‘Why We Are Convening Yoruba Assembly’

The Convener of Yoruba Assembly, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd), has disclosed that the Yoruba conference slated for tomorrow at the Oyo State House of Assembly,  Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria, will review the Yoruba agenda drafted in 2004 and reviewed in 2005.

Akinrinade said the document contains the position of the Yoruba race on the future of Nigeria.

Present at the press conference held at Jade Restaurant, Ikeja, to announce the holding of the conference were members of the Yoruba Assembly Media Committee, including Mr. Ayo Afolabi, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, Mr. Dipo Famakinwa, Mr. Kunle Abimbola, Mrs. Toke Benson, Mr. Biodun Sowumi and Mr. Ademola Oyinlola.

Yoruba from Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Ekiti, Kwara and Kogi states are expected at tomorrow’s meeting to make decisions on the way forward for the race.

According to Akinrinade, injustice, inequality, lack of democracy and lopsided federalism are the bane of the country, adding that the only solution is the convocation of a national conference to discuss the future of the fragile nation.

“All ethnic nationalities have complaints about how Nigeria is being run and only a national conference can resolve this. It is wrong to say that only the government has the sovereignty that empowers them to make a new constitution for Nigeria. When Nigeria is on its death bed, the ethnic nationalities, which are its doctors, will rescue it.”

“This house (Nigeria) is threatened and it needs not be so. There are very large nations in Nigeria differentiated by languages, cultures, traditions and territories. We have Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa-Fulani and other nations. They are large enough to constitute separate countries like those who have votes in the United Nations. But we are backward, unprogressive and illiterate.

“The large size should be to the benefit of those in it and the world. If things go on like this, the prophecy of disintegration may come true,” he said.

He berated the military for stalling progress in Yorubaland, following their incursion into politics. He  said the legacies of the first Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, were being destroyed.

“It will not have mattered much who led the country, if there has been a good structure, backed by a good constitution. What is required is an equitable federation,” he averred.

He also flayed opponents of state police, saying that they lacked the understanding of the workings of true federalism.

“Why should the Federal Government sit on enormous resources and fail to deliver on basic needs, such as security, electricity and infrastructural facilities? All the vehicles and equipment for the police are bought by governors. They do not have the budget for that, but, if they do not do it, there will be no security in their states.

“In the spirit of non-negotiability, Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, which led the Non-aligned Movement, collapsed. We don’t want Nigeria to unravel in a messy way. Till now, they are still trying people for war crimes in Czechoslovakia. They came to the Olympics as two countries and won medals.

“Scotland may not leave Great Britain, but its autonomy is assured. This is a country that foisted unworkable arrangement on us. Northern Ireland is autonomous. Wales is preparing,” he said.

The former Chief of Defence Staff noted that Nigeria’s federalism is negotiable, while criticising those thinking that the country can survive without the mutual consent and cooperation of the component units.

By Jamiu Yisa