New Yoruba leader emerges in June
Friday, May 2, 2008

A new Yoruba leader is to emerge next month, the Coalition of Oodua Self-Determination Groups (COSEG), has said, just as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, yesterday stressed that the late Senator Abraham Adesanya has immortalized himself.

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COSEG President, Mr Wale Ogunlana, said that a planning committee to recommend Adesanya’s successor has been inaugurated.

He said that the committee would look at the credentials of eligible Yoruba sons fit for the position and recommend to COSEG.

“Upon the receipt of these names, we shall then look at those recommended before a decision is taken,” he said.

Ogunlana recalled that this was how the group recommended Papa Adesanya for the same position years back, adding that COSEG would remain apolitical.

Prominent Nigerians that visited the Adesanya’s home yesterday included Otunba Adekunle Ojora and wife, Ambassador Segun Olusola, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, Chief Abimbola Ogunkelu and Hon Nini Afuye.

Ogbulafor, who led a PDP delegation to the Apapa home of the Afenifere leader, said this was in view of the fear that Chief Adesanya was a dogged fighter who served the country well.

“He was a decent man who affected people’s lives. We needed him most when he left,” he said.

According to him, the PDP was largely touched by the death of the elder statesman when the party heard about his death during its National Working Committee (NWC) meeting.

This, he noted, was in view of the fact that Adesanya was a patriot who defended the cause of the country at all time.

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No vacuum in Yoruba leadership, says Falae

Ogbulafor, others pay tributes to Adesanya

By Clifford Ndujihe
FORMER Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, has urged those angling to become the next Yoruba leader following the death of Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya to have a rethink.



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Reason: "There is no vacuum in Yoruba leadership."

In a chat with The Guardian at the late politician's Apapa home, Falae said Adesanya appointed a successor before he died and that the appointment was accepted by the Yoruba.

However, leaders of a coalition of Yoruba groups, the Coalition of Oodua Self-Determination Group (COSEG), said that a new Yoruba leader would emerge in June after the burial of Adesanya.

The 1999 joint presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples Party (APP), Falae said: "There has never been a vacuum in Yoruba leadership. Three years ago, Papa (Adesanya) sat where I am sitting now (Adesanya's sitting room) and said that his health was failing and nominated Chief Reuben Fasoranti as acting leader. He has acted for three years now.

"In a similar situation, the late Pa (Michael Adekunle) Ajasin nominated Adesanya as acting leader. So, there is no vacancy. Anyone running around to become the next leader is wasting his time. The Yoruba have their way of choosing their leaders. Anyone who says 'I am a leader' is not a leader. It is the people who can say 'this man embodies our values and protects our welfare' and begin to go to him for advice and direction. That is the way it is done in Yoruba land."

But COSEG Chairman, Dayo Ogunlana, said Yoruba youths would meet in June to nominate a new leader.

The COSEG consists of five groups - the Oodua Youth Movement (OYM), Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM), Federation of Yoruba Consciousness and Culture (FYCC), Oodua Republic Front (ORF) and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC).

Ogunlana said: "By June, a new Yoruba leader will emerge at the All Yoruba Youth Conference in Lagos. Yoruba elders are in crisis, there is crisis of confidence among Yoruba elders; they cannot choose a leader for us."

Asked the pedigree of the coalition to warrant undertaking such a sensitive task, he said: "We nominated Adesanya when he became Yoruba leader and the Yoruba people accepted him. We nominated him at Premier Hotel, Ibadan in 1998 and by the grace of God, we will nominate another leader in June."

Ogunlana dismissed apprehensions that the coalition might be infiltrated by power brokers and thereby influence its choice. "Nobody influenced us in 1998 when we nominated Adesanya and so nobody will influence us today," he stated.

In a related development, another Yoruba group, the World Festival of Yoruba Arts and Culture (WOFEYAC) has said that "an acceptable Yoruba leader" would emerge in November during the World Yoruba Festival.

WOFEYAC Chief Organiser and Publisher of Alaroye Newspapers, Alao Adebayo, said in a statement that "in Yoruba land, leaders are chosen and installed during big cultural festivals."

He added: "We would not have dabbled into this because what we wanted to do was to have a convention of all Yoruba Obas and the congress of all Yoruba leaders worldwide during the festival. But the situation on the ground in Yoruba land places the additional responsibility on our shoulders.

"There are bitter disagreements and factionalisation within Afenifere, OPC and between YCE and Afenifere. Members of political parties cannot choose Yoruba leader by themselves, as other parties would not accept this. And there is also bickering among royal fathers.

"Because of our neutrality and disinterest in the position, we are at a better angle to mobilise the people to select their leader."

Falae and Ogunlana spoke as eminent Nigerians continued to troop to the home of the late Afenifere leader to commiserate with his family.

Among those who called yesterday were National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor and members of the party's National Working Committee (NWC); Chief Gbenga Kaka; Chief Ropo Adesanya; Mr. Niyi Afuye; Dr. Abimbola Ogunkelu; Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye; Mr. Dayo Ogunlana and Ambassador Segun Olusola, among others.

Ogbulafor, who arrived at 2.40 p.m. and had a chat with Adesanya's widow, Mrs. Rosanna Arinola Adesanya and other members of the family for about 25 minutes, described Adesanya as "a man of impeccable character, a great son of the soil who fought for the liberty of his people. He defended not only the Yoruba people but also the entire country.

"To us, the young, we will tap from his wisdom. He played his part well. Let us all learn from him so that Nigeria will be united and move forward in peace and progress."

On how the leader of the late defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) should be immortalised, Ogbulafor said Adesanya had immortalised himself by the good things he did and the principled life he led.

"Pa Adesanya was a legend. He had immortalised himself because of the things he had done. We will try to let those things that he did stand," he added

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