and in a few months’ time.

The truth of the matter is that many things can wait. Not food. There is no sermon that you can preach to a man who is hungry that he can understand unless his hunger is assuaged.

Meaning he remains an angry man until he has eaten. And I don’t know of any leader who can successfully lead a hungry people.

Now that the Yoruba governors have seen our food situation as the emergency that it is, what is left is for them to come up with practical solutions to the challenge.

As I said earlier, many Yoruba people feel like ‘ what’s happening’ when some of our governors say their states are civil servants’ states. It is unimaginable that political leaders in a place like the southwest would give such an excuse in a region where Chief Awolowo transformed agriculturally and built several monuments through farm

produce, including the first skyscraper in West Africa, Cocoa House, in Ibadan. Haba! What’s ‘gwan’! Why do we have to forget this glorious past just because everybody now has access to free funds from the Niger Delta? Sometimes, some of us would wish that this crude oil that has made political leaders forget there is something called thinking caps should just dry up. I am sure with it would mop up the incessant demands for more states. Only people who are ready to think creatively would be coming out for elections when that happens. Not people who want to depend perpetually on resources from other places to sustain their life of comfort.

Read Also: ‘Why we’re partnering with Oodua Investment’

Be that as it may, the southwest governors have to swing into action on this agricultural revolution immediately because this was a thing we should have done as early as yesterday. It is sad that things have to degenerate to this extent before we are jolted to action, but it would be sadder still if all we do afterward is to return to business as usual.

It is shameful that the Yoruba race would have to catch cold if farmers from other parts of the country sneeze. We saw that happen sometime ago when food sellers from a certain part of the country threatened not to bring food down south over some issues. It should never happen again.

When I was discussing this issue with the editor of our daily paper on Tuesday, he reminded me of the tomatoes that were produced in the southwest that we used to know as kids. They have given way to ‘imported’ ones from the north. The same apply to pepper like ‘ata rodo’ and so on. They have all been overtaken by the northern variants. Something must be wrong with us. Please don’t get me wrong; I am not saying it is bad to buy farm produce from the north. What I am saying is that nothing stops the southwest political leaders from doing their own bit with regard to agriculture. We can never have more than enough food and even if we do, that is a good problem. We can learn to package well for export. Some other West African countries are doing well in this regard.

It is true that a state like Lagos had gone into partnership with some other states like Kebbi to produce Lake Rice, etc. Lagos even has a rice mill at Imota

and so on. But Lagos has problem of land; it can therefore only continue to collaborate more with states that have the land to do some other things. We can imagine how much less the country would have been affected if states in the southwest had been seriously engaged in agriculture, especially when insecurity drove farmers away from their farms in the north. The southwest farmers would have filled at least a part of the vacuum. What we have done is akin to putting all our eggs in one basket. It is bad.

And let me also say this, even if by way of advice; no governor should entertain any demand for money for seminar or workshop to revive agriculture in the southwest or even Nigeria. We have had more than enough of those. Let the commissioners go and dust up the reports of previous talk shops on the issue.

Our country must be one of the rare places where people who studied Agriculture are roaming the streets, yet, we are hungry. These people as well as others interested in farming should be encouraged through agricultural extension and other programmes to return to the farm. If the package is right and people working in our farms can also wear shoes that would sound smart like their colleagues in other endeavours, we won’t have problems getting dedicated people to work in the farms. Even the farmers’ children that have all left for the cities would come back home.

As children, there was this song that we used to sing:

“Ise agbe, nise ile wa,

Eni ko sise, a ma jale,

Iwe kiko, laisi oko, ati ada,

Ko ipe o, ko ipe o.” (Farming is our work, whoever does not work will steal, education without agriculture is incomplete).

So, where did we miss it in the southwest? We must search for it and take it back. Even if it means bringing back songs and poems of old that gave us character in the region; let us include them in our educational curricular. Enough of westernisation that has made us abandon our cherished heritage, to our collective peril.

Forward march to the past!
June 16, 2024
Invasion: We didn’t regret our actions, says O’odua Nation agitators

Some of the suspected O’odua Nation Agitators, who were arrested by Oyo state police command over the invasion of the governor’s office and the Oyo State House of Assembly, have said they didn’t regret their actions.

The suspected agitators claimed that what they did was not a treasonable felony, but rather followed all due processes, legal activities, and procedures.

Recalled that some masked men in army camouflage with rifles suspected to be Yoruba Nation Agitators on Saturday stormed the Oyo State Government Secretariat.

Speaking with newsmen on Monday at Oyo State Police Command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, one of the agitators, Alabi Ogundeji, a 55-years-old lecturer at Federal College of Education (Special), (SPED), Oyo, said he feels comfortable because he on his right, adding that what he did was lawful under Nigeria law and international law.

He said: “I’m part of the agitation and I can’t deny it, Yoruba as an indigenous nation is a nation on its own, we have so many nations in Nigeria and Yoruba is one of them.

“O’odua Nation leaders have taken every step and action that needs to be taken, we have embarked on a referendum which was the 500 petition signed by all Yorubas and this served as a referendum.

“Our leadership went to all Yoruba-speaking states to serve officials letters written by our leaders and we were given our own copy, after that was the proclamation, after that, declaration, occupation, and notification to the world that Yoruba is an indigenous nation.

Read Also: Yoruba Nation: Sunday Igboho denies involvement in invasion of Oyo secretariat

“We were at the Secretariat to celebrate and rejoice because of the new nation that was born, it is not a new thing that Yoruba is a nation and we want to stand on our own, we have been together with Nigeria for over 100 years.

A 29-year-old phone repairer, Ademola Adeniyi, who was also part of the arrested agitators said he also didn’t regret his actions.

He said: “We all know that nothing is working in Nigeria and things are hard for everyone except those in government, we were at the Secretariat waiting for our leader to come and address us.

“We believe our leader knows much about the law, so we are not afraid to join when we were called upon, our leaders told us that all challenges Yorubas are facing shall be addressed if we achieve our aim.”

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Police Commissioner, Adebola Hamzat while parading the suspects described the act as criminal, unpatriotic, and a clear case of treasonable felony and terrorism which would be meted with adequate sanctions.

He stated that the continued existence of Nigeria as a sovereign indivisible entity is a task that must be accomplished, saying, “The labour of our heroes past shall never be in Vain.

He said Oyo State Police Command will be unrelenting in ensuring the continued united corporate existence of Nigeria as a country.

“As a Parent, I enjoin other Parents, Guardians, and leaders in every sphere of political, religious, and socio-economic influence to prevail on their children, wards, protégés, and followers against being used by unpatriotic individuals to promote anarchy in the State and by extension, Nation.

“I would like to use this medium to remind the criminally minded that Oyo State is home to many responsible, hospitable, and extremely intelligent individuals who pride themselves on creativity, hard work, and resourcefulness.

“Under my watch, it would not be reduced to a playground for the criminally minded and obviously misguided individuals or groups who intend to make their livelihood from distorting the relative tranquility enjoyed by the good people of the State.”

April 15, 2024
‘Why Southwest governors endedpolitical interference in Oodua Group’

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has said the owner states of the Oodua Investment Company Ltd have decided against interfering in the running of the conglomerate. Abiodun, speaking while receiving in audience the board and management of the conglomerate, led by its Group Chairman, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, expressed delight at the successes recorded by the company in recent years.

Hailing the sense of creativity, direction and purpose of the new management team, Prince Abiodun noted that he and the other Southwest governors adopted a non-interference approach, to reposition the conglomerate to reflect the true worth of the people of the zone.

Read Also: Dapo Abiodun, unlocking Ogun prosperity through aerotropolis

He said: “I want to recall that in 2019 when I assumed office, my colleagues and I sat and we decided that it was high time we began the process of repositioning Odu’a and that the present Odu’a at that time did not reflect the quality of us as a people of the Southwest.

“We decided that no longer would we want an Odu’a where the members that represent the states are just politicians; that we will ensure that we have members that are fit for purpose.

November 8, 2023
Biafra, Oodua and allied acolytes

It’s a season of supremacists; and Biafra, Oodua and allied acolytes preen, strut, caper and crow!

It is not unlike that Yoruba proverb: at the fall of Ajanaku, the mighty elephant, knives and daggers of different hues go ga-ga!

Is the Nigerian Ajanaku, sired since 1914 by Lord Frederick Lugard, about to buckle — and all the buzz, dire signs of the free-wheeling knives to come? Maybe. Maybe not.

One thing is clear, though: in the excitement of the moment, the mirage of instant desire swallows cold reality. It is excellent wine for the trending feast of wild passion. But the sure hangover would be no less telling — and galling!

Which brings the matter to e-maps, springing up on the social media, pronouncing emotive, post-Nigeria republics.

The problem, however, is less the emotion. It is more the crass presumption.

Neo-Biafra, despite the fiasco of 1967-1970, the pre-defeat rollback at the Midwest and the post-defeat Igbo “abandoned property” of Rivers, is still mapped as the Igbo homeland; plus all of the Niger Delta, east and south; and, to the west, the eastern fringe of the present Delta State.

Why, the most virulent of that delusion even annexed part of Idoma country, in the North’s Middle Belt, as part of neo-Biafra!

As for “Oodua Republic”, it is the Yoruba homeland of the political South West; plus Edo, Ishan and Auchi lands (the present Edo State), the Itsekiri country of the present Delta, and, of course, the Yoruba “diaspora” in the political “North” of Kwara and Kogi, up to Lokoja and Idah!

At the height of this fantasy, romantics, Biafra and Oodua, were already swooning about some “South” — after IPOB’s Nnamdi Kanu’s reported threat of no election in the South East, until IPOB secured its Biafra secession referendum; and former Senator Femi Okurounmu’s call for a united southern phalanx against the “Hausa-Fulani” he seems to viscerally hate.

How these romantics secured the consent of the non-Igbo and the non-Yoruba, mapped into “Biafra” and “Oodua Republic”, is not clear. But pray, how is that different from the Lugard cobbling of Nigeria?

In fairness to Senator Okurounmu he, with his Afenifere, are not new converts to restructuring. Neither is Ripples.

As he correctly noted in his two interviews with The Punch and Nigerian Tribune, restructuring has been the war cry of the South West, since Ibrahim Babangida’s rash annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, which the late MKO Abiola won. That argument holds today as it held then — restructuring could well be the elixir to save Nigeria.

Still, pushing for restructuring is one. Launching into hate, by passionately dubbing a whole people the “Yoruba enemy”, as Dr. Okurounmu did in his interview, is another. That crosses the line from a civil campaign to crass demagoguery. That was unfortunate, with all due respect to the Yoruba elder.

Of course, the former senator got mixed up with pushing the legitimacy of his cause and marketing the Goodluck Jonathan National Conference, with its sop of pre-poll bribery and sundry baggage, that went awfully wrong for Jonathan’s re-election.

That was fatal to his message. To the acute, the medium simply slaughtered the message. He clearly appeared to speak from the bitterness of backing a wrong horse in 2015, and, for political redemption, desperately clinging to the “restructuring” buzz.

As it is true of Senator Okurounmu and his group, so it is of the avid new converts, of the South East/South-South, to “restructuring”. Their campaign would appear fired more by an election loss than any intrinsic belief in their new crusade.

Why? Well, President Jonathan, with his vociferous South East backers, had ample time to “restructure”. But why didn’t he do it, until his election-eve poisoned chalice, which lured the likes of Afenifere which, with the balance of political forces, had little or no electoral value, anyway.

But you must congratulate Nnamdi Kanu for his newly demonstrated street value, among the Eastern rabble.

Still, the “Biafra” sit-at-home order is nothing new. After June 12, it became a yearly ritual in the South West, to force back the unjust annulment, while the rest of the country, particularly much of the South East, didn’t see what the fuss was all about. What goes around, as they say, comes around!

Just imagine if everyone had squared against that heinous crime back then? Perhaps the search for justice would have been swifter and easier; and the national question, maybe resolved by productive federalism, wrought from hard compromise. But alas!

How far can IPOB stay the course of yearly sit-at-home strikes? Despite all the emotional huff over Biafra, it is a grand design to scuttle the Buhari mandate, lost and won. June 12 was to revalidate the MKO mandate, fairly won. Yet, it petered out as the years went by.

Still, for this latest rash of southern supremacists, arrogantly crooning their own homelands would thrive should Nigeria buckle, the political North has itself to blame.

The story of Nigeria is a torrent of injustices, arising from a skewed political geography that created a Northern sheriff, over and above the original two Southern regions of East and West.

By playing the end against the middle, pre- and post-Civil War, the North headed a concert of powers, with the South East/South South in tow, against Western Nigeria, in perpetual opposition.

But no thanks to Babangida’s recklessness, the North crossed the fatal line over the June 12 annulment.

No evidence, perhaps, that Babangida acted on behalf of anyone to annul a pan-Nigeria mandate, freely given. From his self-perpetuation scheming, he seemed to have more than enough self-motivation.

But there is more than enough evidence that the North’s power elite aided and abetted that crime, with the fond wish that the North’s political supremacy would stem the tide.

Well, it didn’t. And from that spot, the North lost its power invincibility; and started a sure and steady decline in power and influence.

Still, if supremacy is bad for the North, it can’t be good for the South — and that is the point the Biafra and Oodua supremacists miss, busy flexing muscles about making it alone; while betting the North would be left in the lurch.

If Nigeria must be saved — and it is imperative it is, for a united but workable Nigeria is far better than its balkanized parts — everyone must eschew hatred and bigotry.

Rather, we should embrace good, old justice, which need we re-stress, by quoting Prof. Woke Soyinka’s eternal words, is the first condition of human dignity, nay existence.

Besides, if Nigeria were to be restructured and saved, partisans across the divide must start talking with themselves. But with all these ethnic cacophony, they only talk at themselves.

That is a great pity, for Nigeria is at a crucial pass, which could make or mar it.

June 6, 2017
Oodua Image Awards holds October 28

THE second edition of Oodua Image Awards is scheduled to hold on October 28, 2016 at the Grand Affairs Ball Room, Bissonnet Street, Houston, US.

According to information, this year is set to be bigger with some of the big names in the motion picture industry already pencilled down as attendees.

With the event tagged “Let’s celebrate sons and daughters of Odua home and abroad,” veteran actor, Adebayo Salami (Oga Bello), Kemi Afolabi, Tayo Amokade (Ijebu), Mr. Kogberegbe and a host of others are expected to grace the event. Seun Adesemoye, an indigenous lyricist and Khalid Ayanshina, a classic panegyrist and Bata dancer, will also be at hand to entertain guests.

The 2015 award, which was well attended by top Yoruba actors from Nigeria, had the likes of Muyiwa Ademola, Adedimeji Lateef, Doris Simeon and others in attendance.

June 26, 2016
Leaders for Oodua students

Yoruba students have been urged to continue to promote peaceful coexistence and love wherever they are. By so doing, they would be promoting the age-long values for which the Yoruba are known.

This was the advice given when Oodua Sandwich Students’ Association (ODUSSA) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) installed its Oba (king).

The event was held at the Faculty of Education Building. Members converged on the building at 2pm for the installation, tagged: Be identified with the struggle of elevation of Yoruba culture.

Declaring the event open, Adetunji Olorunyomi, said the association was created to promote mutual understanding and cultural exchange among the Sandwich students. He said ODUSSA had been the megaphone of Yoruba students since it was established.

During the inauguration, members resolve aspiration to reach out to new students and prominent Yoruba people in Enugu to strengthen the group.

The outgoing Oba, Adeniji Obu, implored members to show good example during their stay in the university. He, thanked the authorities of the university for providing security for members of the group.

The new Oba, Aina Olu, sought cooperation from members, promising them programmes that would improve their lot. Aina pledged that his administration would run an “open-door policy” to ensure that every student benefited from the association.

Highlights of event included distribution of the association’s constitution to members and presentation of certificates to the outgoing leaders.

January 8, 2015
Endless quibbling by Oodua siblings

As a people of culture the Yoruba people are conservative but futuristic. To the extent that they invest heavily on the future they are often described as progressives with great value placed on peaceful change. For them, power is acquired often for the service of the people. Intrigue is a common feature among the people because of individual’s feeling of self-worth and value placed on family name which started to wane with the advent liberal participatory democracy. As siblings competed as political adversaries, nothing was to be the same again. Even the hallowed positions of the obas, the guardian of the peoples culture became threatened .as the new emergent political elite became more desperate. Thus today, the current Ooni of Ife whose father the Olubuse1 told the British hegemonic powers in 1903 that ‘an Oba no matter how powerful cannot wear a crown if his father did not wear one’ has since crowned all the Baales of Ife quarters including that of Modakeke that had engaged Ife in two devastating wars in the last 40 years. The seed of discord was sowed by politicians who in the name of democracy and quest for votes discouraged the Modakekes from paying taxes on Ife farm-land which was then the economic mainstay of Ife elite. The Ooni, who in 1931 when seniority crisis erupted between the Alaafin of Oyo and the Oba Ado as the Oba of Benin was then known, told the colonial powers that the latter was number two while the former was number three. The Ooni’s quibbling children have since challenged their father’s supremacy. When the Alaafin threw his own challenge not too long ago, there was an MKO Abiola, a wealthy powerful politician who had just acquired the all important Oyo chieftaincy-title of- ‘Are Onakankafo’ on hand to nudge him on. Abiola was to turn history on its head when he publicly said, ‘we have heard of Oyo Empire but never an Ife empire’. The Alaafin himself has since been challenged by the Oba of Ogbomoso who as late as 1903 was addressed as Baale of Ogbomoso.

But beyond the internal intrigue, what has prolonged the nightmare of the Yoruba is their involvement in national politics witch pitched them against other Nigerian ethnic groups at different levels of cultural development. Today the Yoruba bear the brunt of an unworkable Nigeria project. Their attempt to develop along their own line of national aptitude was resisted by other dominant ethnic groups and past successive attempts to forge a national alliance to move the nation forward ended in disaster.

Awo’s attempt to replicate his achievements in the West at the centre in order to move the nation forward was resisted by the forbears of the current beneficiaries of today’s anarchy, who clamped him into prison swearing he would be ‘too old by the time he comes out to question how we run Nigeria’. Akintola’s attempt to cut a deal to remain in power against the will of his people following a sanction for anti-party offences by his party leaders equally ended in disaster. MKO Abiola who was forgiven and rehabilitated after his initial betrayal of the progressive forces that provided him with a scholarship to study accountancy in London secured a pan Nigeria mandate after an election rated as the most credible in the nation’s history in 1993. The result was annulled by the reactionary forces. He spent his four years term in prison and died protecting the mandate he was freely given.

Bola Ige was an outstanding Nigerian as well as a Yoruba irredentist who out of a ‘feeling of self-worth’ decided to spite his Yoruba cult of elders by joining a much despised Obasanjo at the centre. The mix adventure encouraged by Obasanjo out of mischief ended in brutal assassination of Bola Ige in his bedroom by those suspected to be agents or reactionary forces he chose to dine with, albeit briefly. Obasanjo, undoubtedly a progressive in view of his futuristic policies as military head of state, and as a two term president, thought he was smarter than his Yoruba compatriots as he self-conceitedly boasted he had achieved on a platter of gold what others fought for while he was a mere bare-footed secondary school student. He however now has enough time to reflect on his intervention in the Nigerian project.

In the Nigerian unworkable enterprise, the Yoruba has been the greatest loser. A people that have been producing graduates and PhD holders since the mid 1800 have lost the initiative to even plan the education of their children. The national average of success in the last WAEC was put at 33%. With the virtual collapsed infrastructure which has led to the flight of multi-nationals that were once the strength of the zone, the Yoruba has lost the command of the economy now controlled by smugglers and importers of labour of other societies while our children roam the streets for non-available jobs. Today, the Yoruba that is not even represented in this administration because of siblings quibbling has nothing to fight over, as against the north and the east that have identified what they want from the nation. The former has even threatened to go to war over oil revenue sharing and the latter as survivalist with 60% of their compatriots spread over the country want the indigene-ship clause removed from the constitution. Ironically the two dominant ethnic groups who have often act as if their only stakes is what they can get out of the country have jointly ruled the nation since independence.

Now that those the Yoruba have invested heavily on in recent times are defecting back to PDP that has for 15 years called darkness light, I think it is time the Oodua siblings stop quibbling.

Last Sunday, Nuhu Ribadu, one-time AC presidential candidate and a pillar of APC defected to PDP claiming no party has monopoly of thieves. He now wants to be governor of his Adamawa State. Like Atiku Abubakar who the Yoruba has equally invested on, Ribadu doesn’t seem to believe in anything. Pat Utomi, a presidential candidate several times over and a pillar of APC is said to have obtained his PDP nomination form from Delta. Like Ribadu, he now wants to be governor of his oil-rich Delta State. Ali Modu Sheriff, two-time governor of Borno State and one time senator, widely demonized by PDP as the father of Boko Haram has now been welcomed by PDP with open arms. Last week, the cream of Igbo from the South-east attended a Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) rally where President Jonathan was endorsed for 2015. Before then, TAN had been spending money like water to make spurious claims of President Jonathan’s achievements.

These peddlers of fraudulent claims along with respected Igbo leaders and revered members of their communities such as Ribadu, Atiku Abubakar and Pat Utomi are the partners the Yoruba have been condemned to work with in addressing the nation’s national question.

Now with the elders of quibbling Oodua siblings hobnobbing with Mimiko, Daniel, Omisore, Fayose, men who have not demonstrated they have the capacity for a vision for our people, as desperate federal government unleash rascals, and characters who move around with hooded armed soldiers intimidating our people, the only choice left for our current authentic political leaders is to stop dissipating energy on those who do not share their common vision of society and turn inwards as their forbears did in the 50s. The petty wars going on in Ogun, Oyo, Edo and other parts of the South-west must stop in the interest of our people If it is impossible to have a common vision of society with those at different levels of cultural development, it is a challenge of present privileged Yoruba political leaders to combine the lesson of our past with their today’s activities to fashion out a vision of tomorrow for our people.

August 21, 2014
Oodua Foundation: federating units must thrive on their own

The Oodua Foundation, Wilmington, United States of America, in a statement by its secretary, Dr. Dejo Ogunwande , chairman, Prof. Adeniran Adeboye and patron, Prof. Banji Akintoye, calls for a restructuring of the country in such a way that the federating units can thrive without relying on the centre.

This is a letter from the heart to the rulers, leaders, peoples and citizens of Nigeria, from Oodua Foundation, a Yoruba think-tank organisation with members in all parts of the world. We write this letter to Nigeria, the country of our birth, from the depth of our love and hopes, and from our accumulated knowledge and experiences in the countries in which we reside across the face of the earth.

Our country, Nigeria, can become a major factor in the world. It has the material and human resources for a very significant role in the affairs of our continent and of our world. Most of the countries in which we live in the wide world are not as richly endowed as our own country, and yet most of them have much comfort and beauty to dispense, occupy important positions in the economic and political life of the world, and are respected by other countries and by the general international community.

In contrast, our own country, Nigeria, is little regarded in most parts of the world. In many parts of the world, where many of us have attained prominence and influence as a result of our high education, high qualifications, and qualitative contributions to society, we live in almost constant shame and anxiety from the fact that the news from our own country are almost perpetually of growing decay, growing poverty, unspeakable human suffering, deep-rooted and inscrutable corruption, fearful lack of security, horrific blood-letting conflicts, frequent acts of genocide, religious extremism and terrorism, and constant probability of sudden collapse. Quite often, each of us and our children confront situations in which we are painfully compelled to hesitate to say that we are Nigerians.

We write this letter to our country in the belief that we Nigerians can change these trends in our country’s life. We write it in the hope that this cry from us from all over the world will move our countrymen, and our country’s rulers and leaders, to stop and consider, and resolve, individually and collectively, to change the direction of our country’s path. We in Oodua Foundation are all products of the Yoruba nationality in Nigeria. Our parents have, since the beginning of the making of a Nigerian federation in about 1950, contributed with all sincerity and dedication, and made outstanding inputs into all worthy areas of Nigeria’s development. Among other things, they laid the foundations of the influence that we their descendants now command in the world. We are proud of the contributions that our Yoruba nation continues to make today in the various spheres of Nigeria’s life.

We and the whole world know from the facts of our history that our Yoruba nation, and other Nigerian nationalities, live in undeserved poverty and confusion in Nigeria today – all because of the relentless intensification of corruption in the political and economic management of Nigeria’s affairs since independence in 1960. We the Yoruba nation, and other nationalities of Nigeria, command the cultural assets with which we could easily prosper in today’s world, but being part of Nigeria stultifies and represses the triumph of such assets.

We endorse and support, and strongly commit ourselves to, the contributions being made by our Yoruba nation and our Yoruba nation’s leaders at home today towards worthwhile changes in Nigeria, and towards a redirection of the trajectory of Nigeria’s history. After very careful consultations, a delegation of our Yoruba leaders is now in Abuja for the National Conference convened by the President of Nigeria. The hope of our Yoruba nation is that the National Conference will produce outcomes that will lead to a new and rational Nigerian federation, reasonably empower every federating unit of the Nigerian federation to thrive in its own way and make its own kind of contribution to Nigeria’s overall prosperity, generate harmony among the peoples of Nigeria, establish open and democratic political traditions in Nigeria, earn stability for Nigeria as a country, and start a new surge of hope for all Nigerians.

Needless to say, Nigeria’s continued existence as one country depends very much on the achievement of these outcomes. If we Nigerians cannot do Nigeria properly, we might as well let it go. We might as well let other structures emerge that can put substance, joy and hope back into the lives of the 170 millions who now flounder and suffer in Nigeria. We in Oodua Foundation strongly hope that, with this National Conference, we Nigerians will indeed begin to do Nigeria properly.

For this reason, we must express serious shock about the statement credited to the Northern Elders Forum meeting of March 10-11 that: “The planned National Conference has no constitutional basis, or any form of Legitimacy or authority to speak for the people of the North or other Nigerians. Its proceedings, conclusions and recommendations are therefore of no consequence and will not be accepted by the people of the North.”

In the interest of all the peoples and citizens of Nigeria, we must urge the Northern Elders to reconsider this very damaging statement of theirs. In the history of the constitutional development of Nigeria, the present National Conference is perfectly in line with all previous Nigerian constitutional conferences, and it is by no means inferior to any in legitimacy. These are no times for irreconcilable stonewalling, or for hard postures designed to intimidate. No Nigerian people can now be intimidated. The way matters stand today, we either all join hands and sort out the colossal mess that Nigeria has become, or we separate.

From all over the world, we wish the National Conference success.

March 19, 2014
Group hails governor on Oodua Children’s Day

A group, the Ijesa Youth Development Association (IYDA), yesterday hailed Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola on the success of the Oodua World Children’s Day.

In a statement in Akure, the Ondo State capital, by its Chairman, Mr. Tayo Oluwagbaye; Co-ordinator Olusayo Ogunleye and Publicity Secretary Faseyi Boluwaji, IYDA said the event showed Aregbesola’s deep understanding of the Yoruba culture and tradition.

The group congratulated the governor on his 56th birthday and prayed God to give him the strength to continue to develop the state.

It hailed the administration for maintaining peace in Osun, “as against the recent past when banditry was the order of the day”.

IYDA said the achievements of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) administration in the last two years were pointers to the populist programmes of the progressive party.

It said the ongoing merger of three parties into the All Progressives Congress (APC) would strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.

The group urged the people to support the Aregbesola administration.

May 30, 2013
Osun gathers Yoruba monarchs for maiden Oodua Children’s Day

Over 50 royal fathers from various Yoruba-speaking communities and cities across Africa yesterday converged on Osogbo, the Osun State capital, for a unique celebration of the maiden Oodua World Children’s Day.

The Oodua World Children’s Day is Osun State’s initiative aimed at bringing together children from Yoruba-speaking communities to revive the cultural values of the Yoruba race in the youths.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the Yoruba cultural integration can only be meaningful if children, who will carry on the culture, are properly socialised into it with the right inculcation of values.

His address, entitled: Towards Global Yoruba Integration, was delivered at the Osogbo City Stadium, the state capital, where the colourful event was held. The event, which was to commemorate Children’s Day, was attended by eminent Yoruba personalities and selected children from Ekiti (100), Ondo (83), Ogun (100), Oyo (100), Lagos (100), Kwara (50), Kogi (50) and Edo (25). Delta State as well as other West African countries of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone; South American countries of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba; the Caribbean and the United States were well represented at the event.

Aregbesola explained that the promotion of the Omoluabi ethos in Osun State is aimed at re-awakening the cultural and value consciousness of the people to make them realise the beauty of Yoruba virtues and give them a sense of pride in their culture.

He said: “We are of the conviction that the realisation of the socio-cultural and economic integration of the Yoruba race can be greatly enhanced by imparting that vision into our children.

“Indeed, such a cultural renaissance agenda cannot succeed without including the children, for they are a key factor in its success.”

The governor stressed that among the various programmes being implemented in Osun, education will be the best.

Aregbesola said his administration has begun the most ambitious projects in education.

He said: “The schools we are building are state-of-the-art with modern learning infrastructure. They have sprung up everywhere and will be ready in the shortest possible time. We are feeding our children with nutritious meals everyday. This is because of the realisation that it is only a well-fed child that can muster the mental capability to learn.

“We have also provided free uniform to our school children. Next week, by the grace of the Almighty, we shall begin distributing Opon Imo to all senior secondary pupils in the state. This is the first of its kind in any part of the world.”

The governor stressed that the Yoruba race constitutes a significant part of the global population, with civilised and dynamic culture as well as the potential to become a powerful force in the world, if it gets its acts together and forge a common and united front.

He added: “We can begin right from here, the cradle of the Yoruba race, to plant the seed that may germinate into something that will in time surpass the wildest dream of the brains behind the idea.”

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, described the trans-state Children’s Day as a unique event that must be sustained for the progress of Yoruba nation.

The Oyo monarch, who was flanked by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, in a single outing for the first in many years, said the Yoruba people need to come together for the benefit of the race.

He noted that Yoruba monarchs and those in the Diaspora have once again united for the progress of the Black Race.

Pigeons were released as a symbol of unity among Yoruba rulers across the globe.

May 28, 2013