Text of an address by former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, at an extraordinary summit of the South-West Leaders of the party in Lagos.
The Peoples Democratic Party has now reached a critical and a crucial junction. We are now confronted with the great issue of either survival or extinction. We must now decide whether we are going to sink with falsehood and deceit or we should march forward with a genuine vision of truth and sincerity of purpose.
Those who gather here today are the crème de la crème of the Yoruba leadership in the South West. Those who gather here and now are men and women of honour who treasure their good names and pedigree far more important than any tinsel or any odious pettiness of financial inducement.
I am happy to welcome into this hall these respectable and responsible leaders who have contributed immeasurably to the growth of Yoruba nation and the development and sustainability of our party.
In this very hall, in this very place, I see great personages who represent all spheres of human endeavours. Present here today are lawyers, engineers, architects, physicians, Scientists, journalists, merchants, diplomats and great men and women of various disciplines who have distinguished themselves credibly not only in Yoruba nation but also far beyond our shores.
Our leaders have come from far and wide across the vast land of the Yoruba nation. Our leaders have come from the hinterlands and the urban centers of the ancestral provenance of Oduduwa to defend and protect the Yoruba position and the Yoruba platform as it concerns our party.
Let there be no doubt about it: if this very significant and varied assembly of men and women of empirical distinctions and formidable attainments does not represent our people, then there is nobody else who can speak for us.
With all sense of humility, I am convinced that those who are gathered here today are invariably the symbols, the rallying spirit and anchor of our people’s aspirations.
We are here because we care and because we are conscious that the Yourba nation must never be pushed aside in the dramatic fortunes of our party and our nation.
Virtually all of us here have reached the acme of our professions and our calling. We are no longer in any personal struggle again for narrow advantages. We are not in any quest for self promotion. Our fixity is about the welfare of our people.
Our vision is about the well being and the advancement of our people. We have been propelled to this platform today to defend the dignity and the prime importance of our people. We have come forward today to boldly affirm the conscionable purity of the cause of our people.
We will never accept a situation where the Yoruba people are shoved aside to play a subservient, insignificant role in the restructuring and the remoulding of our party.
There have been some nauseating, and very disturbing noise from some peripheral and provincial characters who claim to speak for our people. That is not true. That is not correct.
With all sense of responsibility and with all sense of cultural rectitude, I want to affirm clearly without equivocation that no Omoluabi from the heartland of Yoruba ancestry will dare reject an honour given to our people with whimsical indifference! No Yoruba man or woman will throw away a deserved laurel and emblem of signification for a mess of porridge. How can any well-meaning Omoluabi say that our people don’t deserve the chairman position of our party! It is unheard of! It is almost tantamount to cultural treachery. It is sad and sickening. It is absolutely improper and immoral.
Out of all the six geopolitical zones in our great nation, the Yoruba heartland is the only zone that has not enjoyed that revered position since 1999.
E yin Omo Oduduwa, ti ile ati ti oko, let us rise up and claim what is ours. Let us assume our responsibilities with dignity and firmness of purpose. Let us embrace what we deserve with purposeful resolve and determination.
Our forefathers were never afraid of a good fight. We are a significant section of the Nigerian polity. We have contributed most notably to the progressive enhancement of our nation and to the stability and growth of our party.
In conclusion, I want to appeal to our interim Chairman Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff to honour his word both in action, in gestures and in practical testimonies. He is a midwife of the new dawn. He is being positioned to manage our party through the present challenges so as to emerge as a vibrant, vigorous and more competitive organization. The midwife cannot transform itself into the position of the mother of the child! These are separate and distinct responsibilities. It is morally wrong. It is ethically unacceptable!
The path of honour, the path of glory is for Senator Sheriff to play the role of a neutral arbiter. He should stand above the fray and play the role of a statesman. That is the only way he will stand on the positive side of history.
Sons and daughters of Oduduwa, let us now reassert ourselves. Let us give the deserved, sterling leadership to our people. Let us speak with one voice and with one vision. The die is now cast. The horizon is open. The challenge is now flung upon us. This is the hour, this is the moment that we must protect and defend the founding principles of our party. We must insist on fairness and equitable balance. We must stand firm with the truth, we must defend the righteous and the honourable.
May the good Lord guide our deliberations. Oduduwa a gbe gbogbo wa o!
Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George
Atona Oduduwa of Yorubaland
April, 21st 2016
Lagos.
