Akeredolu distances self from Prof. Akintoye, Igboho; says they’re unthinking Oodua secessionists

By Elijah Olusegun

When Ondo Gov Rotimi Akeredolu rattled Fulani herders in his state in February, many Nigerians, especially the southwesterners rooted for him. And he became the poster boy for liberation among rabble-rousers and ethnic jingoists.

But March 22, things changed, and the change is an eye-opener.

So former Sen. and Yoruba historian Prof Banji Akintoye and his right-hand man Sunday Adeyemo who declared Yoruba sovereignty days ago have to wake up to this reality: the southwest governors believe history and juju are not enough to earn sovereignty. Not even when the agitators are those angry for being edged out of power loops.

Gov. Akeredolu, who just began his second term, at least, thinks so. And the chairman of the southwest governors caucus lashed out, at the first given opportunity.

“No part of the entire state, known and delineated as Ondo State, shall permit any gathering or agitation which may suggest, however remotely, that we are in support of unthinking rabble-rousing,” the governor said at a swearing-in ceremony in Ondo March 22.

The militant head of the rabble-rousers is Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho.  He’s been the Yoruba shaman delivering ultimatums and stirring messages in support of a group of those he called elders who want their tribe to secede this year—irrespective of what the constitution says.

To be sure, the elders aren’t those of the World Yoruba Congress, the highest decision-making body of all Yoruba organisations.

According to the governor, this knee-jerk secessionist agitation is only a path to self-destruct.

“We will not be led to assured annihilation by anyone or a group of people still smarting from the electoral defeats of recent times,” he said.

Akeredolu equally hit some individuals and groups that “presumed exclusion from the process of decision-making.”

That was a blank shot. But it got close to the bone.

Akintoye was pro-term chairman of the YWC between August 2019 and September 2020 when he was removed because of his leadership style.

His removal has split the YWC, creating a leadership crisis in the Yoruba nation up till now.

The first set of Yoruba leaders, from the late Obafemi Awolowo, followed by the late Adekunle Ajasin, and the late Abraham Adesanya—enjoyed full support of the more than 70 pan-Yoruba organisations that make up the body. Akintoye didn’t.

Which is why his sole effort to slice an Oodua Republic off Nigeria now has to be interpreted by Akeredolu and others as ‘unthinking’.

Pro-PDP associations like Afenifere and other haven’t spoken about the lone crusade since the 85-year-old historian and his man Friday  declared Oodua Republic.