YEYE Oodua, Chief (Mrs) H. I. D. Awolowo, has charged the Yoruba elite to stop pursuing individual agenda which has been to the detriment of the larger interest of the race.
Speaking as Mother of the Day at the launch of a book titled: “Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria- Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency, by Dr Wale Adebanwi, she added that her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, worked so hard for future generations to build on his legacies.
She charged the Yoruba nation to continue to play the stabilising role it had always played in the nation, adding that the only way to do that was for the Yoruba elite to close ranks and work for the general good.
Speaking through her daughter, the Executive Director of Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, the wife of the late Yoruba patriarch explained that the mindset that Awolowo’s achievements could not be surpassed, would mean the sage and his colleagues wasted their time building the nation.
Awolowo Dosumu, who noted that she was performing dual roles of speaking for her mother and herself, charged politicians and the nation’s leaders to emulate Awolowo’s style of leadership in order to build a truly egalitarian society.
She added that one of the attributes that had continued to endear the late sage to many Nigerians was his selfless leadership.
“He and his colleagues saw power as a tool to build everyone up and enhance the fortunes of the people, an attribute today’s leaders need to emulate.”
Describing it as upsetting the claim in some quarters that the late sage’s achievements could not be achieved by today’s crop of leaders, Awolowo Dosumu argued that if that was the case, it meant the sage and others had wasted their time.
“They were doing those things then with the belief that those coming behind them would do better. But if we can therefore not match those achievements today, it means those leaders have wasted their time,” she stated.
While charging the present crop of leaders to go back to those ancient landmarks and work the way the late sage worked, she believed there were still a lot to be done to fix Nigeria.
Dr Awolowo Dosumu congratulated the author for documenting some of the achievements of the sage, adding that this would go a long way in enriching the knowledge of the nation’s generation unborn about some of the country’s leaders.
Don’t make the nation’s security ‘political football’ – Gambari
Former Nigerian representative at the United Nations, Professor Agboola Gambari, has charged stakeholders to stop politicising the current security challenges being experienced in the country, noting that such would not enable the country realise the much-needed peace.
He also described himself as half-Yoruba which he said qualified him for the role assigned him at the event.
Professor Gambari, who chaired the event, expressed displeasure at the troubled times the country was currently going through, noted that the national conference going on in Abuja had become imperative to enable Nigerians to truly dialogue.
While commending the nation’s security forces for rescuing some of the abducted girls, Professor Gambari, however, charged all Nigerians to be security conscious and not to leave the nation’s security in the hands of security agencies alone.
“We should know that the security of the country today has become everybody’s business. Terrorism does not discriminate by race or religion, the more reason everybody must come together to fight terrorism,” he stated.
He assured Nigerians that the ongoing national conference would not be hijacked, adding that rather it would enable Nigerians the opportunity to talk to one another.
Awo’s achievements in public office yet to be surpassed – Afenifere leader
The leader of Afenifere Renewal Group, Honourable Wale Osun, has described the feats performed by the sage in public office as “yet to be surpassed”.
He described Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a visionary, who would have been able to find lasting solution to the security challenges being experienced in the country, if he was alive today.
“What we are witnessing today is symptomatic of total lawlessness that pervades the country today. The citizens live in fear, while the government seems to be at a loss on what to do,” he stated.
While calling for a complete unity among the Yoruba elite, the ARG leader believes it would be a disaster for the disunited Yoruba elite should the ongoing national conference floundered.
“What would the already divided Yoruba elite do? It is something we have to think about. There is that need for a complete harmony among the Yoruba elite,” he stated.
We need more books on Awo – Olaniwun Ajayi
Commending the author for writing the book with a focus on the sage, one of the sage’s associates, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, called for books on the sage so as to properly document his achievements for posterity.
“Though there are several books on Awo, I still believe they are not enough because of what Awo is. I used the word is because I believe he still lives. We should be able to document some of these achievements and let our successors learn from history.”
Sir Olaniwun also called on the present government to act decisively on the issue of terrorism, stating that the lives of Nigerians were too precious to play politics with. He also advised confab members on the need to be patient and wise, noting that the right time to discuss the fate of the country is now.
South-West governors eulogise Awo, author
Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, declared at the event that no force of arm can bring an end to the problem of insurgence in the country, even as he paid glowing tributes to the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who he said had the foresight to have recommended that people should be central to any form of national planning.
This is even as former Governor Olusegun Osoba expressed dismay that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could go to the extent of trivialising the incessant killings by the dreaded Boko Haram by accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being the sponsors.
According to Aregbesola, who said that the problem of holding the country together, had remained the most challenging, declared that the panacea to Boko Haram insurgency was for the country to build a society that people must come before every other thing, “and where freedom for all and life abundance must be given to all.”
The Osun helmsman, while noting that the mismanagement of the country’s economy did not start now, however, contended that the sage, Chief Awolowo, had in his wisdom recommended and applied an approach which he said, ensured that the Yoruba nation continued to live together happily and united as ever.
According to him, Awolowo’s approach to developing the capacity of the Yoruba had made them to be tolerant of one another so that crises such as Boko Haram could be averted.
The governor, who later launched the book on behalf of the National Leader of APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, himself and the Osun State government, described the author as an international scholar, who he said, he had been trying to bring back home.
Osoba, in his contribution, recalled that himself and others learnt and gained a lot from the sage while alive, urging that the government should ensure that the study of history should be returned to schools.
“The study of history should be brought back to school where we would read Awolowo as second Oduduwa,”
“I am upset when a party in power can trivialise that APC was behind the killings by Boko Haram,” he said, wondering what evidence the PDP had to make such wild accusation.
The Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, noted that the political programmes of education, health, people’s empowerment, among others, remained the take-off point for all APC-controlled states in the South-West.
The governor, who was represented by one of his commissioners, Mr Niyi Afuye, tasked the Yoruba elite on the forthcoming governorship poll in both Ekiti and Osun states.
The Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunke Amosu, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa, said APC was an offshoot of the defunct Action Group (AG), describing Chief Awolowo as a son to be proud of in the state.