The days of the begging issue of Yoruba leadership could
be back again. The latest fantasy is woven around the iconic former President
Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, who is being touted as the next Yoruba leader after
the late Chief Abraham Adesanya of the NADECO fame.
The hope is now being built around Obasanjo as the likely
most qualified Yoruba leader, dead or alive?
Sources said that, discerning Nigerians at home and
abroad are paying closer attention to the latest thinking that, already,
Obasanjo is the undisputable leader of the South West region.
Obasanjo was said to have won himself this credit having "single-handedly”
ensured the victory of the South-West Governors during his first term as
president.
Meanwhile, sources have said that the possible contention
of the Yoruba leadership between Obasanjo and the All Progressives Congress
(APC) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, does not arise at all. According
to them, "there is not an issue of contention between Tinubu and Obasanjo
because, there is no Yoruba man alive who is bigger than Obasanjo and, besides,
no Yoruba can claim to be Obasanjo’s leader now."
It was said that, since the merger of his political
party, the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and others that formed the
main opposition APC, Tinubu has mellowed on his criticisms of the elderly
Obasanjo who he believes has a lot to give in terms of personality support and wise
counsel for the success of the APC as it struggles to wrest power from the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at
the centre.
The Iyaloja-General of
Lagos, Chief (Mrs.) Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, it should be noted, was a frequent
guest at Obasanjo’s Abeokuta hilltop residence soon after she was installed.
Sources said that she was the peace maker between his father, Asiwaju Tinubu
and Obasanjo, considering that the two were poles apart for many years
following President Obasanjo’s seizure of the Lagos State allocation while
Tinubu was governor and refused to release the money in spite of a court order
to the contrary.
‘When an elder in
Yorubaland qualifies an individual with moral uprightness, and reputable
character, the individual is 'Omoluabi', said the source, who added that the
Iyalode of Egbaland, Chief (Mrs.) Alaba Lawson, was also one of those that
influenced the reconciliation of Obasanjo and Tinubu.
There is no gainsaying that Obasanjo failed in his
leadership of the Yoruba right from his position as civilian president. Of
course, majority of his people did not support him in the first instance. But,
presently, stakeholders from the South Western part of the country have formed a
forum for the defence of Yoruba interests, and as such, may sooner than later
adopt Obasanjo as Yoruba leader.
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