• Fears region lags behind in national, global politics
• Laments lackadaisical attitude toward the region on voting
• Says multiple presidential candidates will spell doom

A socio-political group, known as the Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movements (AYDF), has urged Yoruba to utilise their population strength to attract political and economic development to the region in 2023.

Chairman of the group, Mr. Adewale Adeoye, who gave the charge at a conference in Lagos, yesterday, urged voters to turn out and show the potential strength of Yoruba.

He urged Yoruba to promote sustainable development across their territories, promote youth and gender equity in the electoral process and political platforms as the nation prepares for another general election.

In a remark, the Secretary of the group, Popoola Ajayi, appealed to youths to be more engaging in politics.

He, therefore, urged unity among Yoruba to be at the forefront of political recognition.

The AYDF, which bemoaned the voting pattern and public enthusiasm towards elections in the Western Region, said it had continued to wane and the people are losing interest in the democratic processes.

The group maintained that the multiplicity of presidential candidates in Yorubaland would be counter-productive.

Adeoye said the decline in voting pattern had put the people at a disadvantage and resulted in marginalisation because of the region’s weak political strength expressed through voting capacity.

He lamented that the votes coming from the South-West fail to reflect the region’s population, saying such a situation will affect the people in the context of local, regional, national and global politics where the population is power.

He said: “We want the people to show their determination by using their votes to determine their future. We want the people to use their votes to raise political consciousness.

“We want the Western Region to overwhelm the rest of the country through massive participation in any electoral process.”

Also, former General Secretary of Afenifere, Ayo Opadokun, stated that a fundamental matter for the younger generation to consider, request and insist upon when aspirants approach them is to know their (aspirants) stance on the Yoruba agenda.

“The aspirants who will certainly visit you to canvass your votes are most likely going to attempt their usual manipulative pastimes. They will offer inducements to your colleagues for them to play the spoiler’s game. They will also make attempts at blackmailing some of you with different subterfuge as being against their rival aspirants.

“Moreover, in their desperation, they may hire agents of violence, but you must resolve to unify your ranks and speak authoritatively as ‘Omoluabi.’ You must be found emulating your credible forebears who served the people meritoriously without building empires for themselves or turning themselves into money merchants through dubious means,” he advised as most political merchants and operators have done for decades now.”
ALSO, a professor in the Department of History, University of Ibadan, Olutayo Adesina, who spoke on “2023: Challenges and Prospects of Democracy and Electoral Fortunes in the South-West,” said the region’s grand strategy should be driven by a philosophy known as SMART.

He said SMART is the acronym for: Structure Moment of Articulation, Reinvention and Talent.