$1.2billion arms deal: Return your shares now – Agoro to beneficiaries
By; Bayo Akamo, Ibadan.
The Patriarch of Aladura Churches worldwide and the Owatapa of Itapa, Dr. Olapade Agoro has advised beneficiaries of the $1.2billion arms deal especially Yoruba sons and daughters to immediately refund their shares or face sanctions.
Dr Agoro who handed down the warning in Ibadan during a chat with journalists on the state of the nation also lauded Governor Abiola Ajimobi on the peaceful resolution of the crisis over the recent elevation of 9 Ibadan High Chiefs by the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade.
According to Dr Agoro, the time has come for the beneficiaries to without wasting time return the fund illegally acquired before the tensed-up masses descend on them. He said “Yorubas are called Omoluabis, in the days of our forefathers, stealing was an abhorrence, talk less of being involved in large scale fraud”.
“This is the view the Yoruba elders indicted in the Dasuki arms scandal should view their fathers’ name and do the right thing expected of them. The fact that a lot of the names mentioned are not only elder statesmen but are expected to be symbols of honour carriage to the youths of Yorubaland is a source of worry and concern to some of us. Money will go, but, Yoruba will never forget evils done by them. In the days of our forefathers, once the elderly were caught in the mess, they did the right thing-committing suicide, giving them peaceful death,” he said.
The Owatapa stressed that “the fact that some of them are High Chiefs in Yorubaland demands of them abeyance of the Omoluabi tenet” adding that, the ongoing anti-corruption war being fought by President Muhammadu Buhari led administration was not only laudable but God-fearing induced for those highly placed personalities being named to be ashamed of themselves.
Speaking further on the tenet of Omoluabi, Dr Agoro commended the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi on the resolution of the crisis generated by the elevation of the Ibadan High Chiefs early in the year, pointing out that the approach of the governor was the Omoluabi way of ensuring peace and harmony in the society.
“It becomes noteworthy that the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, despite having been wronged still bent low and subject himself to the will of the people, granting approval to the elevation of Ibadan High Chiefs. This is the hallmark honour expected of elder statesmen. What the governor did through the intervention of the Elders’ Council was the Omoluabi way our people ensure that peace and harmony reign in the society”.
Dr Agoro maintained that there was never a time he scolded Governor Ajimobi on the Ibadan chieftaincy matter, saying, “I am not an Ibadan indigene,I am a traditional ruler in Osun State though with friends in Ibadan. So, I have no business in meddling into Ibadan chieftaincy matter”.
