Date Published: 07/27/09

Group plans protest as crisis engulfs Egbe Omo Yoruba North America over invitation to Daniel, Akala, Oyinlola, Iyabo Obasanjo, Saraki  

Gov. Bukola Saraki of Kwara State

The Egbe Omo Yoruba North America is embroiled in a crisis that threatens to tear apart the association over the invitation extended to some South West politicians especially Gov. Alao Akala, Gov. Gbenga Daniel, Gov. Oyinlola, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello, Kwara State's first lady; Mrs. Toyin Saraki to this year's convention scheduled for August 6th-8th in St Louis, Missouri, USA. There are reports that the governors paid huge sums of money to have been invited to this event. This development has angered some members who have complained that inviting the South West governors who failed to provide good governance and lift their people from poverty should not be provided with the platform of the "Egbe".

A group tagged " Committee to Save Egbe Omo Yoruba NA (COSEYNA)" is planning and mobilizing people to protest in large numbers if the invited governors do show up at the convention. One of the campaigners against the governors invited, Barr. Bamidele Alade stated that "it is very unfortunate that the leadership of our Egbe could be attempting to rehabilitate failed politicians using the principled platform of our association in an image laundering project. These politicians will be embarrassed if they show up. We are mobilizing people in large numbers to this event and would protest massively against these shades of characters. This is the United States where we have the right to protest and we would exercise that right fully".

Another commentator, Dr. Adegboyega Dada in a statement averred that "it is shameful that the likes of Alao Akala who demolished the statue of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and replaced it with the statue of an unknown soldier and has failed miserably to ensure the development of Oyo State, was indicted to have misappropriated #1billion in eleven months by the EFCC. Governor Gbenga Daniel whose tenure in Ogun State is a sham. Iyabo Obasanjo Bello (aka Mrs. Akinlawon) who was fingered in the #3.5b Austrian contract saga is the people the two man exco of Mr. Adeola Odusanya and Mr. Dapo Odulami wants to honor. The last time I checked Prof. Wole Soyinka is a still a Yoruba man, someone like him is a role model who has stood for Justice, and advocated for good governance on the part of the masses. These politicians should be ready for a showdown if they should show up at the convention.

As part of their strategy the campaigners directed people to write complaints on the website of the Missouri State Governor-www.mo.gov, who was invited to the event-Mr. Jay Nixon. In one of the email forwarded to Daily Independent reads "these individuals, who rigged elections and fraudulently got themselves into power contrary to the will of the people, have contributed more to the bad image Nigeria enjoys all over the world as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. We strongly appeal to you to stay away from this event so as not to give or appear to give any official recognition and credibility of the government and people of Missouri to these discredited politicians. Nigeria has a lot of honorable men and women who deserve to be recognized and honored. We feel your attendance would be a betrayal of the millions of Nigerians who have been subjected to abject poverty, killed or maimed by the actions of these politicians esp. Mr. Alao Akala (Gov of Oyo State), Mr. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Gov of Osun State), Mr. Gbenga Daniel (Gov of Ogun State), Mr. Segun Oni (Gov of Ekiti State, Senator (Mrs.) Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. Please feel free to 'google' these names and make an informed decision if you want to be reported in the US media to be associating with these shade of characters".