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The above is very relevant at this point in time, when issues surrounding House Speaker Tambuwal’s quitting the PDP and pitching tent with the APC dominates the news. In the beginning, Tambuwal became Speaker on the basis of a working agreement between his own group within the PDP known as the “Integrity Group” and the then ACN, upon which the ACN was accused of selling out the “Yoruba slot” in the Nigerian political calculus.
Unless it is being said that a “Yoruba slot” can only be defined as having the occupier answer to a Yoruba name, it should be obvious that what constitutes such a slot must be anchored on what the Yoruba know as their core interests; for interest, however defined and in whatever circumstance, must add value; positive value otherwise it becomes a deficit and no human interaction survives on perpetual deficit. Before delving into the issue of a “Yoruba slot”, we must identify what the Yoruba have defined as their interest.
Early historical records show that Yoruba people had always been opposed to violations of societal rules and laws, which led to the creation of the Ogboni as the custodians of the law; the widely-known punishments for any Oba’s infractions and any of its abuse which would also be resisted and punished by the generality of the people. Coming down to the beginnings of the anti-colonial struggles, Yoruba people promoted “True Federalism” in order to fully assert the social and cultural impulses of the people as the foundation for a socially responsible society where there will be “freedom for all, life more abundant” and this was pursued in Yorubaland through such mechanism as the culturally-inclined Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the AG political party even as the Egbe also had its political function. Thus, any pursuit of “Yoruba Interest” must add value to the above otherwise it becomes its negation for it will then become a deficit.
As Yorubaland is not existing in a vacuum but within the post-colonial state, the AG had to devise its own methodologies, not only as the dominant party in Yorubaland, but also as the veritable opposition to the central forces whose only weapon was the utilization of the central state apparatus to try to negate the AG and subdue Yorubaland. In the process, two tendencies emerged, with such tendencies shifting tactics as necessary; the tendencies being the Akintola and AG Tendencies.
Thus, when the Yoruba Mulikat Akande became Goodluck Jonathan’s choice, whether such is in tune with “Yoruba Interest” or not must come into play.
The Akintola tendency, dubbed the “mainstreamers” had a mantra based on an alignment with a faction of the Center(NPC) in order to promote its understanding of “Yoruba Interest”. In doing this, however, the Akintola Tendency retained its independence of action by absorbing the NCNC in Yorubaland which enabled it to impose its dominance on the land as well as preventing its being at the mercy of the central forces even as the Tendency was rejected by the people. Similarly, the AG tendency retained its independence of action even while pursuing an alliance with the NCNC of the East.
This is in direct contrast to latter-day proponents who are less concerned about their homeland hence their surrender to the dictates of the center, such that any “Yoruba Interest” is confined to their personal pursuits, especially when they have no independence of political thought and action that would be beneficial to the land since there is no political base upon which such actions would be effectuated.
That Mulikat Akande was Jonathan’s choice would mean interrogating Jonathan’s purpose as far as Yorubaland is concerned hence if serving him would constitute a “Yoruba Interest”—that is whether his actions add value to what the Yoruba promote as being their existential paradigm in Nigeria.
Over seventy percent of the agitators and agitations that led to Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as Acting and later substantive President were led and pursued by the Yoruba. Yet, when Goodluck Jonathan embarked upon his 2011 campaign, his first “victims” were the Yoruba, where he not only described our political leaders as rascals, he also stated that we are a minority in our own land.
On assuming the presidency in 2011, the ACN met with him and submitted a memorandum for restructuring Nigeria into a Truly Federal State only for the memo to be thrown into the dustbin. Even then, his now vociferous promoters had cause to complain about Jonathan’s marginalization of the Yoruba in the Nigerian set-up such that he had to placate them with some inconsequential appointments while making promises as to what he would do for them. By the time he would keep his promises, it was to get them appointed as his Conference delegates where they succumbed to the move towards de-federalization of Nigeria, a move that is in direct contradiction to what the Yoruba had always dedicated themselves to.
Goodluck Jonathan revels in violating the Constitution and turning State Apparatus into his own formation, working only to promote his interests; from the militarization of Ekiti and Osun elections to acquiescing to the desecration of the judiciary by his party nominee in Ekiti; his own un-Constitutional behavior in removing Justice Salami and Lamido Sanusi; ordering the police to negate its statutory duties in securing the safety of the Speaker; approving a fluke “ceasefire” arrangement—which actually constitute high crimes, for asking the Chief of Defense Staff to order a ceasefire in the midst of warfare; initially denying the abduction of the girls; engaging on a surreptitious purchase of weapons etc etc.
The situation is even made worse when Goodluck Jonathan surreptitiously introduced religious sentiments into his attempt at political dominance; yet there had never been religious strife in Yorubaland in spite of the existence of different religious faiths, a situation attributed to the welfarist, tolerant society ingrained in Yorubaland. Goodluck Jonathan’s activities are similar to Basorun Gaha’s shenanigans in his days; actions which were resisted and negated. With all of these (and more), serving Goodluck Jonathan is antithetical towards promoting “Yoruba Interest”.
In this attempt at religious befuddlement, the Jonathanistas completely forgot a Christian in the person of Chief Olu Falae, the overseer of the Structural Adjustment Program, a program responsible for the massive brain drain in Nigeria. Chief Falae would tell anyone who cared to listen that he was not the author of SAP but merely its bureaucratic implementor. He worked assiduously to implement this sorry economic paradigm, contrary to sound developmental economic principles where he was on record as saying that SAP allowed cocoa farmers to buy all sorts of things when these purchases were largely imported, with their cocoa having no added value yet we have a Christian economist blowing his trumpet about it as an achievement.
SAP’s remote origin was in the Chicago School led by Milton Friedman who tried to have it implemented by the Nixon White House which found it politically suicidal and promptly shipped it off to Chile for trial which led to the Pinochet coup and its attendant repercussions, after which it was exported to Africa. This is what a Christian will promote, a foundation for massive brain drain and dislocation in the system, with dire consequences for Yorubaland.
With all of these, it is definite that any pursuit of “Yoruba Interest” must depend on having a politically independent homeland even if such independence is not conditioned on a single party. Thus, when ACN was the dominant party and some of the Jonathanians are not comfortable with it, for whatever reason, the recourse is not to dissolve into the nefarious forces in the center when that center is not shy about its intention to neutralize the homeland, as Goodluck Jonathan has clearly shown.
A similar scenario exist in Scotland and Catalonia where many political tendencies are not particularly enamored of the dominant political tendencies yet had to line up beside them and with them for the purposes of pursuing their independence paradigms to such an extent that, for Scotland, the talk is on how to ensure the total eclipse of the UK Labor Party in Scotland, aside from its own internal implosion.
For the pursuit of “Yoruba Interest” therefore, any form or part of Goodluck Jonathan is contrary to such a pursuit hence Yorubaland cannot afford to even toy with the idea of equating promotion of Jonathan and his PDP to such a pursuit.
As Buhari’s emergence as APC’s candidate is yet to be confirmed, “ooduapathfinder” can only say that his emergence should not be a problem for Yorubaland; for, in spite of Buhari’s previous actions while he was a military head of state, he was given a clean bill of health in 2006 by Afenifere when the group endorsed him based on an understanding about Restructuring; similarly in 2011, certain members of Afenifere went along with him on a similar understanding. Would Buhari have kept to his side of the bargain? Yes, if the political homeland is under our control. No, if Buhari determines the political infrastructure of the homeland.
Within this context, not only has Afenifere and its Jonathan subset turned in an absolute opposite direction by acquiescing in the rejection of all forms of Yoruba historical antecedence and True Federalism, the organization has now found it necessary to ride on Goodluck Jonathan’s back to deny the same Federalism it had been part of unless they are now telling us that their previous endorsements were a fluke. Promoting Jonathan and his PDP in Yorubaland, in whatever form, does not in any way correspond to any “Yoruba Interest”.

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