2019: Yoruba leaders to meet Monday

Yoruba leaders across party lines will gather in Lagos on Monday at a colloquium to discuss the interest of the race as the country goes into general elections next year.

The colloquium with the title: ”Yoruba Nation Yesterday, Today and the Challenges of 2019” will hold at the Recital Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos.

In a statement yesterday, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu, said his principal would be the keynote speaker.

Also expected at the event are the Pan -Yoruba Group, Afenifere leaders, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Senator Femi Okurounmu and leaders of all political parties in Yoruba land.

He said, the colloquium which would be chaired by Chief Bode Olajumoke and have former Transport Minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope as one of the discussants, would look at the Yoruba nation before and after the 1914 amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates and the key role played by the Yoruba leaders including Late Herbert Macauley, Chief Obafemi Awolowo among others in the political development of the country.

“It will also feature the need to foster unity and prepare the Yoruba race for the expected leadership role in the current and future political dispensation and our relevance in the growth of Nigeria.

“It is sad that the Yoruba nation that produced eminent Nigerians in all fields of endeavours, such as Professor Wole Soyinka, Late Chief Rotimi Williams, Late Professor Ayodele Awojobi and Chief Akintola has declined to a state of rudderless indifference without any rallying leadership.

“The colloquium will define a way forward for the race and the discussion will include the demands and the expectations of our people in the coming dispensation as 2019 beckons”, the statement said.