The Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, and the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, have reaffirmed their positions on the restructuring of the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and Adams spoke to our correspondent in separate telephone interviews on Sunday while reacting to the avowal of a Yoruba group, the Afenifere Renewal Group, that it firmly believed restructuring was the single most important issue to determine the country’s leader in 2023 and onwards.
The ARG in an advertorial on Saturday titled, ‘Yoruba, we must walk together’, signed by its Chairman, Chief Wale Oshun, and Secretary, Ayo Afolabi, condemned what it described as the current tense climate embroiling the membership and in particular the leadership of the major political parties in the South-West.
It stated, “As it is, our problems are legion, and we call on our political leaders, irrespective of party or group affiliations, to sheathe their swords and conduct themselves with decorum; and more importantly, to champion policies and measures that will transform Yorubaland into the land of our dream.
“The ARG is yet to see any of them talk forcefully about restructuring as we approach the next elections in 2023. We are of the firm belief that the single most important issue that should determine who governs our space in 2023 and onwards is restructuring, hence we need to quickly move away from the jejune tittle-tattle and start concentrating our minds on matters of social consideration to the Yoruba race.’’
In his comment, Adebanjo stated that restructuring was what the Afenifere had always stood for, adding that any Yoruba man or woman must insist on restructuring before any election.
“Any election before restructuring is an exercise in futility. We asked the man (the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari [retd. to restructure to keep Nigeria together; he wants to force a fraudulent constitution on us. We are playing a game with him and he flouts the rules of the game,” he stated.
He insisted that there must be restructuring before any poll, insisting that election was not the issue at the moment.
“Yoruba nation participating in the next election without restructuring is a disaster. Are we not worse than what we were before the 2015 election? The issue now for any patriotic Nigerian, who wants Nigeria to stay together, is to insist on restructuring the country or coming together to draft a new constitution acceptable to all before any election,” the Afenifere leader stated.
On his part, Adams said he supported restructuring, including regionalism for the South-West.
He noted, “If we can’t use the parliamentary system of government, we can copy the French system of government. At the last National Conference, we recommended the French presidential system if we don’t want a parliamentary system. I believe that the restructuring of the region (South-West) will reduce our politicians’ desire to get power at all costs.
“Our politics is too lucrative to the extent that politicians, who feel their businesses are not thriving, will look for money to contest elections, become leaders and even oppress the people. Our politics is no longer a platform to serve the people like in the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello.”
He lamented that many politicians wanted to be godfathers after they had served out their terms by supporting a candidate who would revere and award contracts to them.
