Under the banner of the Yoruba Obas Forum, a group of traditional leaders from the South West and Yoruba-speaking regions of the North Central geopolitical zones have asked that President-elect Bola Tinubu recognize the constitutional roles of royal fathers.
In their letter of congratulations for Tinubu’s victory in the most recent presidential election, the royal fathers made the demand.
The forum’s administrator, the Elerinmo of Erinmo, Oba Michael Ajayi, its president, the Molokun of Atijere, Oba Samuel Adeoye, and its general secretary, the Olukotun of Ikotun-Ile, Oba Abdulrasaq Abioye, all signed the statement.
The monarchs urged the president-elect to establish a government of national unity and to be gracious in triumph while urging other unsuccessful presidential contenders to support Tinubu for speedy development of the country.
The statement read in parts, “We call on those who lost in the elections to accept the outcome in good faith, put any differences aside and join hands with the winners for the overall benefit of the country.
“We commend President Buhari, the Chairman of INEC, (Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu) for their steadfastness in ensuring a fairly good election where many lost their strongholds. Democracy is a journey, not a destination.
“We Yoruba Obas also want to call on the president-elect to consider giving constitutional roles to traditional rulers in the country which we believe would go a long way to bring the dividends of democracy closer to the rural areas and also curb insecurity in the country as we are the Chief Security Officers of our various domains.”
