Oodua Liberation Movement

[Toyin Falola]

Group alleges Yoruba marginalisation    8/2/2008    

Worried that the Federal Government has sidelined the Yoruba nation in some of its reform programmes, a group - Oodua Liberation Movement - has raised the alarm in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, that the government is out to deliberately annihilate the race, writes BIODUN OYELEYE.

A non-political group - Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM)  - has raised the alarm that some of the reform agenda of the Federal Government were aimed at reducing the impact of the Yoruba in the polity.

It has, therefore, called for a halt in the implementation of such discriminatory reforms in favour of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC).

A statement by the National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Taiwo Otitolaye, a copy of which was made available to The Nation in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, said the demand of a greater number of Nigerians devolution of powers, fiscal federalism and principle of derivation, as well as a return to parliamentary democracy remains as strong and needed to be heeded by the central authority.

"We cannot continue to be cajoled with cosmetic reforms, as this have continued to set the Yoruba nation backward," the statement said, pointing out that the non-inclusion of any Yoruba on the list of recently promoted Federal High Court judges and the 22-man Police Reform Committee are pointers to fears that the current political leadership is only interested in reducing the influence of the race.

The statement said further: "Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a nation builder developed a blue-print to make the Yoruba nation catch up with civilized countries, especially some Asian Tigers, that we were at par with. The OLM is very conscious that Nigeria is not a nation, but an amalgam of several diverse nations coerced into an unholy union without consultations and without the consent.

"The more reason we called for institutional and political reforms through a Conference of Ethnic Nationalities. Not only were the gains of our struggle eroded but values, merit and hard-work were abandoned for bankruptcy, retarded brigandage and gross mediocrity.

"Less than a year of Obasanjo's departure, we are witnessing a grand design to annihilate the Yoruba. Recently, about nine Federal High Court judges were appointed, 22 people for Police reform no Yoruba person made the list.

"But we are not unwary that the so-called reforms, including Yar'Adua's electoral reforms, are exercises in brinkmanship aimed at maintaining the status quo. These committees should be disbanded for a genuine SNC".

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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222  (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue