Bola Badmus – Lagos
Yoruba Diaspora organisation, Yoruba One Voice (YOV), has called on all stakeholders, including traditional rulers, leaders of thoughts and socio-cultural groups to look beyond politics and further strengthen the bond of unity across Yoruba land.
The Diaspora organisation made the appeal during the weekend at its International Conference held via zoom with over 1000 participants from the six continents of the world.
The conference, which is the first in the series of programmes of the diaspora organization was titled: “Decolonising Yoruba land: Speak up speak out.”
Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, in his remark, posited that the unity of Yoruba was key to the development and progress of the race, adding that the struggle for the decolonization of Yoruba land was a collective effort and responsibility that should be based on the best approach geared towards restoring the lost glory of the race.
Adams, who is also the Grand Patron of the diaspora organization, maintained that Yoruba must wake up from their slumber in order to take their pride of place among other races in the world, noting sadly that Yoruba had lost touch with those core values that were key to the progress of the race while both the religious institutions and political leaders had failed in their duties.
This was just as the Yoruba generalissimo condemned the conduct of the just-concluded general elections, under Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, describing the exercise as the worst in the history of Nigeria.
According to him, the entire system is mired in distrust as Nigerians continue to witness untoward happenings across the country.
“The Yoruba are where we are today because we have lost touch with those core values that are key to the progress of our race.
Speaking on the topic: “Decolonizing Yoruba land: Speak Up, Speak Out,” Mr. Frank Bello, stressed the need to take up the challenges of bringing out the best quality of the Yoruba race, saying that the race had what it takes to be the best among all races.
Bello, who is a United Kingdom (UK)- based publisher and veteran journalist, the said Yoruba language is a major tool towards decolonizing Yorubaland, but quickly noted that Yoruba can make tremendous progress by adopting Japan’s model of using their language to acquire basic knowledge in sciences and arts.
“Let us promote our language, build our foundation from the basics. It is
possible for the Yoruba to have a Yoruba dictionary published in our language, so as to aid our learning and understanding as it is done in Japan and other European countries.
“We must secure our land politically by going back to regional autonomy where the Western region economy was most vibrant and strong.
