Obasanjo, Soyinka, Afe Babalola host Pan Yoruba summit in January
Strange bedfellows in Yorubaland are being united by objective circumstances in their homeland and a common existential threat. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Philanthropist, Chief Afe Babalola and radical playwright, Professor Wole Soyinka will in January next year co-host a special summit of Yoruba and Itsekiri people.
Irohinoodua was informed that the event has been slated for Ibadan with the tentative date of January 21, 2021.
“This is going to be an historic event. For the fists time people from diverse background are coming together. They are being united by a common challenge which I call existential threat” multiple and reliable sources told Irohinoodua on Sunday.
The source said the trio has agreed to co-host what is expected to draw Yoruba from all shades of political colour together with the hope of charting a common agenda. While Obasanjo represents the Yoruba conservatives, Soyinka represents the radical generation and moral compass of many Yoruba people, both old and young while Afe Babalola stands for the business and professional communities.
In the past few years the South West have been hunted by unprecedented cases of kidnapping, insecurity and high profile killings linked to armed pastoralists amidst reports from credible international organisations that the region faces the risk of armed attacks from Islamic State of West Africa Province, (ISWAP).
Sources told Irohinoodua that for the past months, consultations have been held with prominent Yoruba leaders many of who are divided along political lines. The three men picked as hosts appear to represent the diversity in Yorubaland.
“Obasanjo, Soyinka and Afe Babalola appear to be strategic enough to unite all the Yoruba people. The three coming together to host a Yoruba meeting simply means the unity of all the Yoruba people irrespective of their political affiliation”, the source said.