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PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 20 , 2022<br />
Why some Yoruba<br />
oppose Tinubu like<br />
they did to Obasanjo<br />
— Retired Col Agbede<br />
•Says Asiwaju fighting battle of his life<br />
• ’Jakande, not Tinubu, is the maker of Lagos’<br />
• Believes AD governors performed as bad as Abacha<br />
• ON 2023: Adebanjo told me he discouraged Tinubu not to run<br />
• ’Afenifere people are politicians. They negotiate the negotiable’<br />
The leadership of Yoruba nation<br />
seems polarised over the<br />
presidential ambition of Asiwaju<br />
Bola Tinubu. Is the dilemma over<br />
a Yoruba presidential candidate<br />
enough to pit elders against one<br />
another?<br />
What we are seeing are people<br />
with different ambitions displaying<br />
their discomfort. It doesn’t augur<br />
well for the coherence of the<br />
leadership of Yoruba nation. All<br />
Yoruba agree that Yoruba nation<br />
exists and we have existed for<br />
many centuries before the advent<br />
of Nigeria. At the time, we were<br />
lucky that our leaders were more<br />
patriotic. They were defending the<br />
people. They were for the people.<br />
They were not as corrupt as today’s<br />
leaders. They were not angels but<br />
they gathered Yoruba the way a<br />
mother hen gathers its chicks. They<br />
were taking every step from all<br />
nooks of Yoruba land to protect<br />
everyone. That kind of leadership<br />
was exhibited by the leadership of<br />
the Western Region under<br />
Awolowo. Bola Tinubu is fighting<br />
the battle of his life. We, the senior<br />
elders, feel it is probably his last<br />
chance. And everything humanly<br />
possible is being employed to<br />
ensure he succeeds. Not all Yoruba<br />
agree with Bola Tinubu because of<br />
his antecedents. But we, the Yoruba<br />
Council of Elders Senior Elders<br />
Forum, see beyond our noses and<br />
we would try to follow the<br />
principle of partisan politics. In<br />
politics, there are no permanent<br />
foes but permanent interests.<br />
Asiwaju is facing the same<br />
problem. He has time to make up<br />
By CHARLES KUMOLU, DEPUTY EDITOR<br />
If the rumbles among Yoruba leaders over whether to back All Progressives Congress,<br />
APC, presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, or Labour Party, LP’s, Peter Obi, are<br />
anything to go by, identity politics may be one of the major deciders of who wins next<br />
year’s presidential election. Speaking on this exclusive re-alliance away from party politics<br />
being witnessed in the South-West, former Chairman of Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, Col<br />
Samuel Agbede, rtd, says the Yoruba know where they are going. He says Afenifere leader,<br />
Chief Rueben Fasoranti, is concerned about Yoruba interests while Pa Ayo Adebanjo is<br />
driven by political considerations. He also weighs Afenifere’s endorsement in the context<br />
of Yoruba politics and what it signifies.<br />
with people who seemingly<br />
appear not to be his friends. He is<br />
now reaching out to all of them.<br />
But not all of them are amenable<br />
to listen to his epistle.However,<br />
Yoruba elders see things<br />
differently.<br />
Could you explain how the<br />
elders see things differently in<br />
this context?<br />
We only sympathise and pray<br />
for him because he was part of<br />
the defunct National<br />
Democratic Coalition,<br />
NADECO, of the<br />
old days. They<br />
escaped the<br />
country<br />
by the<br />
whiskers.<br />
They ran<br />
away<br />
because<br />
they<br />
thought<br />
Abacha<br />
was a<br />
murderer.<br />
He was<br />
merciless<br />
in dealing with anyone that<br />
challenged him. When Abacha<br />
was called to the other side of the<br />
world, they all started coming<br />
back. When they came back and<br />
started their politics, they had<br />
nothing. I am saying this because<br />
I was there. These people had<br />
nothing in their first political<br />
outings. They had no money to<br />
even print posters. This Asiwaju<br />
people are talking about and<br />
others had nothing when they<br />
came back and joined politics<br />
after Abacha died. And the<br />
•Col Agbede, retd<br />
Yoruba were suffering at the time<br />
because of the maltreatment meted out<br />
to them by Abacha. The Yoruba decided<br />
that they were the people we were going<br />
to choose whether they had resources or<br />
not. That was how the powers that be<br />
saw that Yoruba were serious. We asked<br />
our people to go to the field so that we<br />
would back them. Whenever Yoruba<br />
speak with one voice, you know that<br />
Nigeria would witness a big result. That<br />
is why they are doing everything<br />
possible to ensure Yoruba do not speak<br />
with one voice. At the time, Yoruba<br />
spoke with one voice. In the first<br />
election, the Alliance for Democracy,<br />
AD, swept the polls. It continued in other<br />
elections until the presidential election.<br />
The powers that be felt that if the Yoruba<br />
continued with the winning streak, the<br />
issue they were afraid of might happen<br />
in the presidential election. The North<br />
now gathered and adopted Obasanjo to<br />
pacify the Yoruba.<br />
But the Yoruba didn’t accept<br />
Obasanjo…<br />
It wasn’t all Yoruba that rejected<br />
Obasanjo. The non-acceptance was<br />
particularly from his area, Egba, in<br />
Ogun State. Politics is a game of<br />
numbers. That is why we are having a<br />
similar problem of rejection up till<br />
today in Yoruba land. The Yoruba<br />
Council of Elders ,YCE, accepted<br />
Obasanjo. It was Afenifere that didn’t<br />
accept him. The YCE said having had<br />
leadership eluding us for a long time, we<br />
should give him a trial. There is a<br />
Yoruba adage that says whether a child<br />
will live or not, let us first rejoice with<br />
the parents. That was the wisdom YCE<br />
employed in adopting Obasanjo when<br />
Afenifere and half of the Yoruba nation<br />
rejected him in 1999. The North<br />
supported him and the eastern part also<br />
voted for him. So, we had a<br />
conglomeration of different ethnic<br />
groups ignoring the Yoruba unfriendly<br />
attitude towards Obasanjo. That was<br />
how he won the presidential election.<br />
The issue is still resonating.<br />
Are you saying the same rejection is<br />
what is happening to Tinubu in Yoruba<br />
land?<br />
There are similarities. A lot of people<br />
in Yoruba land do not like Tinubu that<br />
much. But I have said that whether a<br />
child will live or die, you have to rejoice<br />
with the parents first. When you study<br />
the political landscape and go back to<br />
history, you will understand what is<br />
playing out in Yoruba land. I am sorry<br />
for the present generation that doesn’t<br />
study history. Unfortunately, they do not<br />
study history and do not know about<br />
Yoruba history to understand what is<br />
going on now. Yoruba had long existed<br />
before the jihad of Usmanu dan fodyo<br />
and amalgamation. We keep on talking<br />
about interest because that is what<br />
various actors used in our history. The<br />
British were driven by their interest<br />
when they ruled Nigeria.<br />
That was why they concluded that it<br />
was better to use the wealth of the South<br />
to service the North. It was done so that<br />
the British economy wouldn’t fund the<br />
North and South. Back to the NADECO<br />
people, when they took over<br />
government in the South-West<br />
states in 1999, they performed<br />
terribly on the platform of AD.<br />
They were doing virtually as<br />
bad as Abacha except that<br />
they didn’t kill the masses.<br />
It was unfortunate that<br />
they betrayed the<br />
confidence the Yoruba<br />
people reposed in<br />
them. Today, you<br />
could see how some<br />
of them amassed<br />
wealth. They did<br />
exactly the things they<br />
were opposed to<br />
during the period of<br />
Abacha. They had<br />
nothing when the<br />
Yoruba voted for them<br />
after Abacha. How<br />
come they amassed so<br />
much wealth?<br />
You said they, AD<br />
governors, didn’t do<br />
well. Could that have<br />
been the reason all of<br />
them, except Tinubu<br />
lost re-election in<br />
2003?<br />
It was part of it<br />
because people were<br />
shocked that they didn’t<br />
really come to serve. They<br />
came to serve themselves and not<br />
Yoruba that voted for them when they<br />
had nothing. Yes, they accused Obasanjo<br />
of working against them, but political<br />
games are complicated. You have to<br />
reach out to the masses with whatever<br />
instrument at your disposal. And if<br />
leaders are not doing well, you can<br />
capitalise on it and get your result.<br />
People will embrace those they feel will<br />
now serve them better. The Yoruba got<br />
disappointed at the performance of AD<br />
governors. That was the major reason<br />
Obasanjo was able to wield some<br />
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