There are indications that there is ongoing rift among the pioneer executives members of the Yoruba World Congress (YWC) lead by Prof. Banji Akintoye, YWC is an umbrella body of about 100 Yoruba socio-cultural groups in Nigeria and the Diaspora. In a letter addressed to Akintoye, Deji Osibogun said he considered it worthy of quitting as the group’s Organizing Secretary to pave the way for others to contribute their quota to the development of Yoruba Land.
The letter read, “I hereby tender my letter of resignation as the Organising Secretary of Yoruba World Congress. I am positive that in the inner recess of your mind and conscience you will agree that this is a positive decision taken to allow me to continue to contribute to the progress of Yoruba land. “After working for the establishment of Yoruba World Congress and your emergence as its Leader, I think it is time to move on and allow others to play their part.
“Be rest assured that I will continue to contribute my quota to the emergence of the Yoruba Nation. Once again, I thank you for the opportunity of working with you; it has been a lifetime learning experience. Please accept the best of my wishes to you and your wonderful wife and family.” However, diverse reactions continue to trail the resignation, some are of the opinion that people were particularly uncomfortable over the fact that the Congress leadership, including Akintoye, Chief Tola Adeniyi, Amos Akingba and others, chose to remain silent and accepted Osibogun’s resignation with little or no effort to convince him to rescind his decision, despite his enormous contributions to the group.
Another insinuation is that the YWC rank and file have been infiltrated by influential politicians, especially those in All Progressives Congress (APC), ahead of the 2023 elections, which Osibogun and others considered a derailment from the original objectives of the group.
