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NigerianNews

Dare Babarinsa.

 Former
Executive Director, Tell Magazine

 Ti Oluwa Ni Ile Lodge
Okemesi-Ekiti
 08022904926
babalekeleke@yahoo.com
Gubernatorial aspirant for Alliance for Democracy, Ekiti State

 Curriculum Vitae

Come and Let Us Build

AN AMBASSADOR OF THE NIGERIAN PRESS

FRIENDS, BROTHERS, COUNTRYMEN


Come and Let Us Build
 by Dare Babarinsa

Goodwill message to Ekiti Kete International Conference, New Jersey, United States, May 28, 2006.

May I thank the organisers of this conference for providing an historic forum for our people in the Diaspora for them to remain relevant to our roots.  This gathering of patriots is important for our people in Ekiti and the Yoruba Nation.  It is an obvious fact that the situation in our land has reached a cross road and it would be dangerous to leave our people at home to face this battle alone.  In staging this conference, you are only confirming your love for our people.  Though I am unable to join you today in New Jersey, but you can be sure I am with you in spirit. You are proving to us that you will not leave us alone to confront the crucial problem of leadership afflicting us in Ekiti and the Nigerian commonwealth.

In doing this, you are only following the footsteps of your illustrious ancestors.  In 1866, following the occupation of Ekiti land by Ibadan forces, those Ekiti sons and daughters resident in Lagos formed the Ekiti Parapo Society to deliberate on the fate of their fatherland.  Armed conflict to gain Ekiti freedom started in 1877 when Prince Isola Fabunmi of Okemesi arrested and beheaded the Ibadan Ajele (colonial officer), sparking off the Ekiti Parapo War.  For nine crucial years, the Ekiti people were locked in a war for freedom.  Those who made that struggle possible were the members of Ekiti Parapo Society in Lagos under the leadership of men like Phillip Jose Meffre, Joseph Haastrup and Chief Doherty.  Today you are also coming in with your own weapons to battle the scourge of our land which is bad leadership.

It is an obvious fact that those who are not qualified to run a super market are today ruling many of the Yoruba States.  The Yoruba people are still grasping with the chaos of the post-Awolowo era and they have not found coherent answers to the problems.  In our struggle to address the chaos of the post-Awolowo era, we have been confronted with many challenges including the June 12 struggle, the battle against the cancer of military dictatorship epitomised by General Ibrahim Babangida and his brother, General Sani Abacha, the death of Chief Moshood Abiola, the death of Chief Bola Ige and the second coming of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

I am sure many of you have been involved in the attempt to bring order to the Yoruba and Nigerian polity in recent years.  In 1994, I and some of my friends founded Idile Oodua, a pan-Yoruba organisation which joined the struggle against the military in the aftermath of the June 12 crisis precipitated by the dictator, General Babangida.  As the first leader of Idile, I also authored its most important document, The Family Handbook.  During the years of the struggle, Idile collaborated actively with many of our leaders including Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ige, Senator Abraham Adesanya, Chief Olu Falae, Dr Frederick Faseun and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.  We were also in touch with many of our leaders in exile, including General Alani Akinrinade, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi and Professor Wole Soyinka.

In 2000, Idile joined hands with other pan-Yoruba political groups when we founded Alajobi.  Apart from Idile, the other foundation members of Alajobi were New Generation (led by Jimmy Agbaje), Gateway Front (led by Otunba Gbenga Daniel), The New Action Group (led by Dr Ademola Ademodi), The Group (led by Alhaji Amid Adekunle Oduborisa), Oodua Liberation Movement (led by Rotimi Obadofin),  Oodua Youths Movement (led by  Abiodun Aremu), Okun People’s Front (led by Ayo Abereoran) and the Heritage (led by Chief Femi Yerokun).  I was elected the first chairman of Alajobi in the year 2000 and enjoyed maximum cooperation from the other leaders, though some of them are now in opposing political parties. 

Despite our best efforts in Idile and Alajobi, we have not been able to establish a leadership credo for those seeking to govern Yorubaland.  Today, many people are gallivanting across the country, promising our people roads, hospitals, schools and even free food.  There are questions we need to ask those who are seeking to govern us?  What do you believe in?  What have you done with your life? What institutions have you helped nurtured or built?  Where were you when our people were facing war during the military era?

Today, Yorubaland is even in greater danger than it was during the dark days of Abacha dictatorship. My party, the AD, is trying to face the challenge.  The AD, under the able leadership of Chief Bisi Akande, is trying to forge a grand coalition to present an alternative platform to the Nigerian people so that our democracy can be saved from the rampaging mob of the PDP.  This is a delicate and very important assignment.  We should note that the defeat of the Third Term proposal is good for Nigeria, but not necessarily good for the Yoruba people.  But it has given us a fresh opportunity to reposition our people.  Your suggestions on how to address this repositioning would be important to chart a future course, especially for the Yoruba people. 

Leadership is not just about government; leadership is about the people.  For me, I love Nigeria, but I am passionate about the Yoruba Nation and I am very passionate about Ekiti. My most important ambition is not just to become the governor of Ekiti State but to make us proud again of being Ekiti people.  In the past, we were noted as a people of integrity, valour and knowledge. Therefore at this moment, we are embarked, not just in seeking the governorship of our state, but also on a great enterprise to show our people that good government is not only necessary, it is possible.

May I congratulate each and every one of us for being part of this effort to better the lives of our people.  Just like the leaders of Ekiti Parapo Society of Lagos in the 19th Century, your involvements will bear good fruits.  We are the best educated people in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore, we have no excuse to leave the governance of our state in the hands of a second rate team.  It is my firm belief that whoever has not reached the pinnacle of his profession, has no business in seeking to become the governor of Ekiti State.

You are aware of how our state has become an object of jokes in Nigeria under the leadership of the outgoing government of the PDP.  Those of you in comfortable exile, who have made fortune and fame, should not forget that whatever becomes the fate of Ekiti would rebound on you.  You were born in that land; your ancestors composed poems and songs to celebrate its red soils, its great hills and its lore.  They fought wars to protect its integrity and guarantee its freedom.  It is our turn now and we must not fail. 

Three thousand years ago, there was a Jewish rich man in comfortable exile in Babylon.  He had wealth and power, but his home city of Jerusalem was in ruin.  He rose up to the challenge declaring to his fellow exiles:  “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire.  Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”

Fellow patriots, let us rise for Ekiti.  Our land is in distress.  Ekiti is calling us like the Jerusalem of old.  “Come and let us build the wall of Ekiti State, that we may no longer be a reproach.”

I am very grateful for your kind attention.


Thank you.

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""Despite our best efforts in Idile and Alajobi, we have not been able to establish a leadership credo for those seeking to govern Yorubaland.  Today, many people are gallivanting across the country, promising our people roads, hospitals, schools and even free food.  There are questions we need to ask those who are seeking to govern us?  What do you believe in?  What have you done with your life? What institutions have you helped nurtured or built?  Where were you when our people were facing war during the military era?""