Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has been asked to make restructuring a top priority in his government when he is inaugurated.
Also, President Mohammadu Buhari is asked to pass on to Tinubu, a recommendation demanding Nigerian restructuring in the document of resolutions of the National Conference convened and passed on to Buhari by Former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at an interactive session in Ilorin, Kwara State at the weekend, President of the Oodua Progressives Care Initiative , OPCI Chief Maruf Olanrewaji said there would not be an end to agitations along ethnic and tribal lines in Nigeria until restructuring is done and the time is now.
According to him, President Jonathan who was so much committed to see an era of restructuring in the country could not actualise the dream because the document was ready when it was too close to 2015 general elections and he lost his re-election bid.
According to him, tagging people terrorists for agitating for the neccessities and pressing needs in their respective zones might not be totally apt. Saying, “when a system denies a people their rights for too long, they might resort to agitations”.
Talking about OPCI, Chief Olanrewaju said; “ours is about Yoruba agitation. That is why we called it ‘Oodua’ fighting for the rights of Yoruba on one hand and Nigeria nation in general.
“Agitations by ethnic groups are occassioned by the demands for their rights. If that person that is crying foul is not listened to, he can resort to any means to press for his demands. We have cried enough, we hsve spoken enough and one thing we are saying is; restructure Nigeria.
“Now it is late for President Buhari to do the restructuring, but let him give the restructuring document prepared by President Jonathan’s National Conference to Tinubu as part of his (Buhari’s) uncompleted projects. We wil therefore wait to see whether President Tinubu will do it or not”
In his views, the advent of modern governance has denied the Yoruba nation its uncommon style of administration now known as government. “Governance in Yoruba is ‘ijoba’ meaning; ‘ijo awon oba’ (gathering of the kings) but it is a different story today.
“Today, there’s no clear-cut roles spelt out for our monarchs in governance. No matter the status of a king in Nigeria today, he is under a Local Government Chairman which is totally alien to Yoruba culture and tradition. Yoruba is rich even in the areas of modern civilisation.
“The first economy in Nigeria is Yoruba, the first Lawyer, Engineer, the first modern road system, electricity, pipeborn water and public buildings first started in Yoruba land. Even self governance began in Yoruba land and the early agricultural development to power governance and good economy began in Yorubaland.
“We had Cocoa House, Housing Estates, Industrial Estates, early factories, hospitalities and modern recreations began in Yorubaland. We were number one in all”.
The OPCI chief added that but for the western type of governance, Yoruba traditional administration had its security style which surpasses the modern one because of its tradutional intelligence gathering mechanism and regular consultations with the oracles on all matters.
“Even today, oracles are no.longer consulted before Kings are chosen and crowned. Some Obas tgese days in Yorubaland dont know how to consult oracles to solve traditional issues. Some call thenseves Emirs, some wear turbans instead of crowns. This is the damage modern civilisation has brought to us but we will struggle to revive it someday”, Chief Olanrewaju concluded.
