BY TIMOHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The crisis rocking the different organs of Yoruba elders has worsened since the emergence of President Bola Tinubu, findings by The Point have revealed.
Concerned stakeholders had thought that the emergence of President Tinubu, a Yoruba man, would usher respite to the rivalry and division that have characterized the different associations populated mostly by respected senior citizens in the South West region, but the elders still bicker.
From the Yoruba World Congress, an umbrella body of all Yoruba socio-cultural, self-determination, and advocacy groups in Nigeria and the Diaspora, to Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation and down to the Yoruba Council of Elders, it has been stories of polarization and leadership controversies.
The YWC crisis deepened in 2020 when Prof. Banji Akintoye was removed by about 70 pan Yoruba groups worldwide as the protem leader of the Assembly of all Yoruba Groups Worldwide.
Afenifere has split into about three parallel groups ever since it endorsed Peter Obi, the candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 Presidential election. Some other leaders of the group had kicked on the choice of Obi while there was a Yoruba man (Tinubu) who was also vying for the same position.
YCE, also known as Igbimo Agba, has its own share of the crisis as it has been divided after the emergence of a parallel body known as Council of Yoruba Elders by some aggrieved members recently. Dr. Victor Taiwo launched CYE in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Speaking on why CYE broke out of YCE, the newly elected President of the parallel group (CYE), Chief Festus Onigbinde, said the new group was formed because of the docility of CYE and to also make the Yoruba voice strong now that the nation is being ruled by a Yoruba president.
Onigbinde stressed the need for the Yoruba race to rise and lend support to the administration of President Tinubu, noting that a docile group would not achieve this dream.
He said the parallel group was formed to ensure that Tinubu’s government doesn’t run down.
In an interview after the launch of the rival group, he said, “We are all aware that Nigeria is made up of several nations which we call tribes. The Igbo have theirs and Hausa also has and they speak for them on national issues. But, there is no clear voice for Yoruba. We are concerned that Yoruba should wake up from their slumber and come up with a strong voice. And what is this strong voice for? We have components of Nigeria and we have a duty to contribute to the development of the country and if you don’t have a solid voice, how do you contribute? We want Yoruba to have a single voice. We are not struggling with any parallel body.”
Justifying the creation of CYE further, Onigbinde accused the mainstream body of being docile, saying, “If they are docile and we are not hearing them, is it not right for us to come together and make a strong voice especially now that our own son is now the President? If they have been docile and not very active, we should not keep silent.”
Acknowledging that all is not well among Yoruba elders, the CYE President disclosed that, “This is a common knowledge; the foremost Yoruba group was the Afenifere and they have now split into about three groups and there is no strong voice there.”
On the need to advance the course of Yoruba nation, Onigbinde averred, “For several occasions, I had attended meetings of the Yoruba Council of Elders and I observed what was done. Don’t we have freedom of association again in this country? If I am not satisfied with what is happening there and some other people come together and we have a similar group, what stops me from joining them?
“Whenever we work for the prosperity of Yoruba nation, we are indirectly working for Nigeria and when everybody comes with a strong voice including Hausa, Fulani, Igbo and so on, we will have a good ground for developing the country. Our concern is our opportunity to make us contribute to the development of Nigeria.”
Extending hands of fellowship to YCE, he said, “If the Yoruba Council of Elders wants to join us, they can join us. We want to do it in an organised manner. Our target is that every Yoruba man has a chance of contributing to the development of Nigeria. We want to spread to all corners of Yoruba land, not just in Nigeria but globally.”
He said he once left a YCE meeting in tears owing to the manner in which things were done there, threatening to “expose” some elders.
“I have left the meeting (YCE) in tears before. I don’t want to talk about personalities.
We know the roles some of these people have played to the comatose of the YCE and if they force us, they will with their own mouth expose themselves. If they continue, there will be a time we will come out and expose them.”
Reacting to the formation of CYE, an elder statesman, Dr. Kunle Olajide, faulted the development, saying the YCE is active, functional, and well-established.
Speaking through its Secretary-General, Chief Oladipo Oyewole, YCE said the move was unnecessary, adding that CYE was an illegality capable of encouraging more division of Yoruba voice.
He said, “Our attention has been called to the unfortunate gathering of a group of individuals to ‘relaunch’ CYE in Ibadan. The position of Igbimo Agba Yoruba (YCE) is that the assembly is an illegality but we would not encourage a division of Yoruba voice as it is presently elsewhere. We will handle this with maturity as elders.”
On his part, Olajide said YCE is functional and active and there was no reason for creation of a parallel group.
Meanwhile, efforts to reunite all members of Afenifere were yet to bear desired fruits as the body still maintains rival groups.
