Leader of the Yorùbá Nation, Prof Banji Akintoye has reacted to reports of him stepping down from his role as the leader of the group.
Speaking at a recent meeting with seasoned journalists, the elder statesman said that he only stepped down from the role of chairman for Ilana Omo Oodua.
The agitator explained that he simply withdrew from the day-to-day activities of the group as his involvement is becoming disruptive because most people rely solely on him.
He said: “What happened was very simple, which is to withdraw from the day-to-day involvement in the affairs of the large and prestigious organisation Ilana Omo Odudua, because involvement in that mighty organisation, is becoming disruptive, adding too much weight on my load in the general self-determination struggle and YSDM activities around the world, where everybody abroad believes the person they can call is Prof. Akintoye.
“So at that time, on a very high level of the self-determination struggle, I am perpetually busy. Then, side by side with that has been the fact that I am also the leader of Ilana, founder of Ilana, the Alana, and the patron, which meant that nobody in Ilana with any problem has felt confident that their problem can be solved without Prof. Akintoye being the person in charge, that just became too much.”
Banji noted that when he asked people to look into how the burden can be reduced, they keep telling him that he is the father of the group and no one can take the burden off his shoulder.
He explained that in a meeting that occurred about a month ago, it was decided that for the sake of his sustainability he has to be relieved of his Ilana responsibilities.
“I have asked people to look at it for me, but what everybody kept saying is that “You are the father of Ilana, nobody can do that for you, you are also on the higher level. You are the face that the world knows, and therefore, how do we do it without you?
“So finally in a meeting of leaders from various parts of the world, which was held about a month ago, it was decided, if you want this man (Prof. Akintoye) to continue with this work for a long time to come, we have to relieve him of Ilana responsibilities, and that was music to my ears because everybody said yes, we now agree. I have written a letter to Ilana in the past week, saying that I am withdrawing my services in the regular day-to-day management of Ilana, but I am still the patron,” he added.
According to him, a newspaper decided to take advantage of the situation and cook up a narrative that was not true.
He said, “A number of things then happened, first is that many people cannot think of Ilana without me and a newspaper in Nigeria decided to make mischief out of the situation.
“I’m Banji Akintoye, I have a duty to respect every Yoruba institution and the Punch is one of our most prestigious institutions in Yoruba land so I must be very respectful to whatever I say about them but they played a pity game of attention peddling by distorting the obvious message on the letter that I wrote to Ilana Omo Odudua, saying I have resigned from Yoruba self-determination struggle. They are allowing themselves to be used by people known to me, to intentionally put the wrong narratives out there.
“Simply, the situation is this, I am still a father, patron, and mentor to Ilana, but I have withdrawn personal participation in the day-to-day management and activities in Ilana, I have handed over to my deputy whom I believe would do the job.”
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