Why all Yoruba must support Tinubu except…

By UGO ONUOHA EXCEPT for the “Omoluabi”, every Yoruba person at home, and in the diaspora, should fiercely support the regime of Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. So far, he is doing well for them, especially his Yoruba “boys” from Lagos, many of whom actually are not indigenes of the state. Anyway, Tinubu himself is also said not to be an indigene of Lagos. The inevitable question then will be: why the attempt to exclude some Yoruba from being part of the permanent choristers for Tinubu for the perceived good things he is doing for the Yoruba nation? We will explain. Meanwhile I could have asked any of my many Yoruba friends for the meaning of “Omoluabi”, the group that I excluded from chanting the incantation “On your mandate” Tinubu personal anthem that could in time supplant the old/new national anthem. I deliberately refused to, but instead opted to consult Meta AI. And it described it thus: “Yoruba ‘Omoluabi’ is a concept that refers to a person of good character, someone who embodies traditional Yoruba values such as respect, honesty, and integrity. It’s about being a good human being, showing empathy, kindness, and strong moral principles”. It went further to explain that “in Yoruba culture, an Omoluabi is highly respected and admired for their virtues and behaviour”. This concept, I believe, also exists in other nations that make up our country. It can be compared to ‘ubuntu’. In recent times, and for as long as it lasted, some members of Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, which was led by Chief Ayo Adebanjo approximated the virtues of Omoluabi, two of which are sensitivity to fairness and equity. In the run up to the presidential election in 2023, the group stoutly advocated for equity in the consideration for access to power at the topmost level for a critical section it believed had been left out of the power loop for too long. And according to the Adebanjo group that section was not its own Yoruba nation. For that faction of the Afenifere, it did not matter that a Yoruba personage was canvassing and had been adopted as the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] political party. It adopted and endorsed Peter Obi, an Igbo who was running on the ticket of the opposition Labour Party [LP]. It took courage, though not unusual, to take such a stand in the politics of Yoruba land. But it spoke to the stuff Adebanjo and those who stuck with him in spite of the dangers were made of. Like elsewhere, partisan politics in the south west region can be vicious, deadly, and bloody. But Pa Adebanjo, a renowned nationalist, elder statesman, and lawyer was unfazed by the potential consequences of the position that he took. He had known danger, having played significant roles in Nigeria’s political evolution from colonial time. A lawyer, Adebanjo had served as the organising secretary of the Action Group, one of the leading political parties in the First Republic dominated by the Yoruba. Before he died last February 14 at 96, he had told Nigerians that he would not be around when they would face the consequences of their political choice. How prescient he had been. Tinubu has been in office for a little over two years. Or 30 months to be precise. And it was obvious from Day One on May 29, 2023, that his rulership will be consequential for the country. First, he removed petrol subsidy, a policy he had vehemently preached against as an opposition politician. Then he devalued the Naira in a precipitous manner. He imposed taxes on everything ahead of setting up a committee to review and reform Nigeria’s tax laws. The new tax laws are ready and will come into effect from January 1, 2026, about two months hence. The new tax laws can be likened to an elephant in the midst of blind people. Each person describes it from the feel of the part the person touches. But as the elephant is heavy and massive, so will be the burden of new taxes on Nigerians. Even ahead of the implementation of the new tax laws, Tinubu has approved the implementation of a 15% tax on imported petroleum products. He said the tax was to protect local refiners of petroleum products. Nigerians say that the tax will worsen the already biting cost of living crisis because a litre of petrol will shoot above N1,000. Nigeria’s informal economy estimated at above 60% depends on petrol for its lubrication. The formal economy is largely driven by diesel fuel. That explains why Nigeria is derisively described as a generator economy. So whatever happens in the petroleum products sector has rippling effects on Nigerians. The other day, a notable critic of this regime said Nigerians should brace up for a tax by Tinubu on the oxygen they inhale. He said that the president, said to be an accountant, is so ignorant that he believes that he can use taxation to to bring the country to the path of sustainable development. What should be clear and obvious in this dispensation of Tinubu in the years since his advent, and in the remainder of his tenure is that his policies, programmes, and actions have been tailored to reimagine Nigeria in his own image, to his personal advantage, to the benefits of his cronies and acolytes, to empower his Yoruba of Lagos, and to the advantage of the Yoruba nation. It used to be that many Nigerians were singing from the same hymn book with Tinubu on the restructuring of this country while he was the governor of Lagos state, and then opposition politician. But the restructuring vision and form we once shared with the man, and the other self-styled ‘progressives’ got lost in the shuffle immediately our progressive comrades assumed office at the centre in 2015. The irony: the face of the ‘progressives’ at the time was one Muhammadu Buhari, an arch-convervative, sectarian, Fulani Muslim irredentist. Of

Afenifere calls for tighter security for NAFDAC DG Adeyeye

The Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has urged President Bola Tinubu to improve security measures around Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).  This appeal comes after alleged threats to her life and that of her staff. Afenifere’s Organizing Secretary, Abagun Kole Omololu, expressed concern over Adeyeye’s safety, stressing that her work in combating counterfeit drugs and harmful consumables exposes her to dangerous criminal networks.  The group believes that any attack on her would not only endanger public health but also threaten national security. The organization also called for enhanced protection for other key officials, such as the heads of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).  They suggested providing these officials with armored vehicles, well-trained security personnel, and modern surveillance systems to ensure their safety. Afenifere warned that failing to act could embolden criminal groups, making it harder to fight the circulation of dangerous drugs.  The group urged the government to recognize Adeyeye’s contributions and ensure she and her team receive adequate protection.

Insecurity: Allow NYSC members serve in their zones — Afenifere 

Afenifere, yesterday, urged FG to allow National Youths Service Corps members to serve within their geopolitical zones.

Afenifere rejects Supreme Court Ruling On LG Autonomy 

The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has faulted the Supreme Court verdict that granted fiscal autonomy to local government areas. It lamented that the Apex Court verdict has “done incalculable injury to the Nigerian state. This was contained in a statement signed by the leader of the group, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and it’s National Publicity Secretary Prince Justice Faloye, made available to newsmen in Akure, the state capital. It’s entitled ” Tinubu and the Grand Conspiracy Against Democracy and True Federalism in Nigeria. The statement declared that ” Afenifere views the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case filed by the Federal Government on the so-called Local Government autonomy as sheer judicial conspiracy in cahoots with the Tinubu administration against the Nigerian state and its foundational principles of federalism. Rather than interpret the constitution to uphold its elementary but overriding federal principle which recognises only a two-tier federal structure of the central government and federating states, the Supreme Court played to the gallery and wittingly allowed itself a most retrogessive declaration that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government. For the avoidance of any doubt, Afenifere makes bold to say that in line with its negotiated basis of existence, Nigeria is a “Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory”. as affirmed by Section 2 (2) of the 1999 constitution. While Afenifere frowns at corruption and misuse of public funds at levels of government, it condemns in most unmistaken terms the subjugation of the states and its constitutional roles including the Local Government system to the whims and caprices of the federal government by any means including obvious manipulation of the federation account as in the present case. The 1999 constitution, which in spite of its flaws, gives life and power to the Supreme Court provides in Section 162 and particularly subsection (6) that “each state shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the Government of the state”. “Against this unambiguous provision the Supreme Court held that “demands of justice requires a progressive interpretation of the law. ”It is the position of this court that the federation can pay Local Government allocations to the Local Government directly or pay them through the states. ”In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that Local Government allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the Local Governments . ”Contrary to this invented alternative routes, Section 162 of the Constitution is not ambivalent about the process and route through which “all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the Government of the state” shall become payable to the Councils. ‘In other words, the interpretation does not require a voyage into jurisprudential sophistry leading to the absurdity of deliberate judicial amendment of the grundnorm. “By wittingly or inadvertently equating the Nigerian Federation with the Federal Government in the erroneous belief that both expressions are used interchangeably, such that the President may withold funds to the credit of the Local Governments from the Federation Account, under the guise of having no democratically elected officials, which is obviously subject to the interpretation by the Federal Government. ”The apex court has not only done incalculable injury to the Nigerian state, it has lent itself to setting aside its precedent in the hallowed judgment against the President Obasanjo administration withholding funds to the credit of Local Governments in Lagos State even when the Supreme Court said so.