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Alliance For Progress
By: Sina Fagbenro
Lagos, Nigeria
November 12, 2000Africans place a heavy premium on respect for the elderly.
Forget about the false impression created by some of us that there exists an ethnic group in Nigeria where the children greet their parents in the morning with a kick, it is plainly another wicked way of disparaging the perceived rival ethnic group.
Beyond tribe, the Bible adjures, nay commands, us to honor our fathers and mothers so that our days may be long and those of us who subscribe to the spirit of this religion joyfully tend to do so.
By no means are we required however to substitute the honor we give our parents with worship, this is entirely reserved for God almighty himself.
Unfortunately, human beings being what they are, take for granted those who voluntarily defer to them. They take advantage of their privileges as elders, seniors etc. to impose their will and neglect the opinion and ideas of others. They pursue life through skewed visions to the peril of themselves and that of the people they claim to lead.
This is precisely the problem with the Yoruba leadership culture as particularly manifested in the case of AD, AFENIFERE and the crisis which they have found themselves in.
The predicament that the current southwestern leadership finds itself today was easily predictable and they were well forewarned.
The crises is however a blessing to the common man in the Southwest in that it demystifies leadership. Demystification is a prerequisite to people-centered, development-oriented leadership .
The crisis also proves that the call for Yoruba autonomy is not well thought out neither is it predicated on the peoples interest. Indeed if we were autonomous the crises that would have ensued within Yoruba-land would have been comparable to that of the 1860s and the early 1960s.
The seeds of discord were sown from the outset when Afenifere, a vehicle supposedly set up for the socio-cultural and political development of the Yoruba metamorphosed into an almost structure-less, individually-centered group whose characteristics were determined by isolationist tendencies and the alienation of its members who sought affiliation with larger society.
This group, by its mode of operation was not based on open democratic standards but constituted itself into an Oligarchy determined to control a political party that was sold to the people as one which championed the course of progressivism, democracy, accountability and socio-economic development i.e. the Alliance for Democracy.
The question is - What is the likely outcome when such a group as the aforesaid seeks to control a Democratic Party? Another factor that set the stage for the present confusion was the neglect of the leadership to take seriously, critical suggestions made to them after the 3rd Pan Yoruba conference of August 1998 at Premier Hotel Ibadan.
One of such suggestions was a warning that whosoever emerged, as the voice [leader] of the Yoruba should resist being directly involved in partisan politics. Today therefore a thorough financial audit of the A.D by INEC [according to constitutional provisions], cannot be conducted without inviting the leaders of Afenifere to make clarifications and render accounts.
How sad?
Finally, the AD as a party neither has visible accounting structures or a Board of Trustees in place. The party does not have a disciplinary committee not to talk of it being an independent one.
There are no structures within either Afenifere or AD in which members complaints are heard before an independent arbitration or judicial panel. And all these anomalies exist in a party that boasts of controlling the most enlightened ethnic group in Nigeria.
Today neither leadership nor accountability can be attributable to the Yoruba political elite.
What we have been subject to is the growth of a political culture based on ethnic emotions and opportunistic claims to past acts of self-sacrifice.
Self-sacrifice however is no longer selfless when it expects immediate political/material reward from the donee based on those acts. Hence the Yorubas say "Aki i sinni ni regun ki a gba ope ti o pe.
Churchill, despite his record as a first class Prime Minister for U.K. in wartime was outvoted in peacetime because the people felt that the imperatives of the moment did not require his services.
Churchill did not see this rejection, as betrayal neither did he hound perceived enemies.
The party machinery did not subject itself to manipulation to satisfy the ambition of Churchill. Both to Churchill's Conservative Party and to Churchill himself it was the People that mattered more.
I guess we do not have the likes of Churchill amongst our leaders.
Unfortunately what the Southwest political structures have done to the Yoruba, despite our education and exposure, is to keep us politically immature.
The absence of Competitive Primaries for any elective post leads unavoidably to the imposition of candidates at various levels of elections.
The result of this is the breeding of mediocrity, hero-worshiping, and sycophancy amongst the people and the obfuscation of public service to mean political reward.
History will however have it on record that the current leadership has not led the people out of the gutter of political slime and social darkness.
The principles of the exemplary services of Obafemi Awolowo between 1952 and 1959 should dovetail into the system at large and not be taken advantage of as a creed for the establishment of a Yoruba Oligarchy.
Whether it is oligarchy of my own brethren or the oligarchy of a stranger, oligarchy is oligarchy and remains oppressive, unprogressive and certainly most unwelcome.
Our people need Education Reforms, Healthcare Reforms, Security Systems Reform and Employment and we would like to see our leaders stick to the issues otherwise they should please make way for those who will.
The preoccupation with power and control for their own sakes is no longer acceptable.
In conclusion we must advocate that henceforth, any political party or candidate seeking election in the Southwest or any part of Nigeria for that matter must demonstrate that they have designed and have within their capacity the ability to implement, honest policies, strategies, programs and plans that have direct bearing on Human Development Indices.
They must demonstrate an understanding of the likely challenges that the people would be facing from now until the next 25 years.
Published with the permission of Sina Fagbenro. Mr. Fagbenro is a Lawyer and Trustee of,
Moremi Initiative
A socio-political group based in the
Southwest, Nigeria and whose address is at
21 Ekiti Street,
Bodija, Ibadan.