He stated this yesterday at the Post-National Conference Summit convened by the Ondo State government for South-west states, tagged “The National Conference, 2015 Elections and the Yoruba Nation”, held in Akure, the state capital.
Mimiko said he purposely convened the summit to serve as a reminder to Nigerians, saying the Yorubas should put the implementation of the confab report above any political affiliation.
Mimiko noted that the change that the country needs at present is the proper restructuring of the country which the conference had provided a veritable platform for.
He said, “I also called this summit as a sanity check for the Yoruba nation. Do we know the critical issues involved in the Jonathan project? I deliberately invited those of you who have expressed their views on the confab. Shouldn’t the Yoruba put this in the forefront of their political engagements this season? We should sit back and define the type of change that we want. I want a change but the type of change I want is a change in the constitution of Nigeria.
“I want a constitution that will devolve power to the states, a constitution that will give us power of autonomy and resources to succeed and a change that will allow we Yorubas to develop our land by ourselves. I have no doubt in my mind that those who are in the other political party cannot support this type of change because they have gone against the conference earlier.
“We are concerned about the future of this country; the future of the Yoruba nation can only stand if there is proper restructuring of our nation. I will like to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for listening for the yearning of Nigerians by convening the National Conference. If there is any group in this country that championed the Confab, it is the Yoruba. We as spectators wondered how over 500 delegates of different persuasions could come up with 600 resolutions by consensus. It is the work of elders like Chief Ayo Adebanjo who worked to ensure that they emphasised what will unite us as a nation”.
“The future of this country particularly the Yoruba Nation depends on the proper restructuring of the country which the conference has provided a veritable platform for. The change I want is the change in our constitution which our leaders have been yearning for. As a people, we must do everything humanly possible to make sure that the resolutions of that conference are implemented”.
Earlier in his opening remark, a chieftain of Afenifere group and chairman of the occasion, Chief Ayo Adebanjo expressed displeasure over the set of invitees that attended the Summit, saying the summit seemed to be dominated by PDP members.
Adebanjo said, “The summit ought to have held some months back to give our report to the people who sent us to the conference. It is the importance of this that made me attend and accept to be the chairman. My observation here is that the summit seems to be dominated by the PDP. This is no PDP show because all the PDP candidates are here in the summit. The summit should be more important than a PDP affair. If you are convening something like this in future, give the impression that we are doing it on non-partisan basis”.
While reading the communique to reporters after the submit, Adebanjo said the gathering had resolved to fully back and work for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in the Presidential election, adding that he is the only one that can guarantee the implementation of the Confab recommendations.
The communique, signed by 10 attendees including Mimiko, Dr Fedrick Fasehun, coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams among others, also said the Yoruba Nation is going to work assiduously to ensure that the confab recommendations get translated to concrete realities.
The communique said that the profound recommendation of the confab that each of the existing six geopolitical zones be equally divided into nine states agrees with the Yoruba core values in which equity is ranked very high.
It noted that other profound recommendations of the confab particularly those that touch on devolution of powers, creation of states and community police services, making prisons service a concurrent matter, allowing each state to have its constitution, decentralisation of powers over the establishment and management of railways, sea ports, airports and development of solid minerals are central to the core interest of the Yoruba."
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