By Ola Ajayi

Ibadan – THE acting President of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Col. Col Dansaaki S. Ade Agbede, and some elders of the association have rejected the newly elected executive members who were elected at a meeting held in Ibadan the penultimate week.

Ooni Hosts Yoruba Octogenarians, presents Olojo Festival Logo: Ooni of Ife,Oba Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi,Ojaja II yesterday in Lagos hosted Yoruba Elders 80 years old and above, and presented the logo for the Olojo Festival. The Ooni will celebrate his fisrt Olojo Festival (Yoruba Festival of Creation)next month in Ile-Ife.Above, from left are Otunba Olasubomi Balogun, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi, The Ooni, Oba Ogunwusi, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Guest Speaker; and Alhaji Femi Okunnu singing the National Anthem at the meeting in Lagos yesterday. PHOTO: AKEEM SALAU.

Agbede and some aggrieved elders of YCE took the decision at a meeting held at Bodija residence of the first female Professor of Library Science in Africa, Adetoun Ogunseye in Ibadan.

At the meeting which was presided over by Prof Toun Ogunseye, the elders vowed that they would not remain in an association whose executive members were selected by the alleged suspended Secretary-General of the elders’ council, Dr Kunle Olajide.

Our expectations from Buhari’s second term – Yoruba Council of Elders(Opens in a new browser tab)

There has been a running battle between Dr Kunle Olajide and the acting President, Col Agbede over the control of the Yoruba Council of Elders.
Prof Ogunseye disclosed that Dr. Olajide who had earlier been placed on an indefinite suspension by the Senior Elders Forum of the YCE organized a meeting which was not authorised by the President where a new President, Justice Ademola Bakre (Rtd) was elected.

After the election which was not attended by notable leaders of the association, Dr Olajide approached the Court to secure an injunction to stop another meeting scheduled by the Senior Elders’ Forum and put the National Secretariat of the Council, where the meeting would have been held under lock and key.

Owing to these reasons, the Senior Elders’ Forum at its meeting said they would not join issues with Dr. Olajide by going to court.
“We do not elect going to court because we refuse to drag or expose the name and integrity of Yoruba into disrepute”, they said.

According to the aggrieved elders, “the constitution claimed by Dr. Kunle Olajide, Prof. Oluwasanmi and Justice Bakre is unknown to us.”

“Even though, we asked Dr. Kunle Olajide to surrender the documents with him to the President, he refused. In that regard, we cannot comment on something we have not seen. The said constitution was hoarded and we have no access to it”, the forum added.

The Senior Elders also accused Dr. Kunle Olajide of consistently treating YCE as his personal property, citing as an example his putting the National Headquarters of the YCE under lock and key with the gates chained so that they would have no access to it.

Saying that Yoruba has heritage, culture and customs, the forum noted that “elders are the supreme level in Yoruba culture to whom all knotty matters are referred to for a solution, the constitution may not cover all areas where convention can resolve, hence, Senior Elders’ Forum.

“The group of Dr. Kunle Olajide, Prof. Oluwasanmi and Justice Bakre has declared it does not recognize us and we cannot force ourselves on them. Hence, we hereby dissociate ourselves from the YCE of Dr. Kunle Olajide, Prof. Oluwasanmi and Justice Bakre and remain on our own”, the forum stated further.

Making further clarification, Col Agbede said, the Senior Elders’ Forum would continue holding its meetings.

Vanguard