IBADAN-Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has said that a true leader of the Yoruba nation cannot emerge from the two Yoruba Socio-cultural organizations, the Afenifere and Yoruba Council of Elders.

The governor who stated this while delivering a lecture on Yoruba leadership : Issues, Contentions and Challenges on Tuesday, said the two socio-cultural organizations are not truly representing the interest of the Yoruba because they are partisan in their approach to issues.

The governor noted with disappointment that the Afenifere ceased to be the umbrella body that could speak on behalf of the Yoruba and produce a leader for the tribe because the group had turned itself to a political party.

According to him, the Afenifere leadership sometime in 1999 had declared that there was no difference between the group and the Alliance for Democracy, which was the most popular party in the South-West then.

He said, “It is not possible for a Yoruba leader to emerge from the YCE or the Afenifere because it is not every Yoruba person that subscribe to the two organizations.

“Already the Afenifere leaders have taken side with a political party by declaring that ‘Afenifere is AD and AD is Afenifere’.

Since it is not all Yoruba person that belong to the AD, the group is biased and cannot represent our collective interest,” he said.

Oyinlola also noted that the people cannot join the YCE because it is neither a political organisation, a traditional institution nor a religious forum.

He said, “Such development must, however, not be allowed to cause political disequilibrum capable of dislocating the achievements of our departed leaders and patriots.

“Our elders in the Afenifere and Yoruba Council of Elders must be able to give political direction and refrain from sending our erratic and confusing signals.

“These are capable of prompting and encouraging a few disgruntled and selfish ones amongst us from all standards of decency” He said.

He therefore assured that a true leader of the Yoruba would soon emerge based on the arrangement currently being put together by the governors in the region being the elected representatives of the people, the traditional rulers and the spiritual fathers in the area.

He said, “For now we don’t know where the YCE belongs and we have the political leaders of the Yoruba, their spiritual heads and traditional rulers in the on-going arrangement that will soon produce a true and acceptable leader for our people”.

Oyinlola warned certain individuals who are using journalists in their
employment to cause disunity based on alleged falsehood> being published in some privately owned media organizations.

“Anything that is deceitful amounts to insulting the intelligence of our people. And anyone who aspires to leadership role must never thrive on the basest of sentiments”

The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, who spoke through his son, Prince Gbade Lana, on the occasion urged the Yoruba indigenes to support the current agitation for the creation of Ibadan State from the present Oyo State.