BY DAYO ADESULU
After a week of total silence and consultations with various Yoruba Leaders and Traditional rulers, the apex body of the Yoruba World Congress has relieved Banji Akintoye a retired Professor of history of his position as Protem Leader of the global organization.
In a statement jointly signed by four of the co-founders of the world wide organization namely Dr Amos Akingba, Chief Tola Adeniyi, Chief Solagbade Popoola and Professor Anthony Kila, and shared with all registered members of the YWC, Prof Akintoye is charged with gross incompetence, indecisiveness, obnoxious dictatorship, and absolute disregard for laid down rules and order, lack of consistency and reliability.
Akintoye has one leg in the motley associations which elected him Yoruba Leader at Ibadan August 2019, another leg in Afenifere, a leading Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural political organization where he is the Chairman of that body’s Political Committee and strangely another leg in YWC where he has been decorated as Protem Leader since late 2018.
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His legendary divisiveness has created unprecedented acrimony and confusion in all the listed entities, particularly in the Europe and America chapters of the YWC.
In order to save the soul of YWC and sustain the huge goodwill and confidence the entire Yoruba race has in our respectable organization it was resolved that retired Professor Banji Akintoye must go.
Meanwhile the Yoruba World Congress will be administered by Collective Leadership pending the time our new Leader is introduced to the public.
The decision was reached after one week of turmoil and various attempts to quitely and internally solve a crisis that originated from an attempt by Akintoye and some other people to hijack the YWC Leadership structure by removing members of the Leaders Council.
It will be recalled that on Tuesday 25th August, the YWC Leaders Council refused to sit in a meeting in which Prof Akintoye imported some 20 plus people to the YWC Leaders Council Meeting. Information gathered has now shown that many of these people are not even YWC members but those who elected Akintoye as leader in Ibadan and some other people linked by personal relationship to him.
Since then several attempts have been made to mend fences but it has now become clear that Prof Akintoye has made up his mind to pitch his tent with those outside the YWC against the YWC.
All attempts to make Prof Akintoye retrace his steps came to alt when it was gathered that some people had sworn to an Oath to dissolve the YWC.
The YWC Leaders Council wishes to assure bonafide members and friends of YWC across the globe that the YWC remains intact and all the activities and commitments continue as no one man’s action or inaction can demolish the bond and dreams of millions of Yoruba people
Prof Akintoye remains the Yoruba Leader as elected in Ibadan August 2019 but that position is now clearly in conflict with being the YWC Leader and it has been reviewed.
