The place of the Yoruba in PDP
Are the Yoruba in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) just discovering that they have no place in that party? From the moment Obasanjo left office in 1999, the Yoruba elements in the Party were consigned to the dustbin. Check the list of the party officials and the composition of the Federal Government especially under Jonathan.
One cannot but pity the likes of Professor Tunde Adeniran, a suave, urbane and erudite scholar who gave all to the PDP even when many of his associates, colleagues and students including yours truly pointed out to him the dangers of dining with the devil. Suffice it to say that uncle Tunde was my teacher at the political science department, University of Ibadan and my senior in the defunct Bola Ige think thank which the late great Yoruba leader and Cicero of Esa Oke put together to generate ideas and galvanize the progressives into pragmatic approach to governance and nation building. In other words, Uncle Tunde was an Ige boy and still is in disposition, thinking and actions.
Uncle Tunde stayed behind to build the PDP after helping to put together its constitution under the tutelage of the great Cicero, our revered Uncle Bola Ige. He alongside Uncle Yemi Farounbi, Late Dr Agagu, Prof Tola Atimo of the College of Medicine and this writer were parts of the Ige political students that the late sage put together to represent the South West in the efforts to organise a truly pan Nigeria political party. After leading the drafting of what is now known as the PDP constitution, our leader Bola Ige discovered to his chagrin that his new baby had been hijacked by the charlatans of the political class who were mainly of the conservative bent.
Our leaders including Pa Adesanya, pa Adebanjo, pa Alayande including the Cicero himself called a very volatile meeting where a decision was taken to pull out of the contraption called PDP. Our next move was the preparation to form another formidable political party, this time the All Peoples’ Party (APP) but sadly some of the brains in Ige think thank decided to stay put with the PDP. These brains included Uncle Tunde Adeniran, Dr Agagu and Dr Yemi Farounbi. We begged, pleaded and cajoled but they would not yield. I in particular begged Uncle Tunde, cried like babies in an attempt to dissuade him from leaving the principled progressive camp but my respected teacher stood his ground. Political leaders and leading lights of note such as Pa Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pa Segun Osoba and Lam Adesina could not believe their eyes as they watched some of the best brains of the intellectual arm of their political camp pitting tent with the conservatives.
Upon seeing the likes of Pa Lamidi Adedibu on the high table at a meeting called to cement the formation of APP, the Cicero who will never suffer fools gladly pulled us out and resultant effect was the formation of Alliance for Democracy (AD). That marks the beginning of the marriage of the finest parts of the progressives with the despicable characters that formed the blind elephant called PDP. The likes of Uncles Tunde Adeniran, Yemi Farounbi, Tunde Odanye and Ebenezer Babatope were simply outsiders and passengers in the PDP.
They were just being tolerated but their voice count not. They were thoroughly humiliated under Jonathan Government. In fact, that was a government that told the Yoruba in clear terms that they do not belong. It was not an easy task being a PDP person in the South West under Jonathan as many of the stalwarts of the party in Yorubaland were seen as traitors, saboteurs and even bastards amongst their compatriots in Yorubaland. They were treated as lepers under Jonathan. Rather than being treated as heroes of the party and be rewarded handsomely, they were treated with contempt and disdain by the Jonathan Administration and the Yoruba haters ably led by Pius Anyim.
All the pleas of the Adenirans, the Bode Georges, the Babatopes, the Akinjides etc were regarded as ranting of the ants. The intellectual efforts and sometimes reckless flippancy of the Fani Kayodes, Aribisalas and company could not attract the sympathy of the South East/South South owners of the PDP. The stand of my learned colleague, Gov Wike and his co travellers that the Yoruba matters not in PDP is nothing new. It is simply a continuation of the segregation of the Yoruba from the mainstream of PDP and its activities. (More on this later). My plea is to all the Omoluabis especially the likes of Uncles Tunde Adeniran, Tunde Odanye, Ladoja, Babatope, Faronbi, Daniel, Adedoja et-all to return to the fold of the progressives which is their natural habitat.
They should swallow their pride, approach the strategist and pragmatic Leader of our time, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu or better still, approach his lieutenants in persons of pa Bisi Akande, Governors Ajimobi, Ambode, Amosun, Akeredolu, Aregbesola, Senator Adeyeye or Femi Gbajabiamila for assistance in that direction. They should borrow a leaf from Senator Musliu Obanikoro. The time to return home to APC is now or else they’ll all end up becoming Ogunsanya of PDP. No meaningful role is available for the Yoruba in PDP and that is the truth. The respected pa Adeniran Ogunsanya was only seen in Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP) as ceremonial leader but was never heard or allowed to play any pivotal role.
