A former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, has commended the leadership and members of the Yoruba Ronu Group, YRG, who paid him a visit at his country home in Ila-Orogun, Osun State, for their selfless devotion to the cause of the Yoruba race.
The group’s Director of Communications, Mr Steve Otaloro, said in a statement on Saturday that Akande described the effort of the group during the last APC primary as a worthy contribution to the exercise, “having used their financial and human resources to enplant the unity of the Yoruba race.”
According to the statement: “Chief Akande, particularly, commended the group’s call for the Yoruba aspirants in the presidential race to come together and support one of their own to ensure that the presidency did not elude the South West.
“Also, the elder statesman intimated the group of some of the plans of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as itemised in his campaign strategy, aimed at wining the coming election, as laudable. Therefore, he urged members of the Group to continue to play active role in the campaign towards the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president in 2023.
“He said, though, the APC national organ will now be in charge of the Asiwaju campaign train, yet he enjoined the Yoruba Ronu Group not to stop playing pivotal roles to complement the effort of the party in South West as their messages are likely to resonate more at the grassroots, bearing it in mind that they will employ the Yoruba Language in the drive.”
It stated: “In his response, Prince Diran Iyantan, the Coordinator of Yoruba Ronu Group, YRG, who led other members of the group on the visit, said his group is not relenting in its effort with increasing significance as it moves towards the 2023 presidential election till the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s next President next year.
“He said the Group is to set up contact offices across the six South West states and embark on a massive mobilisation drive for Asiwaju Tinubu to win with very significant margin in the South West.
“Furthermore, he reeled out the plans and programmes of action of the group to Chief Bisi Akande, the former chairman of the party.
“Prince Diran Iyantan, while noting the effort of Chief Bisi Akande and other elders of the Yoruba ethnic extraction to have initiated a meeting of some Yoruba leaders to meet with APC aspirants of Yoruba extraction behind closed door as a good move, he submitted that the elders under the leadership of the host, defended the unity of purpose of the Yorubas very well.”
It quoted Iyantan as saying: “The incendiary comments in the media about the race and some aspirants could become combustible in due time to set the South West aflame was scary. Things went worse as certain political demagogues made references to the past history of political quagmire in the region as capable of repeating itself- a dangerous dialectic.
“It was Chief Akande and other Yoruba elders’ swift intervention that curbed the erosion of such negative thought and evolved the appropriate antidote to it that saved the region and indeed our dear nation the occurrence of another civil strife the type that had occurred in the past.”
The statement added: “Prince Diran Iyantan eulogised Chief Akande’s great act of statesmanship and service to the nation for dousing the tension that could have gained traction and caused a political upheaval in the country.
“He called on all the aspirants to stick to issues of development and unity of the country in their campaign itineraries instead.”
