2015: ALAAFIN WARNS JONATHAN OVER MOVES BY POLITICIANS TO CAPTURE S'WEST

By NBF News
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Don't take South-west by all means, was the warning from Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi (III), to politicians yesterday ahead of the 2015 polls. Except Ondo, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) controls Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo and Osun States, which make up the South-west.

In a statement he personally signed and entitled, 'On leaders Yoruba need', the Alaafin cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan not to encourage such plan as it would amount to invitation of anarchy.

Besides, the foremost Yoruba traditional ruler faulted Nigeria's federal structure, saying absence of true federalism had led to spate of violence and ethno-communal strife being witnessed these days.

He said such efforts in the 1960s by the administration of the late Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, which declared a state of emergency in the then Western Region, led to the truncation of the Balewa government in 1966.

'It is, however, an unfortunate paradox of history that 50 years after the 1962 event, some people want to 'celebrate' its golden jubilee by recasting the same play in the political theatre of the country. It is true but normal for some people to be uncomfortable with their sudden loss of power in the South-west but they do not have to be restive about it.

'By the time some politicians within the opposition groups are threatening to make some states, specifically Osun, ungovernable for a legitimate government, something must be certainly wrong. The old Western Region was made ungovernable because of the impediment created on the floor of the House of Assembly at the instance of the Federal Government of the time by which the House could not have a peaceful session,' Alaafin stated.

He warned the president not to support a situation where some opposition politicians, instead of testing their popularity at the polls, would want to use the federal might to thwart the wishes of the electorate.

'My fatherly advice to those in authorities at the federal level and especially our amiable president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is to learn from the mistakes of his very illustrious predecessor, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, by resisting any temptation to take the 'west by all means.'

'The situation by which members of the ruling party at the centre but opposition in their respective states should beckon at the Big Daddy government to help in destabilising their respective home governments should not be encouraged or even tolerated,' he added.

Alaafin picked holes in the recent security report on Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, where he was alleged to be planning to Islamise his state, saying nothing of such could happen in any state in South-west.

'Yoruba is not only the most cosmopolitan race in the country but the most accommodating, socially and most secular in religious tolerance. For instance, the eastern part of Yorubaland, i.e. Ekiti and Ondo States, are predominantly Christian in composition. But that predominance does not give any advantage over the Muslim few as they may be in terms of rights, freedom and privileges.

'In the same vein, the central and western Yoruba are dominated by Muslims but without in anyway inhibiting the Christians' access to rights and privileges. There is hardly any family in Yoruba land where you do not have Muslims and Christians co-habiting peacefully. So, to say that any governor of the South-west is trying to Islamise or Christianise any state is not only cheap blackmail but dirty politics,' Alaafin said.

On true federalism, Oba Adeyemi raised the alarm that the situation was being worsened by the day, leading to fear, anxiety and confusion in the polity.

'The reality of true federalism is that we should always put, as our guiding principle and at the back of our minds, the fact that we are peoples of different backgrounds and no attempt should be made to feign a common culture by an executive fiat. For the more we attempt that, the more fear we create in the minds of the local populace and the more confusion we create in the polity.

'What we practise at the moment is a situation in which the stronger you are, the higher your propensity to swallow the others. For just as the federal is trying to reduce the state into irrelevance, so also is the state reducing the local government to complete caricature. And as our people say when two elephants fight, it is grass that suffers; the grass in this context being the people.

'In summary, I want to state that the purpose of federalism is to enhance the confidence of the people. But once federalism is adulterated, what we have is no more confidence but fear. Hence, what we hear nowadays is fear of marginalisation from the minorities, religious crisis etc.,' the Alaafin stated.