Although the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has denied knowledge of any feud between South-West monarchs and the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there are strong ...indications that the opposition party is reaching out to the traditional rulers to pacify them over their grievances against Tinubu.
The APC’s move was allegedly informed by its realisation that the monarchs played a key factor in the party’s loss at the just-concluded governorship election in Ekiti State, where the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Mr. Ayo Fayose, defeated the incumbent governor and APC candidate, Dr. Fayemi Kayode.
The traditional rulers had allegedly vowed to teach Tinubu a political lesson for declaring that only three monarchs in Yorubaland are upright, describing others as “useless”.
The former governor of Lagos State made the statement in Ijebu-Ode at a special prayer session held at the Central Mosque in the town to mark the 80th birthday of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Ogbagba II in April this year. Tinubu had extolled the doggedness of the paramount ruler at the event, when he appealed to the monarch not to allow some politicians hijack his birthday celebration and turn it into a political platform for campaign.
Tinubu said: “I remember in 1991, 1992 and 1993 during the military junta, when the Yoruba was the target of the then government. They thought they could silence you, they planned to kill you, they planned to remove you through a local government chairman, but they failed. They did it to the Sultan of Sokoto and they succeeded.
“You stood by us, you stood by the truth and despite all humiliation, depression and attack, you remained resolute.
“I will never forget when you invited us to your palace for one of our meetings. When we got there and we were about to commence our meeting, we were told that soldiers have surrounded the palace with guns. You told us then that there was no problem and we should continue our meeting.
“You said they don’t know that there are many ways into the palace. After our meeting, you opened another door for us and nothing happened to us.
“You are not part of the useless Obas in Yorubaland who will sell out, we know them and it is not yet time to mention names. In Yorubaland today, you are the best monarch and that is not contestable. The good Obas’ in Yorubaland, who are forthright, firm and stand by the truth are not up to five, they are just three. Oba Awujale, Oba Akiolu and another. May you live long in good health and abundant God blessing.”
The former governor’s comment immediately elicited harsh reactions from some Yoruba leaders and politicians. Even the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade condemned the comment by Tinubu.
It was learnt that from that time, the monarchs had resolved to put Tinubu where he belonged and the Ekiti governorship election offered them a golden opportunity.
An APC leader who confirmed that the monarchs contributed to the defeat of the party in Ekiti, said: “We are still shocked at what happened in Ekiti State where the party lost in almost all the wards, not to talk of local governments; it is very strange and we are confounded by this development. We are not resting and we intend to get to the root of what actually happened in the state. We got information that apart from the monarchs, some serving commissioners worked against the governor to the extent that more than 50 percent of them lost in their units.
“Above all, there are reports that prominent traditional rulers played crucial roles in their respective domains a few days to the election; their grouse was that our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, insulted them when he visited the Awujale of Ijebuland to rejoice with him on his birthday. For God’s sake, if this is true, then we have to move swiftly and the needed contacts have been made for us as a party to quickly reconcile our leader with the traditional rulers because misrepresentation of facts could be very dangerous in most cases.
“We have decided to setup a committee to visit our revered rulers so that they can halt the planned onslaught against our party. The most disturbing aspect is that our allies in the North are even getting more worried that the APC’s first major election since the merger is a loss, not in any other place but in Ekiti State in the South-West; this is understandable because the permutation before now was to garner bulk votes in the region and the North-West for us to ease out PDP in 2015, but all that appears to be changing in the face of the current circumstances” he told journalists in Abuja at the weekend.
Oba Okunade Sijuade, who had spoken through High Chief Funmilola Olorunnisola, stated: “If any of our leaders want to make a categorical statement on an important issue like the Oba in Yorubaland, he should please try to check records to know exactly what each one of them has done, because there is so much blackmailing, and fortunately, the late Abacha’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) is alive and he is in a position to tell the World the Obas who were close associates of his late boss.
“When our country was upside down, it was the traditional rulers in this country that saved the situation. If we left the country as politicians did, there would have been no state for the leader of APC to rule when he came back.”
“Two among the three Obas mentioned by him were the best friends of the late military head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha and among them, one was on the pay list of the late General, and one lifted crude oil allocated to him by Abacha. You can ask them. Abacha gave me money on more than one occasion, but I refused.”
The Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Lekan Balogun, also frowned at the comment, describing it as disappointing.
His words: ‘‘How can Bola ever say such things about our traditional rulers? What else can an ignorant non-Yoruba politician say about our Obas? Instead of just abusing them, Bola should strive to identify one particular area where they have failed to identify with their people’s interests. What else can an Oba do in a modern political system when his “people’s interests” are divergent, and sometimes, in direct conflict? I am very disappointed with Bola.”
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