PRESS STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS AT THE YORUBA WORLD CONGRESS (YWC) DELIVERED AT IBADAN ON TUESDAY, 1ST SEPTEMBER, 2020.
Gentlemen of the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
You will recall that on the 22nd of August, 2019, the leaders of almost fifty Pan Yoruba Self determination Organizations assembled in Ibadan to unanimously elect Prof. Banji Akintoye as the Leader of the Yoruba Nation.
Subsequently, the Yoruba World Congress came to be the umbrella organisation of the group with Prof Banji Akintoye as the President.
Since that time, over a hundred Yoruba Organizations, both in Nigeria and in the diaspora have been admitted into the YWC (and still counting) as members.
While celebrating the one year anniversary of YWC, we also want to reaffirm our unalloyed confidence in the leadership of Emeritus Prof. Banji Akintoye. We wish to salute his uncommon courage and uncompromising doggedness in translating the Yoruba Redemption agenda and vision into action within the context of the finest Omoluabi ethos and traditions.
Further to the above, our admission into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) within a year of our existence, is novel and commendable. The Oodua Nation project is on course. We appreciate the efforts of Prof. Banji Akintoye and other leaders in this respect. The protection of lives and properties of the Yoruba and other ethnic nationalities domiciled in the South west geo political zone is of paramount importance to YWC leadership.
We commend the courage exhibited by our Governors in the establishment of Amotekun even in the midst of hostility and intimidation by the powers that be.
The Water bill at the national assembly represents a background manoeuvre to bring back RUGA and further appropriate more of the resources of Yorubaland. It therefore stands totally rejected by the YWC. In equal effect, the CAMA bill cannot stand because it puts the control of one religious group under another. It represents the ruthless deployment of power by the Muslim North to further continue the Islamisation and Fulanisation of Nigeria.
The Yoruba World Congress is one and indivisible under the leadership of Emeritus Prof Banji Akintoye.
There is no crisis within the YWC. We are not in contention with anyone or group. This is a family issue which is being resolved within the clan.
We remain unequivocally committed to the ideals of the Yoruba World Congress (YWC) as eloquently expressed by Prof. Banji Akintoye, which are to liberate the Yoruba race from the oppression and persecution which Nigeria represents, to establish a better, more promising future for our teeming youths and to ensure the peaceful achievement of the self-determination goals of the Yoruba nation.
This is a gathering of all the groups which elected Prof. Banji Akintoye as Yoruba leader a year ago. They are the various groups which came together to form the Yoruba World Congress. These groups are gathered here in Ibadan, one year after that momentous event, to re-establish a vote of absolute confidence in the leadership of Prof. Banji Akintoye.
Signatories to our re-affirmation of the August 22, 2019 declaration:
- Chief Taiye Ayorinde
- Comrade Victor Taiwo
- Prof. Kayode Ogundoro
- Sheik Abdulraheem Aduanigba.chief imam YORUBA LAND
- Dr. Tunde Amusat
- Sina Akinpelu
- Evangelist Kunle Adesokan
- Princess Oyeronke Akinlolu
- Dr. Juwon Akinsola
- Engineer Muda Dayo Ogunsola
- Architect George Akinola
- Professor Wale Adeniran
- Princess Tanimowo Okusaga
- Prince Kola Bamigbade
- Comrade Okunola Kolawole
- Brief Mrs Patricia Abiodun
- Alhaji Ali Dodo Oyedeji
- Hon. Babatunde Tolase
- Prince Lawal Onikeke Quassim
