Newly elected Yoruba leader, Banji Akintoye, yesterday, promised to uphold and showcase the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s legacies, respect the youths and not interfere in partisan politics.
Akintoye, a 84-year-old academic and former senator was elected as the Yoruba leader by various Yoruba organisations on August 22 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Akintoye, an Emeritus Professor of History, at a news conference in Lagos, organised to give his acceptance of the election, said what the nation needed was a Yoruba leadership that would be non-partisan.
His acceptance text was entitled: My Response to the Decision of the Meeting that Took Place in Ibadan on August 22, 2019.
He said: “I deeply appreciate the persons, the organisations and the leaders who met in Ibadan on August 22 and took the step of electing me.
“I am convinced that all of them, individually and collectively, were motivated in this action by the desire to see the interests of our Yoruba nation further advanced, especially in the circumstances in which we, Yoruba people, find ourselves today.
“I, and all who will work with me, will, in all things uphold and showcase the Awolowo legacy as the noblest and proudest modern legacy of our Yoruba nation- the pure spring with the waters of which I was nurtured by his awesome hands.”
Akintoye thanked Yoruba leaders for their acknowledgement of the roles he had been playing here at home and among the large Yoruba in the Diaspora across the world to raise awareness among the people.