Regional cohesion necessary for Yoruba to capitalise on Tinubu leadership – Akande
By Shina Abubakar Osogbo
A former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande has called on Yoruba leaders to ensure a paradigm shift in regional cohesion in a bid to capitalise on the advantage of President Bola Tinubu’s presidency for the growth of the region.
He warned that if the internal fragment within the people is not addressed, the political advantage Tinubu’s leadership will be wasted.
This is contained in a statement the elder stateman issued to celebrate the centenary birthday of Pa Reuben Fasoranti and made available to newsmen in Osogbo on Sunday.
“If history teaches us anything: it teaches that moments of political advantage do not automatically translate into collective progress. They must be recognized, properly interpreted, and deliberately utilized.
“Leadership at the centre, where it is not complemented by coherence at home, can exist alongside fragmentation—and in some cases, even accelerate it. Some of us who were active participants in that period do not speak of it from abstraction, but from lived experience. We saw, first-hand, how quickly a region can lose strategic ground when internal alignment is weak, and how difficult it is to rebuild once that cohesion is disrupted.
“It is precisely in the light of that experience that the present moment must be approached with greater clarity.
“In the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we are not simply confronted with another instance of Yoruba representation at the national level. What distinguishes this moment is the character of the political process that produced it. This is a leadership forged within the complexities of Yoruba political evolution itself—one that has, over time, navigated internal differences, built coalitions, and sustained relevance across changing national contexts.
He challenged Yoruba leaders to engage in more healthy rivalry and abandon zero-sum competition for a more coordinated purpose to unite the region
While stressing the need for yoruba actors to seized the President Tinubu’s leadership to ensure deliberate cohesion, he said the situation will not be easy without a purposeful leadership to create opportunity for unity.
“For perhaps the first time in a long while, there exists a realistic possibility that alignment at the centre can be matched by coherence within the region. But that possibility will remain unrealized unless it is supported by a deliberate shift in conduct among Yoruba political actors—away from zero-sum competition and toward coordinated purpose.
“It must therefore be said, with a sense of responsibility, that the opportunity before us will not implement itself. It will require restraint in moments of rivalry, maturity in the face of disagreement, and a conscious willingness to subordinate immediate advantage to longer-term collective interest.
“What is at stake extends beyond the fortunes of any administration. It is, more fundamentally, a test of whether the Yoruba nation can align its internal dynamics with its external influence at a time when both appear, for once, to be within reach.
“History, as always, will be unsentimental in its judgment. It will record not the opportunities we were given, but the choices we made in response to them”.
He also tasked Yoruba leaders to take a cue from Pa Fasoranti on his stance in the post June 12 period by galvanizing different opinions to establish a firm resolution on the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential election.
His words, “In reflecting on this moment, the life of Pa Reuben Fasoranti provides both context and guidance. His role in the post–June 12 period, particularly within Afenifere, was defined not by the absence of disagreement, but by the insistence that disagreement must not be allowed to destroy the collective.
“He represents a tradition of leadership rooted in steadfastness, discipline, and moral clarity—one that places the long-term interest of the people above transient advantage. That example is neither nostalgic nor abstract. It is directly relevant to the choices before us.
“In the life of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, we see the continuation of a tradition shaped in no small measure by the discipline and philosophical clarity of Obafemi Awolowo – a tradition that recognizes disagreement but refuses disintegration. It reminds us that unity is not convenience; it is discipline”.
He noted the Yorubas did not in any point in time lack efficient leadership and the people are capable of unity within themselves, especially during crisis, emphasising the need to ensure such unity last beyond the period of crisis for the greater good.
“The Yoruba nation has never been short of leadership, intellect, or vision. At every critical point in our history, we have produced men and women of capacity, courage, and influence. Yet, time and again, the full weight of that capacity has been diminished by an inability to sustain alignment at decisive moments. That is the lesson history leaves with us—not as condemnation, but as responsibility.
“The present moment offers us a rare convergence of opportunity and experience. But, as history has shown, such moments do not endure indefinitely. They pass, and in passing, they leave behind either consolidation or regret.
“If we choose alignment—deliberately and consistently—then this period may yet be remembered as the point at which the Yoruba nation reconciled its potential with the discipline required to realize it”, he added.
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