YPM: An idea whose time has come

just as Jos is wont to be, it was another chilly dawn at the Township Stadium as the dry unrelenting cold weather kept blasting and whistling, even with thousands of party faithful huddled together.The year was 1993 and the event was the epoch-making Social Democratic Party’s presidential primaries that
threw up Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola as its standard-bearer. By my side on that day was the erudite scholar and diplomat, Dr Yemi Faroumbi who was ensconced in the electrifying atmosphere of the political rally. Without looking at me he called my name and mused, “There is nothing like an idea whose time has come.’’

That was the moment MKO’s hand was lifted up in victory against solid and more powerful opponents in persons of Atiku Abubakar and Baba Gana Kingibe It was the direct result of an unlikely coup deftly put together by a small group of Yoruba leaders that saw Abiola triumph by a simple majority of 273 magical votes on March 27 of that unforgettable year. The ‘coup’ was all the more salivating because there were 5215 delegates, of which some of us were privileged to be members. Now, if you think that was a terrific feat, you are perhaps jumping the gun because on June 12 of that historic year,  Kashimawo polled a record 883965 in Lagos state, 80,3024 in old Ondo state, 53,8001 in Oyo state, 425,725 in Ogun state and 365,024 in Osun state.
Fast forward to boxing day, 2016, as the convoy of the Yoruba Patriots Movement (YPM) snaked through the hill top, ancient communities of Iree, Eripa and finally emptied its cars into the expansive compound of Chief Bisi Akande at Ila Orangun.
I could not help but wonder how in 1979 we had an Ijesha man, Uncle Bola Ige as governor, Chief SM Afolabi from Iree as his deputy and  Chief Bisi Akande from Ila Orangun ( which was a shouting distance from Iree) as Secretary to the Government and when SM Afolabi defected to another party in 1982, Dr Bisi Odejide from Iresi (another neighbourhood) took over as SSG while Akande moved up as deputy governor. While all this was going on, there was not a whimper of protest from Ogbomoso, Ibadan, Oke ogun, Oyo  and Ibarapa zones that were critical communities that made up the old Oyo State. The correlation drawn here is a relationship based on trust and confidence without borders and not one honed on ‘ludicrous incongruities’ (apologies to Egbon Tola Adeniyi in the early 80s). The import of the two examples cited is a burgeoning attestation of how the Yoruba can set aside filial tendencies and concentrate on the bigger pictures. We have once again reached that clime, only that this time, it is a battle with political devourers who are very good at the invidious game.
The Yoruba Patriots Movement (PYM) consisting of committed political leaders and professionals is striving to bring back the days of workable  regional political cohesion that was witnessed in 1952 with the Action Group (AG), in 1979 with the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and in 1999 with Alliance for Democracy (AD) all with varying degrees of success and impact. What the AG tried to do on that rainy day of March 21 1951 was to solidify a common front for the Yoruba and cooperate with other national parties to wrest power from the colonialists and get independence for Nigeria.
Sixty six years after, the objectives of YPM for the old Western Region is not dissimilar; only that, this time, the colonialists are fellow Nigerians. This time around, we are trying to yank ourselves from the shackles and vestiges of virtual enslavement and retrogression to which we have been led and this we will do with other likeminded political parties across the country. At no time in our contemporary history has such a move become more imperative than now under the present Buhari administration that has turned those who brought it into power into insignificant outposts.
That this is happening to the Yoruba in the wake of a frenzied campaign and gullibility that festered on lies and shenanigans couched in clever plausibility makes it all the more riling. While the name YPM may appear technically restrictive, Flora Shaw, the woman journalist who suggested the name’ Nigeria,’ responded aptly on January 8, 1897 in the London Times through her famed article ‘’What is in a name’’. My dig here is that it is not the hood that makes the monk but the monk himself.
The coming together of like-minded leaders to form and invite others to join the YPM is a direct result of the brutally short honeymoon between the Presidency and the people of old Western Region and also a deep sense of being conned and misled not necessarily by famed propagandists but by one man in whom the 15 million voters out of 28 million placed their Messianic faith. President Buhari’s administration has shown little understanding of elementary economics and crisis management. The Jonathan administration before it did little to assuage the frayed nerves of our people and went about as if motivating our loyalty was of secondary concern.
Like the earlier visits to other leaders including former President Obasanjo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, Ayo Adebanjo, Chiefs Olu Falae, Bode George, foremost traditional rulers to mention a few, the message of YPM was well received not because of the quality of those who represented it, but the mission statement was so timely and so imperative that everyone felt a sense of telepathic comeuppance. That meeting at Ila Orangun with Chief Bisi Akande was in a way reminiscence of the Owo meeting which was a precursor to the formation of the Action Group the major difference to my mind, is the change in personalities. While the Owo meeting had Obafemi Awolowo, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Olateru Olagbegi; A. Akerele, Michael Ajasin, Dauda Adegbenro, LA Gbadamosi, the Akisanya brothers, Adeyi, HO Davies among others in attendance, the boxing day meeting at Ila Orangun had Yemi Farounbi, Saka Balogun, Kunle Olajide, Segun Adesegun, Tunde Adeniran, Doyin Okupe, Sarafadeen Alli, Dare Bejide, Raji Rasaki, Ayo Adeseun, Dosu Ladipo, Wole Oyelese and many other notable names in attendance. One of the major differences between the two historical meetings is that the Ila Orangun meeting was an amalgam of different political parties that converged to find a regional consensus to avert further political slide of the old Western Region, while the Owo meeting of 1951 was convened by the Egbo Omo Oduduwa, which was in the main a group of Yoruba elite led by Awolowo.
Apart from the difference in time, the other scenarios are uniquely similar. While the Egbe Omo Oduduwa was haunted by the ghost of partisan colonialism and the necessity to establish a monolithic political block to stem the sure-footed political advance of Sir Ahmadu Bello on one hand and competition from our Igbo compatriots through the NCNC,, the YPM is a child of necessity in a contemporary Nigeria ravaged by a leadership steeped in utter nepotism, underwhelming performance and is paradoxically unwilling to Change. What is more, the Yoruba find little hope and solace in the current political enterprise. Whereas it is the sine qua non covenant that the YPM is rooting for a Nigeria where the child of nobody will become somebody without knowing anybody, the current political class is already hankering over how to consolidate and continue ruling beyond 2019 even while the pummelling of the masses continue unabated through wrong economic policies and draconian tendencies that beggars belief.
I was going through his book Nigeria: Africa’s Failed Asset? just a few days before YPM visited him ( a trip that was aborted because of his demise) and Chief Olanihun Ajayi, the cerebral lawyer and politician has a damning verdict on Nigeria. ‘’Decidedly, Nigeria consists of several heterogeneous nationalities whose political institutions differ markedly in character and essence. It will be well to reflect if only for a moment on the sources of the bane and indeed the ruin of Nigeria’s fortune and development over the years. One of the sources is the very serious question of political imbalance and the direction towards which it was tilted. The other annoying and baneful source was the irregular and unacceptably perverse structure of the country. Britain rigged Nigeria into chaos’’ the old sage concluded before he passed on.
It would be interesting to hear what Chief Olu Falae and other discussants which include Yemi Farounbi, Kunle Olajide and Doyin Okupe have to say on the Yoruba Agenda within a convoluted Nigerian state come Saturday, January 21 at the colloquium organised by the YPM.