Following his victory for a second term in office, the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that he enthrones true federalism and national unity in the country.

The Secretary-General of the group, Dr. Kunle Olajide, who disclosed this at the weekend, added that the president needed to return the country to the era of revenue generation and not sharing of allocation.

Olajide said: “I have written a congratulatory letter to the president on his re-election and assured him of YCE’s support for his administration towards achieving a greater Nigeria.


“In the letter, I told him that his victory carries enormous responsibilities among, which were the need to ensure national unity and a revisit of the El-Rufai’s committee report on restructuring.

“The president has replied the letter, appreciating it and the in-depth suggestions.

“He assured me that the suggestions will be given adequate cognisance,” he said.

The YCE leader said the country could achieve rapid growth and development with true federalism which allowed devolution of powers.

He stressed that the decisions of the Governor Nasir el-Rufai-led committee on restructuring set up by Buhari’s administration in 2017 was far-reaching, calling on the president to revisit the report.

“We have to gradually move back to the period of generating revenue and not sharing revenue.

“Each federating unit should be allowed to exploit and explore its resources.

“They should then pay an agreed percentage to maintain few essential services in the centre such as defence, foreign affairs, immigration and customs services,” he said.

Olajide said that there were only 14 items on the exclusive list in the First Republic and the rest were residual for the states.

According to him, “today, there are 66 items on the exclusive list. The intervention of the military in 1966 truncated the march to true federalism.

“So, in the next four years, Buhari should be able to finish the process, foundation and implementation of the El-Rufai’s committee recommendations.

“I think it is very essential that the report is implemented as a first step to entrench a true federal system of government.”

He also called on the president to make national unity a priority, urging him to ensure that all parts of the country were given sense of belonging through appointments and projects.

“The president should ensure that his appointments reflect the diversity of Nigeria and in line with the Federal Character Principle enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

“We must ensure that people think of Nigeria before anything else, irrespective of tribe and religious affiliation. The president must ensure that he bequeaths a legacy of a United Nigeria

“He must ensure that the people remained the centre of all their decisions, including security of lives and properties.”

On the 2019 general election, he said that the nation had made some progress, adding that the conduct was still better than those witnessed in the past.

Olajide opined that INEC should be unbundled from its overloaded responsibilities.

He said the electoral umpire should only be responsible for registering of political parties and conduction of elections.

He called for the constitution of Election Offence Tribunal to handle cases of electoral malpractice.

The YCE leader said that civil security agencies and not military, should play roles in elections, suggesting recruitment of more personnel for the police as well as NSCDC to meet up with required number.

“Let me confess. I am very proud of the Yoruba race. The outcome of the election gladdens my heart considerably because the political temperature was very high during the campaign season.

“Everybody was anxious and worried that there might be widespread violence. Yes, there were violence and skirmishes here and there, but not to the extent envisaged.

“Looking at the conduct of the election by itself, I think we have made progress. We are not yet there, but we are far better than where we were before in Yorubaland,” he said.

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/03/yoruba-elders-task-buhari-on-true.html

it's alright...

wasting of saliva.

So we Yoruba have Elders and things are getting worst and worst everyday and they did not see anything wrong with this fraud system we called Unitary system?

If the right thing was to be done there will be nothing like useless elders
Bunch of failed fools
Shithole elders

Well this group better than Afenifere.

Which of the Yoruba elders? They should kukuma said Apc elders..

If this group actually believes that any fulani or igbo will return Nigeria back to the regional govt we all agreed on at independence, it will never come out of the self-induced coma it's in. I just hate it when some iddiots say the dumbest things in Yoruba's name. Igbos coup and soldier suspended the regional system of we had and fulani made it to law in the first place because they need Yoruba as meal ticket, so how are they going to go back to having to pay Yorubaland tax duties on our ports and not have access to Yoruba's money. It's like asking the fulani and igbos to commit suicide, what are they going to live on?

Even Pdp Yoruba can't return Nigeria to the regional govts, they are omo ale and useful idiots for fulani and igbos. The only people that can return Nigeria to what we agreed on are Yoruba patriots in Apc, they are the true sons and daughters of the land who think of Yorubaland first and know Nigeria has caused Yorubaland to be worse off now than any time in our history.