By Seye Olumide
Some prominent Yoruba leaders, yesterday, cautioned all the stakeholders affected by the recent book, entitled: “My Participation” authored by the former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, to place the interest of the Southwest geo-political zone ahead of whatever pains and agonies the contents of the book might have caused them.
In the book, the pioneer national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) made series of allegations against the Chairman of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo that the nonagenarian at one time pressurised erstwhile Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu to build his (Adebanjo) Lekki home.
Akande also vilified former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the book, alleging that the retired military general deliberately failed to find and prosecute the killer of late Attorney-General of the Federation and later Minister of Power, Chief Bola Ige, who was murdered under Obasanjo’s administration.
The former Osun state governor went ahead to accuse the likes of Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who succeeded him (Akande) in 2003 of corruption, among other ills.
The book, which was launched in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari, National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu and other prominent dignitaries in Lagos on Thursday, December 9, 2021, has however, continued to generate sharp reactions among Yoruba people.
While some Yoruba leaders have called for immediate withdrawal of the books from the shelves, saying its contents are not good for the consumption of future Yoruba generations, others vilified Akande, accusing him of tying himself to the apron of President Buhari-led Fulani hegemony angling to suppress other ethnic groups in the country.
Whereas, to some, Akande’s position in the book was regarded as part of the desperation of Tinubu’s political dynasty, of which the former Osun State governor is a key member, to curry the favour of the Fulani hegemony for the 2023 presidency. It is alleged that Tinubu, along with Akande, whose body language has indicated his interest in succeeding Buhari, is bent on going the whole hog to achieve his presidential ambition.
The insinuation, it is believed, explains why Akande deliberately singled out ardent critics of the Buhari government like Pa Adebanjo, Obasanjo, Oyinlola and others whereas he (Akande) failed to point out obvious shortcomings of the APC-led Federal Government in his biography.
Some critics of the book, especially those in APC, who preferred anonymity, lamented that the book might have created more opposition for Tinubu’s presidential aspiration in Yoruba Land than the good it might have intended to do.
But within the party, other school of thought believe that such line of thinking is illogical because the former governor of Lagos, to whom Akande himself is ‘Man Friday’ must have seen the contents of the biography, digested and also weighed the implications before it was published.
Both Akande and Tinubu have been accused of trying to create disunity in Yoruba Land to curry support of the Fulani ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
In a telephone conversation with The Guardian, yesterday, Chairman Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Mr. Wale Oshun, said the former governor of Osun State knew the implications and gravity of the contents in his autobiography before publishing and must have prepared his mind for the reactions now trailing its launch.
Oshun added that the fact that the book is generating sharp reactions and a type of division is nothing new. He said the unity of the Yoruba race in critical period like this has not always been achieved when people kept silence over the type of weighty allegations made by Chief Akande.
Oshun said Pa Adebanjo has the right to respond just as the onus is on Chief Akande to prove “the beauty of the development is that it would further make Yoruba people to understand deeply the kind of elders and leaders that were leading them.”
