OLM, a Yoruba self-determination group, says it is not mobilizing for the presidential ambition of any politician in 2023
Dele Moses, Ilorin
The Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM) has said it was not part of a meeting of some Yoruba organisations which reportedly met recently to decide whom to support among Yoruba politicians rumoured to be showing interest in the 2023 presidential race.
About 57 organisations had reportedly met last week to decide on a Yoruba presidential aspirant to support.
National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, are among the Yoruba leaders rumoured to be aspiring for the presidential office
But, OLM, a Yoruba group championing self-determination of the Yoruba people, in a statement issued by its national coordinator, Taiwo Otitolaye, dissociated itself from the meeting of the other Yoruba groups saying it could not be a part of an agenda to mobilize for the presidential ambition of any politician.
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The OLM said as a group that is involved in the struggle for Yoruba autonomy, it was committed to Yoruba larger interest and not “the ambition of individuals that have dragged us behind; placing self-interest over the race.”
The group said the Nigerian system has failed Yoruba people and that the people could no longer continue a political journey that leads to nowhere as it asserted that the 2023 election would be a mirage.
The OLM said rather than support the individual ambition of a Yoruba presidential aspirant, it would be ready for Yoruba consultations to design a collective pathway for the Yoruba people.
The statement reads: “The Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM) wishes to state categorically that it is not part of any agenda to mobilize for the presidential ambition of anybody.
“As an ideological Yoruba self-determination movement that has played a prominent role for a true Yoruba Autonomy, we hold it Sacrosanct, to key into the larger Yoruba interest not the ambitions of individuals that have dragged us behind; placing self-interest over the race.
“The OLM is pained by the setbacks recorded in our collective struggles during the military era, and shortly after the military dis-engaged.
“The OLM was part of the historic achievements in the creation of the Oodua Development Council (ODC), under the late Yoruba leader, Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya and other leaders.
“The ODC had several developmental thematic commissions that were to drive development in Yorubaland, and among the YORUBA worldwide. It was during that period that Pan Yoruba CONGRESS were put in place. Yoruba from the Diasporas (Benin Republic, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, United States etc) attended the congresses that were held.
“Specifically, our late Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman, Baba Omojola was instrumental to these achievements.
“Under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the great nation builder, the Yoruba were the pride of Africa. This progress is long gone. The Nigerian project has not eroded our past, the future is bleak under the present arrangements.
“Our farmlands and agriculture which was our base for livelihoods and development are on the extinct, our youth have no hope. Go to the villages, and see what the women and people go through. It’s a pathetic situation.
“All sections of the country are in rumpuses. Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Benue, the Eastern states, South West and other areas.
“The OLM is in line with the Yoruba Struggle for AUTONOMY. Our politicians have failed us, the Nigerian system has failed us; we cannot continue in a rigmarole Political Journey that leads nowhere. Under the present structure, 2023 is a MIRAGE. It will only bring more chaos.
“Therefore, Support for any of the three personalities are short-sighted and at variance with the larger YORUBA INTEREST.
“The OLM will only be available for an inclusive YORUBA CONSULTATIONS to design a COLLECTIVE PATHWAY.”