Traditional rulers and leaders in Yorubaland have been advised to shun self-aggrandizement for promotion of peace and development of South West.
The Association of Ancient Ibadan Warlords Families (AAIWF), under the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) gave the advice in a paper read by the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Macos Urban Management Consultants, Pa Moshood Tomori, in memory of the Kiriji War that engulfed the Yorubaland, which ended in 1886.
The paper presentation was witnessed by the President-General of CCII, Prince Yemisi Adeaga, and members of AAIWF and other stakeholders.
The paper, which was packaged and produced by AAIWF, under the chairmanship of Mogaji Moyeloye, Chief Taofik Maye, traced the origin of obaship and chieftaincy system in Yorubaland, the building of Ibadan Empire and the 19th Century hostilities of the Yoruba ethnic groups, the British influence on traditional institution in Yorubaland, post-colonial status of Yoruba traditional rulers and the imperative of peaceful co-existence in Yorubau in the 21st Century.
According to Tomori, “The purpose of this lecture is to understand origin of the conflicts among the traditional rulers that have caused division among them, the need to embrace peace and promote unity for positive development in Yorubaland.
“The nations that flourished are the ones in which people are ready to face the realities around them by investing significantly to finding peaceful solutions to the problems besetting them.
“We should believe more in Yoruba unity than all the distractions and ego-tripping among the obas. Yoruba obas should should play down this class struggle. It does not really matter, which class you belong in when it comes to issues affecting the security and development of the Yoruba nation.
“Ego and trivial things should not be allowed to divide us further. The time is now to chorus unity. But when you talk of unity, we must not forget that truth holds unity better.”
Tomori, who noted that the colonial masters actually caused crisis among Yoruba kings based on the way they favoured some obas against the established tradition of the pre-colonial era, said but for the Ibadan warlords, the entire Yorubaland would have been taken over by invaders, saying if that had happened, the Yoruba traditional rulers would not have had opportunity to engage in supremacy battle, which would do the South West no good.
He continued: “Internal strife and self-defeating competition among the various Yoruba groups in the 19th Century led to the easy subjugation of Yorubaland by a greater and stronger power. What happened in the Yoruba country, which led to the British colonisation of Yorubaland must serve as a warning and lesson for the future.
“In spite of the impact of the divisive forces of the 19th Century, and in spite of the awareness of belonging to a wider aggregation of peoples in Nigeria, the Yoruba people of today can sti be recognised as a distinct group with the same characteristics that distinguished the ancient Yoruba from other people.
“In other words, Yoruba people remain to a large extent, a people identifiable by their language and culture. They are also bound together by the idea of a common origin and the belief that they are all descendants of Oduduwa.
“The people of the entire Yoruba race must come together in order to form a perfect union, to establish justice, ensure the tranquility of the race, the culture, and the tradition to provide for the common interest and identity of the race, which is going to promote the general welfare and secure the future for generation and secure the blessing of our ancestral fathers.”
