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ASOCIO- POLITICAL organisation, Y oruba Referendum Committee ( Agbajoowo), yesterday , urged Lagos, Ogun, Oy o, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states’ Houses of Assembly to pass into law the bill for a referendum, which has already been sent to them twice for action.
The group hinged its call on the Yoruba aphorism that says, “One’s head cannot be shaved in his/ her absence”, saying that the 1999 Constitution shaved the peoples’ heads in their absence.
It, therefore, urged the Houses of Assembly to rise to the occasion, especially as the demand is supported by a growing number of Yoruba who have signed the petition to that effect.
In a statement signed by Mr. Femi Odedeyi and Mr. Shenge Rahman, the committee submitted that current suggestions by notable Yoruba individuals and organisations advocating a Government of National Unity or Interim Government are direct means of subverting the legitimate quest for true federalism in Nigeria.
It further argued that such a move denied the sacrosanct of the people in whom power resides but tends to arrogate power and authority to the leadership, saying: “Being the creator of the problem in the first instance, such leadership cannot be the solution.”
The committee, while emphasising that it is not calling for the cancellation or boycott of the 2023 elections, recalled that in 1960 when the idea of a Government of National Unity was proposed by the Northern Peoples’ Congress ( NPC), the Action Group ( AG) rejected it on the ground that such a coalition government was not feasible between two political parties of vastly divergent political philosophies.
It added that the Interim
Government of 1993 was instituted as a half- measure to address the crisis emanating from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections, saying that because of its shaky foundation, it did not take long for the military that set it up to torpedo it.
“There is no evidence till date that the political upheaval or crisis engendered by the ‘ June 12 annulment’ has disappeared to warrant such calls. Instead of the said crisis abating, problems of structure and power relation in the country are getting worse by the day,” the group said.