Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja

The Pro National Conference Organisations on Wednesday said the decision reached at a national conference it organised between 2005 and 2006 was that whoever is the leader of the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, is the leader of the Yorubas.

The group’s spokesman, Olawale Okunniyi, said this in a statement made available to our correspondent.

He was reacting to the reported emergence of Adebanji Akintoye as the new Yoruba leader.

Akintoye was said to have been adopted as the fourth Yoruba leader coming after late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Pa Adekunle Ajasin and Senator Abraham Adesanya, at an event in Ibadan on Wednesday.

But Okunniyi said Akintoye’s emergence was contrary to that agreement which he said still subsisted.

He, however, said PRONACO would watch how event unfolds to gauge the mood of the people and Yoruba leaders on the development.

He said, “The Pro National Conference Organisations is a pan-Nigerian movement initiated by late Chief Anthony Enahoro and Prof Wole Soyinka as the sole umbrella for all ethnic nationality platforms seeking and organising for a democratic people’s Constitution for Nigeria.

“Our position is that our record still clearly shows the assertion of Yoruba delegation at the Peoples’ National Convention organised by PRONACO between 2005 and 2006 was that whoever is the leader of Afenifere is the undisputed leader of the Yorubas.

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“So, until a contrary memorandum signed by not less than 12 respected elders of the Yoruba nation is presented to the national secretariat of PRONACO, the resolution of the Yorubas at the PRONACO national convention subsists with us.

“However, we shall watch keenly how event unfolds in succeeding days to gauge the mood of the people and leaders of the Yoruba nation about this uncertain development.”