Pan-Yoruba Conference: A Flop Foretold

Many saw it coming. They predicted the Pan-Yoruba conference, which held last Thursday in Ikenne, Ogun State would flop. Conceived to foster unity among professionals and politicians of Yoruba extraction on national issues, the event failed to attract major political players in the South West.

All six incumbent South West governors stayed away. But Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, sent his deputy to stand in. There was no senator or member of the House of Representatives in attendance.

Many prominent traditional rulers were not there. Some famous political figures from the past showed up, but the absentees stole the show.

Before it held, there were already discordant tunes. The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi queried the need for the meeting – calling it ill-timed considering the nation’s current security challenges. Yorubas in other parts of the country, he warned, might be exposed to needless security threats.

He also complained that the conference called by Mama H.I.D. Awolowo and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, was not preceded by adequate consultations.

He questioned the motive of the conveners, saying their intention was to achieve personal objectives at the expense of the general interest of Yorubaland.

"Those masquerading as Yoruba leaders are the permanent government contractors whose influence is waning politically and who now want to use this kind of conference as leverage to continue their politics of the stomach," he said.

Adeyemi’s hard-hitting rejection of the gathering was not the only piece of bad news for the conveners. Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, also dismissed the meeting as needless. He said the South West did not need unity of politics.

Yorubas, he argued, decided their political leaders at the last general elections. Akande, whose party controls five of the six South West states, asked: "Are they saying I should drop my vision for others? My vision is different from yours and that is why we are politicians. In the US, UK, France or many advanced democracies, there is nothing like politics of unity, except among a group of imbeciles. But the direction of the thinking of the Yoruba can only be realized when there is free and fair elections.’’

He said those who championed the conference were looking for a platform through which they could get access to President Goodluck Jonathan and secure favour for contracts.

The conference brought to the fore the age-long ideological divide in Yoruba politics. The Yorubas have always pulled in different political directions from pre-Independence days. Even when the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was alive, many were courageous enough to disagree with his political affiliations.

When the North conceded the Presidency to the South West in 1999, the Yorubas remained polarised. Few favoured mainstream politics while many wanted consolidation of regional autonomy.

The level of sophistication and enlightenment in the region would always create such a divide, analysts say. This is why seeking to create a common political front in the region will remain a mirage.



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/22273-pan-yoruba-conference-a-flop-foretold.html

Foolish people

chy101:

Foolish people

that is too harsh.

chy101:

Foolish people

Shikodiiiiiiiiiii how far na?

He he. Pan-Yoruba ko, pan-Hausa ni.

Dnt mind dem. Dey no get work. BH 4 giv dem work

This is disgraceful. This should be probed.

abadaba:

This is disgraceful. This should be probed.

what disgrace, u better stop ur hypocrisy

Pan Yoruba versus Asiwaju Party of Nigeria! So who blinds first? Bunch of confused old people. Is that the best a society that prides itself as foremost intelligentsia could muster? This symphony of confusion? Good morning! Let me laugh at pan Yoruba in ACN. LOL

there is nothing like politics of unity, except among a group of imbeciles. But the direction of the thinking of the Yoruba can only be realized when there is free and fair elections.’’


o boy this people don finish themselves oo

what can one say