Nigeria can’t survive without Yoruba, says Aregbesola

Posted by admin Osun, State News Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday challenged the Yoruba race on the need to sustain the nation’s democratic principles.

Aregbesola, who was delivering his keynote address at an interactive forum with the theme: “Yoruba Nation: Agenda for National Politics of Development”, said the move became necessary because the Yoruba race constitutes a formidable force with huge history of value and character.

The forum, organised by the Lagos State Gubernatorial Advisory Committee, was held at the Events Centre, Agidingbi Lagos, featured prominent Yoruba, among them the chairman of the committee, Prof Adebayo Williams, Prof Akinwunmi Ishola, former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Prof Ayo Olukoju, Dr. Doyin Abiola, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Mrs Kemi Nelson, Erelu Abiola Dosumu Lagos State Commissioner for Environment Dr. Muiz Banire.

Aregbesola, who described the Yoruba nation as steward of progress and pride for Nigeria, stressed that as the nation goes through another process of change, the Yoruba must brace up to the challenges or face the risk of going down with the country.

“He said: “The Yoruba nation has been the pivot of progress and decline for Nigeria. We can gauge this through the struggle for independence, progressivism and Obafemi Awolowo led development, political decline and descent into military rule, the struggle for democracy, freedom and liberty and the recent political renaissance.

“The verdict is that if Yorubaland should go down, Nigeria has no hope of redemption. The converse is that if the Yoruba nation does not brace up, it stands the risk of going down with Nigeria as fate continues to push it towards the precipice.”

He stressed that the only way for the Yoruba nation to save itself from the situation is to arrest the slide of Nigeria into cataclysm and take giant strides in its march towards development.

“Many people are wont to ask: Why the Yoruba nation? Are we not all Nigerians, does it not amount to treason to talk about a non-existent Yoruba nation? First, a nation exists as a legal-juridical entity and secondly as a sociological category.

“When a sociological category of people within the same geographical space have common history, language, cultural practices and physiological similarities and are under a unified sovereign political system, then they constitute a nation-state.

“But in our own case, we constitute a nation but not a nation-state since there is no political sovereignty, neither do we have autonomous political existence. There is no dishonour, however, if we seek to advance our cause as a group.”

The governor also lamented the political situation in Yorubaland, which he said was in vicious cycles, adding that the challenge was to break the cycle and prevent corruption from within after progressive ascendancy.

-The Nationwp_posts