The first Secretary to the Alhaji Lateef Jakande-led Lagos
State Government, Chief Olorunfunmi Basorun, speaks to
ENIOLA AKINKUOTU about the debate over Yoruba
leadership and other political issues
You were a top member of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s
party, the Unity Party of Nigeria. Do you agree with
former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s argument that
there can never be a Yoruba leader?
The Yoruba leader now, without doubt, is Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, and there are many reasons for this. The leadership
of the Yoruba, whether political or otherwise, is based on
who has advanced the interest of the Yoruba the most in
recent times and Tinubu has done this. Firstly, he has fought
for the interest of the Yoruba people. He helped Kayode
Fayemi to get his governorship bid back in Ekiti in 2010. In
the same year, he helped Rauf Aregbesola to get his
governorship mandate back in Osun State.
He helped Olusegun Mimiko get his governorship mandate
back in Ondo State in 2009. He even helped Adams
Oshiomhole in Edo as well. That shows that his interest
transcends personal preferences. In the political arena, he
graduated and moved to ensure that Nigeria became
virtually a two-party state. Because of Tinubu’s effort
coupled with others’, the APC was born.
He led various others to ensure that the party did not die.
Before the merger of the party, there was a quarrel between
President Muhammadu Buhari and Rabiu Kwankwaso, who
was then the Kano State Governor. Tinubu brought both of
them to the table of reconciliation and settled it and the
party emerged. That party, the APC, is in power today. The
party now rules 22 states out of 36 in Nigeria and also
produced the President. This shows Tinubu’s achievements
in politics.
Even look at the South-West. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and
Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State were in different parties
before 2011. Tinubu brought them into his party and they
are now running a second term in their respective states.
During the last elections, Yoruba contributed 2.433m votes
to Buhari’s presidency where Buhari got 15m. That
constitutes about 16 per cent of Buhari’s votes and this kind
of thing had never happened before. Even when Obasanjo
was made President, he didn’t get more than one million
votes in the South-West and in terms of percentage, it was
insignificant. And in the process of negotiations, Tinubu got
the position of the vice-president for the South-West. I
cannot point to any other Yoruba leader today that has
struggled for the Yoruba like Tinubu and succeeded.
But When Chief Obafemi Awolowo was named as the
Yoruba leader, it was an unanimous decision by all
notable Yoruba leaders at the time. Why is Tinubu’s own
controversial?
By our age, one should assume that we knew what
happened then. There was a lot of confusion after the
second coup and there was a meeting. Awolowo gave two
conditions. He said the army’s occupation of Lagos must end
and that if the Igbo were compelled to secede, the South-
West would go. These two statements, in the face of guns,
encouraged those present at the meeting to proclaim
Awolowo as the leader of the Yoruba that time. The
environment then was different from the one that Tinubu is
living in now. I am not saying that Tinubu is the same as
Awolowo but they lived at different times. Chief Awolowo did
many things based on the needs at that time. He built the
first stadium in Nigeria, the first television station, the first
to introduce free health and free education. These were the
needs at that time and many people loved him but those
who didn’t love him were many. Apart from Adisa Akinloye,
after the second coup in 1966, could anybody from
Ogbomoso pronounce Awolowo as the leader of the Yoruba
people? No. Because they were still bitter about the way
Ladoke Akintola died. So, those who are generalising and
looking at the view of Awolowo’s supporters as the general
mind of Yoruba people, forget that the Yoruba people never
went in one direction. As we are talking about Tinubu now,
there are some who hate him and do not hide it. But when
you talk of Yoruba leadership, there will be the first among
equals, and what I am saying is that Tinubu is the first
among those who are carrying the Yoruba banner very high.
But Awolowo said there cannot be a Yoruba leader
during the period of partisan politics but there can be a
cultural leader. Are you saying that we can have a
Yoruba leader now?
There are cultural leaders such as traditional rulers but on
the issue of politics, there must always be a leader who can
stick out his neck and fight for his people. Awolowo once
said that a day will come when the masses in the North and
South, Christians, Muslims will come together as a force for
progress and unity and kick against rigging, corruption and
that is what we are facing now. And we are happy that one of
our own in the South-West is carrying out this prediction of
Chief Awolowo. Why should he not be the leader of the
Yoruba for now? Whether it is political leader or anything we
want to call it, who has achieved what Tinubu has achieved?
Wouldn’t it be appropriate to call Obasanjo the Yoruba
leader since he is the only Yoruba man to ever emerge
as President?
He was President and he had greatness thrust upon him but
he did not work for greatness. I took part in electing him
because I was the founding chairman of the Lagos State
Peoples Democratic Party. We went to him in Abeokuta and
spoke to him when he just returned from prison but his first
response was that he had become a born again Christian
and had no interest in politics. So, he did not work to be
President. Most of the Yoruba did not even want him. In the
1999 election, he was defeated at his polling unit. I took the
pain to compile all the votes he got. He received about
1.1million votes in the South-West but most of the votes in
the South-West came from Lagos. He got about 209,000
votes from Lagos. He got a few votes from other South-West
states. As President, he performed to the best of his ability.
But Obasanjo cannot match the intellectual capacity of
Awolowo and Tinubu. So, Obasanjo is a chief and he is
respected in Yoruba land but in the contemporary Nigeria
today, Tinubu is the Yoruba leader. Even as President,
Obasanjo was not called Yoruba leader at that time because
he did not achieve anything on his own. It was a question of
people helping him. Awolowo said this in the House of
Representatives many years ago that some are born great,
some achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust
upon them. Tinubu achieved greatness while Obasanjo had
greatness thrust upon him. www.punchng.com/politics/tinubu-greater-than-obasanjo-basorun/

His opinion

How nah? When Baba is the Oba of Nigeria and Uncle Sege of Africa

Una don come again o.

Bola tinu ocean

They are both great, but tinubu is smarter.

Opinion is like anus.


Everybody has one.

Atigbo oooo

Tinubu is APC SW leader...get that into ur fvcking head. Obasanjo on the other hand is just a random ex president that is Ogun state by origin.
They're not yoruba leaders

Sentimental talkz i guess...

Who posted this trash

Who is Tinubu where OBJ is

When OBJ was head of state (1976-1979) where was Tinubu

Has he held any post apart from Lagos where he manipulates the gullible

Senator, governor (Local politics)

dejavski:
Tinubu is APC SW leader...get that into ur fvcking head. Obasanjo on the other hand is just a random ex president that is Ogun state by origin.
They're not yoruba leaders

ode who are the two leading Yoruba political figures?

u are not sure of what you are saying.

Jaideyone:
ode who are the two leading Yoruba political figures?

I don't recognise them cos they r not popular in my region where I come from

to me both are not great

Na Una sabi

That is between the silly yorubas' to find out
who is the best.So it is none of my concern because the both are fraud.

Funny enough ur so called Tinubu has bin scammed

Take it or leave it! Since Awolowo, No one has done more for the yoruba race than Tinubu. His qualities and visions are unmatched in today's Nigeria. If every region goes their separate ways today, the southwest leaves as the most advanced and developed region of all!

Too many projects with Tinubu's trademark on it with the most interesting being the recent Eko Atlantic city. It's the south-west first in his calculations, something that cannot be said for obasanjo!

PS: the bitter-heads above are the jealous ones whose notable leaders have only led them to mass genocide and not an atom of greatness. They are presently rallying round another scammer residing in faraway UK as their new leader. The sensible ones will do well to ignore their stup.idity