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Yorubas should ensure Amotekun survives
By Wale Adedayo
It is the week of 15 January 1966, and today’s attempt to kill Amotekun by the Federal Government reminds son of man about late Col. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu.
Of course, he was never my man. But there are certain qualities in the late Biafran Leader, which set him apart from his peers, when one takes out his selfish disposition to power. In hating him, one could describe Ojukwu as a coward. He could also be labelled a traitor, who betrayed his friend, Col. Victor Adebukunola Banjo.
But Ojukwu walked his talk. He walked, proudly too, where the likes of Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo could not. He was way ahead of the Ago Iwoye man, Brigadier Ogundipe, who should have succeeded Gen. Ironsi, but cowardly ran away to England almost as a refugee.
May Olodumare raise quality leaders for the Yoruba Nation, who can stand up for their people as Ojukwu did, no matter what might come later. We need a Yoruba leader, who’ll rally everyone behind Amotekun in order to protect and secure our space.
Son of man has been expecting a press statement from any of our highly place Yoruba figures denouncing the attempt to kill Amotekun. But till about 9.30pm, when one began to write this piece, nothing from those we look up to as Leaders. And, we have to assume that ‘Ajomo won ni.’ They prefer power to the welfare of their people.
The imposition of Sharia Law happened under a Yoruba man. It was the seed of Boko Haram. But Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo did not have the balls to declare Sharia Law illegal in a secular Federal Republic of Nigeria. Yet, he was President and Commander-in-Chief of the country’s Armed Forces.
Today, the National Leader of APC is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And, we also have Professor Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President. Yet, an Islamic Police, Hisbah, which is unknown to the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria recently arrested a Federal Law Enforcement Agent. Mum was the word from Abuja.
It could be a state Governor, which is the best, for now, given their status as the Chief Security Officers of their states. Amotekun should be made to stay. Any Yoruba Governor, who insist on this line of action will go down in history as the best Leader since MKO Abiola was killed in the custody of Abuja.
An Ojukwu as a State Governor today will NEVER accept this insult on our race. He will roll out the Amotekun cadres after due training. He will make sure they patrol our towns and villages and initiate laws to make them legal law enforcement agents in his state.
Our Governors lack the political will to act on behalf of Yoruba people. Unfortunately, they are the only ones who can act right now. Of course, none of our Obas can do anything, as one of the foremost custodian of our tradition and culture has been busy desecrating his stool due to pecuniary reasons for almost two years now.
The Isese cadres hardly count these days. The love of money has become their only concern instead of the Evangelists of tradition and culture they should be. A single Isese person can bring about the changes we desire. And, when others join, nobody dare oppose what they put forward. But a desire for posh cars and beautiful houses has turned them into errand men and women for those destroying our future.
Capi, a retired military officer, will be regretting in his grave today, that, instead of putting efforts into how the lives of his immediate family could be made better, he sacrificed everything for the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in a naive belief that, ‘Ile Ileri Yi, dandan ni!’ It was his last words before he joined our ancestors.
But we’ll not give up. We’ll continue to encourage the remnants, who are not after pecuniary gains or chieftaincy titles that add no value to what a genuine Yoruba wants. So, for the first time, we pray that may Eledua give us a leader among our political class as Ojukwu, who’ll not be afraid to act on the side of his people. Ase!
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