When asked;
You are an apostle of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who in his lifetime tried to get the Yoruba into the mainstream of national politics. What do you think would be Awo’s point of view about where the Yoruba are in national politics today?
He answered: Papa was playing politics the way any decent person and nationalist will play politics. His Yoruba people knew him when he was Premier of Western Nigeria. They knew he performed well. Papa has never advanced the argument that the Yoruba must be left out of government. I have always quarreled with my colleagues in the PDP who are saying that, even when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was president. I don’t believe in the mainstream nonsense. So, nobody ascribed any tribal feelings to Awolowo when he was propagating his ambitions. He had supporters all over the country. So, the Yoruba who are in the APC will now be part of government. I wish them the best of luck because at the end of the day, the Yoruba will be free to judge them if they have performed or not. It is not a question of mainstream or no mainstream, it is a question of popular participation in a government that belongs to Nigerians.
I asked that question against the backdrop of the fact that the leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, is touted as the new leader of the Yoruba, having helped in getting the Yoruba nation in mainstream national politics.
Was it Tinubu that did it? I know Bola very well. I always tell people, when I got married in 1972, Bola Tinubu contributed 10 pounds to my bachelor eve. I know him very well in terms of his politics of rigidity and stubbornness but he will destroy himself if he says he is Yoruba leader. Who made him leader? His party went into the contest. One, he played a key role in it, good for him. But to say he is Yoruba leader, honestly, I will not wish him evil but success but he should never in his lifetime make the mistake of saying that he is Yoruba leader. In 1951 when Papa Awolowo became the leader of the Action Group, he didn’t force himself on the party, it was people like Papa Maja, Doherty that said you young man, you have done very well as the general secretary of the party, go ahead and provide leadership and Papa provided leadership. But if Bola Tinubu will glorify on this election and call himself Yoruba leader, I wish him well. He is younger than me, so he should not fool himself nor join that charade to say he is Yoruba leader. Yoruba people respect maturity, age and experience and they know who their leaders are.
Who then is Yoruba leader?
That term is not proper and not in vogue now. Yoruba leader to do what? The Yoruba have many ways to defend their interests. They don’t need any one to come out and say he is a leader. Papa Awolowo never said he was Yoruba leader. In all occasions when Papa had led, people ascribed leadership to him. Even people in the opposition such as Chief Richard Akinjide said let Papa Awolowo lead the Yoruba. But so the Yoruba have many ways to fight for their interest because you cannot cheat the Yoruba and get away with it. If you do that you are going to smash yourself to pieces. We don’t need this kind of Yoruba leader.
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