Yoruba Unity: Akintoye Urges Southwest Governors To Declare Holiday For Yoruba Unity Day

An elder statesman and Yoruba leader, Professor Banji Akintoye has made a passionate appeal to Southwest governors and traditional rulers, particularly Obas, to embrace every  September 23 as Yoruba Unity Day and declare the day an holiday.

He said that this became necessary for the unity of Yorubaland so as to overcome challenges and build a brighter future for generations to come.

Speaking during ‘Yoruba Unity Day Celebration’ held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Prof. Banji Akintoye stated that there is need for unity and collective action to address issues around the Yorubas.

He called on Southwest governors and Obas to prioritize the unity and well-being of their people, and sought the support of traditional rulers, who, according to him, play vital roles in promoting cultural heritage and fostering community cohesion.

He said that by embracing Yoruba Unity Day, Yoruba nation can reclaim its rightful place in Nigeria and address the various challenges threatening its existence.

“Since we have come this far today, this 23rd day of September 2024, I boldly and humbly urge Yorubas to adopt this day, the 23rd day of September every year as Yoruba Unity Day.

“I urge that our Obas, the Fathers of our nation, should adopt this Yoruba Unity Day in their Councils of Obas in all our Yoruba States. I urge that our State Governors, when they assemble in their Southwest Governors Meeting, to adopt Yoruba Unity Day for all our states.

“I urge our Obas in Yoruba States to adopt Yoruba Unity Day for celebration together or in their palaces every year.

“I urge that Yoruba Obas in states where the Yorubas are a substantial population should adopt this Yoruba Unity Day and celebrate it together annually in one of the Yoruba cities in their states.

“I urge that we Yorubas should adopt Yoruba Unity Day as a public holiday exclusively for Yoruba people in the context of Nigeria.

“Many of our non-Yoruba neighbours think of us Yorubas as a people lacking in unity. Even some of our own people are used to lamenting that we Yorubas cannot have one voice. But those who say these things about us are lacking in the understanding of the true meaning of national unity.

“On the basis of the essential indices of national unity, I make bold to say that we Yorubas are some of the most truly united nations in the world. The essential roots of Yoruba national unity are firm and solid. All of us Yoruba people are proud of our culture.

“We are proud of our nation’s outstanding achievements in history. We are proud of our nation’s distinctive superiority in crucial matters, including love of community harmony, serious acceptance of religious tolerance and harmony, acceptance of hospitality towards strangers and foreigners, avoidance of cheap conduct in the quest for anything, love of enterprise and achievement.

“A fundamental belief that power in the society belongs to the people and that the government exists only to serve the wellbeing of the people, a sincere belief that everybody, young and old, has the right to be respected and the right and duty to contribute his or her wisdom to the affairs of his or her society, an essential nobility,” he said.

While speaking at the event, Dr.Bayo Orire from Ekiti State called on the Yorubas to be sincere with the movement to fully actualise the Yoruba Nation, which, according to him, will liberate the Yorubas from the entity called Nigeria.

“This is the best time for us to come together but the Yorubas who are benefitting from the present administration will not want their food to stop but when they are out of government they will know what we are doing,” he said.

While also speaking at the event, Dr.Tunde Hamzat stated that the present handlers of the Yoruba Nation have gone far to liberate the Yorubas and called for more collaboration of traditional rulers and the Yorubas generally.

He specifically hinted that other regions in the country are ready to disintergrate and that it is not the Yoruba alone that want a nation within the nation.

Participants from the South Western States and Yorubas in the Diaspora witnessed the event.