Yoruba people have been urged to use former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a rallying point to aggregate their views during the National Conference proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
A group within the Ekiti State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Ekiti PDP Reformers Forum, also cautioned fifth columnists against causing rift and disaffection between Obasanjo and Jonathan, saying the fifth columnists would fail woefully as national interests would eventually prevail over primordial views.
The group said yesterday in a communiqué issued after its meeting in Ado Ekiti that the unity of Yoruba people in a multi-ethnic, religious and social background like Nigeria could not be over-emphasized.
The leaders of the group: Chief Dapo Alibaloye (Chairman), Dr. Albert Jide Akinyemi (Vice-Chairman), Mr Banji Olowofela (Organising Secretary) and Mr. Femi Adeniyi (Secretary), called for concerted efforts by the people at maintaining a united front on issues relating to their progress as part of the country called Nigeria.
According to the Forum, Obasanjo, as an elder statesman, had shown enough commitment and patriotism as far as the continued existence of Nigeria as a country is concerned.
The Forum said: “Now, the country is preparing for another constitutional conference and we know Chief Obasanjo’s nationalistic instincts and he is no doubt a Yoruba cum Nigerian leader and as we go to that conference, Yoruba people should look up to him and go to that conference under his leadership.
He should be the rallying point for the Yoruba race”. “He fought in the 30-month Nigerian civil war and his exploits during the war and afterwards contributed to the unity and oneness of the country.
As a military Head of State, he blazed the trail in the African continent by handing over to a civilian regime. He later became a civilian president during a tumultuous period in the country and successfully handed over to another civilian regime, also another first in the history of the country.
“Yoruba people have been in the forefront in regional development in the recent past. At no time have we been short of good leaders.
