Wale Adeniran’s vituperations – A Response By George O. Akinola (Full text)

Once again, another bombshell dropped from the stable of Ilana Omo Oodua, written by columnist Bola Bolawole and quoting copiously from a rejoinder by the homeland chairman of Ilana Omo Oodua, Dr. Wale Adeniran, to an earlier article written by Bola Bolawole himself.

In the said article, Bola Bolawole wrote, “While I was putting finishing touches to weaving this cacophony of voices into one whole piece, a rejoinder came from Dr. Wale Adeniran, the National Chairman of Ilana Omo Oodua, acting on behalf of himself and Prof. Akintoye. In the best tradition of the journalism profession, I felt the compelling need for us to hear from the horse’s mouth, as it were. But since this is a running story, other reactions may still have their day as events unfold.”

One would have thought that, as the writer himself said, in the best tradition of the journalism profession, he would have conducted a thorough investigation of both sides of the story before
going to press with a very one sided, seemingly partial exposition of the side that he favours in this unfolding imbroglio.

Ordinarily, I would not have bothered to countenance these virulent statements, but since the pungent piece bothered on character assassination and defamation, I have to respond.

Since my name (and those of a few others) was repeatedly mentioned in Dr. Adeniran’s piece, the least Mr. Bola Bolawole could have done, if he was not executing a hatchet job for some
principals, is to call me up and request for my own side of the story. He has my telephone number. But since that never happened, I owe the public and myself this response to clear all
cobwebs woven with malevolent intent and put all issues in their proper perspectives.

For clarity, and better understanding by the public, I shall respond to the points as they were raised by Dr. Adeniran:

1. “For instance, George Akinola and Sade Olukoya in their desperate bid to malign the Alana (Prof. Banji Akintoye) and justify their treacherous behaviour, falsely accused him of financial impropriety.”

For the records, what do I gain from maligning Prof. Banji Akintoye? I played a very prominent role in promoting his ascendancy to Yoruba leadership and in sustaining and defending him, even when the storms were raging around him. It was Prof. Akintoye’s intolerance of criticism and lack of openness and accountability that eventually frustrated all of us out of Ilana. He kept using proxies to undermine and fight us until we honourably resigned. When the leader has a fall out with five members of a nine member executive council, you have to examine yourself and your conduct. And we should note that this is not the first, second or third time this scenario would repeat itself around Prof. Banji Akintoye. And it is not likely to be the last. It is fast becoming a recurring decimal! A leader prone to crisis is a danger to a revolutionary struggle.

2. Ilana Omo Oodua never held any account, to the best of my knowledge. The account being referred to by Dr. Adeniran was in existence long before Ilana Omo Oodua came into being, and it was opened for a completely different purpose by some of us in the self-determination struggle. It shows how little Adeniran knows about the history of the struggle to commit this faux pas! Prof. Akintoye’s request for some funds to be sent into that account was resisted for the simple reason that it would confuse accounts, and disrupt the main purpose of operating this said account. We advised Ilana to open a fresh account on its own, but we were prevailed upon to accommodate the group until that could be perfected. Later, Baba Akintoye requested for the account to be converted totally for the use of the organization with Adeniran as the lead signatory. Of course, that meant a complete compromise of the original intent of the account, which would ultimately expose our flanks, as it is doing now. Again, my argument against it was cast aside and I was asked to get the form for Adeniran to fill. I took this form to Ile-Ife, but for whatever reason best known to him, it took Adeniran weeks to fill and return a simple form. He took the form along with him to Republic of Benin. I requested for it when we went over to Cotonou on a visit, but he gave another nebulous excuse not to hand it over for processing by the bank. He wrote that I did not wait for him to fill the form. Is it that difficult a task to fill a form? Till date, the form is still with him, since June.

3. Dr. Wale Adeniran is definitely being economical with the truth and openly mischievous if he says that only I, as principal signatory, knew how much money went into the bank account, how much money was withdrawn and for what purpose. Regularly, on a bi-monthly or monthly basis, I was rendering ALL accounts in my possession to the organization. A copy of this was regularly sent by e-mail to:

a. Prof. Banji Akintoye, as the leader and chief accounting officer of the organization;
b. Otunba Folasade Olukoya, as the treasurer, and
c. Dr. Akin Adejuwon, a long standing associate of Dr. Adeniran, as my witness. It was as if I knew this day would come!

Accounts were rendered in detail to these three destinations on twelve major occasions as stated below. Whoever is desirous to cross-check my submissions may please contact any of the three of them for corroboration or rebuttal:
1. 16-03-21 2020 YORUBA NATIONAL DAY
2. 29-03-21 RALLY AGAINST TERRORISM(ABTD)
3. 15-04-21 IBADAN MEGA RALLY
4. 05-05-21 ABEOKUTA MEGA RALLY
5. 20-05-21 OSOGBO RALLY STORM
6. 15-06-21 ILANA ACCTS TO DATE
7. 16-06-21 AKURE HURRICANE RALLY
8. 16-06-21 EKITI TORNADO RALLY
9. 17-07-21 ILANA ACCTS / LAGOS RALLY
10. 31-07-21 ILANA ACCTS TO DATE
11. 20-08-21 ILANA ACCTS TO DATE
12. 15-10-21 ILANA ACCTS TO DATE

4. We must not be oblivious of the fact that funds came to other members of the organization, including Prof. Banji Akintoye, Dr. Wale Adeniran and the others, from known and unknown sources, but to the best of my knowledge, I remain the only member of the executive to regularly submit, in detail, accounts of money that passed through my hands to the above mentioned officers. If any other person did, they should so declare!

5. All monies sent to the account by Ms. Sola Salako, the erstwhile Diaspora Secretary, are all reported in the regular account statements sent to Prof. Banji Akintoye, Otunba Folasade Olukoya and Dr. Akin Adejuwon. You may please corroborate or refute this by a more responsible investigative journalism. If money was sent directly to Otunba Folasade Olukoya, it was not to my knowledge. She is at liberty to render such accounts.

6. “Neither Olukoya nor Akinola deemed it fit to inform Prof. Akintoye or my humble self as IOO’s chairman that they received money to buy relief materials for Igangan victims of Fulani attacks in August of this year.”

I was invited by Asiwaju Mayungbe, the leader of Yoruba for Self Preservation, and Otunba Olukoya to accompany them to Igangan to donate some relief materials to the victims of the Fulani attacks. That to me was a worthy cause. How they sourced their funds was not known to me, neither did I pry. However, if part of the funds was sent by the Diaspora Secretary, I was not aware until months later when I received a brief statement of account on deployments from Ms. Sola Salako. I had constantly advised her to send dashboard display of incomes and outgoings to the executive committee. Both officers are at liberty to render such accounts. I cannot render what I know nothing about.

7. “To date, Akinola has not deemed it fit to hand over the account of Ilana back to the organization.”

As I wrote at the beginning of this treatise, this account does not belong to Ilana Omo Oodua, neither was it opened for this purpose. It was opened long before Ilana came to be. The last balance is as recorded in the statements. It is depleted. The account will now revert to the original purpose for which it was opened.

8. Dr. Wale Adeniran has openly confessed in his own writing that money was sent to him and Prof. Banji Akintoye via his personal account, anytime they solicited for funds. Were these on behalf of the organization or on private basis? If they were on behalf of the organization, which am sure most were (who knew Dr. Adeniran before the commencement of the Yoruba Nation agitation to be sending money regularly to him, anyway?) then where are the accounts of the receipt of such funds, and how were they deployed? Was the Treasurer and Financial Secretary of the organization made aware? I doubt it. All these go to support my original allegation, as contained in my notice of resignation, of financial impropriety and lack of accountability. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Everybody must render accounts of funds received. That’s all we ask!

9. “The only official vehicle belonging to Ilana was a gift from a well-meaning Yoruba patriot from the diaspora. Akinola took possession of the vehicle without even reporting the donation to Prof. Akintoye. He is still holding on to the vehicle. There are other items that belong to Ilana which Akinola is still holding on to.”

This is endless mischief at play again.

The real story revolved around one of my contacts, who upon watching on social media the series of journeys I had to embark upon before, during and after the major rallies, called me to ask how we were transiting such great distances, and with whose vehicle. When I told him I had been using my private vehicles, he was alarmed and concerned that my private assets should not be used to fight a national cause, especially when my private vehicles would ultimately deteriorate beyond repairs, with nobody caring to provide a replacement. He asked me to drop the use of my vehicles in substitution for one he would provide for my use for such purposes.

True to his word, he asked his people to make available two vehicles for two people, one to Dr. Babatunde Aliu (not a member of Ilana Omo Oodua) and the other to myself. He identified that since both of us are frequent travellers on the Oodua Nation quests, we needed to be properly assisted to move. Both vehicles were registered in our individual names. They were given to the
individuals to use for the work of the Yoruba Nation, not to Ilana Omo Oodua. (You may please call up the donor to verify his intentions in this matter).

This however does not preclude, in my view, its use by any one of us, who may so desire it, but parking it at the Ibadan office, or bringing the vehicle to them, as Prof. Akintoye instructed, was
completely out of the question. What would it be doing there? Whose purpose would it be serving there? In fact, we have just concluded a blitzkrieg visitation to all the Amotekun Chairmen and Commanders all over the Southwest to harmonize with them in preparation for the (Intelligence confirmed) imminent invasion of Yorubaland by Jihadists, who have almost completely surrounded Yorubaland, and to ramp up our own security formations, tactics and strategies in all the 158 LGAs of Yorubaland in Nigeria. Is this the time to talk about dropping a vehicle to lie idle somewhere? We seem not to get our priorities right!

All over Yorubaland, people are desperate, despairing and hurting. There is mind boggling despoliation. People want to live their dreams in peace and tranquility, and they look up to government to provide that enabling environment to fulfill their desires and potentials. Since government has woefully failed in this regard, the people have taken it upon themselves to synergize a united community protection architecture that will keep them safe from marauders. This is what gave birth to Amotekun and other similar initiatives.

Our journeys have taken us to places perceived to be areas of threat in Yorubaland.

Oyo State: Igangan, Lanlate, Ibadan, Ona-Ara LG, Oyebode, Akinyele, Ido, Idi-Ayure, Ijebu – Ibadan Road, Ogbomoso, Awe and Oyo.
To Ondo State: Akure, Okitipupa, Idanre, Ikare, Oke-Agbe, Edo Boundary Reserve, Asabora, Alagido, Ala, Ago Oyinbo, Owo, Ifon, Ajagbusin, Ido Ani, Idogun, Ibilo, Supare reserve, Akunnu,
Ise, Ayere, Ijagba, Ajowa to Omuo, Ago Ogodo, Ogbese, Ago Dada, Ijare, Irese, Aponmu, Owena, Ala Elefosan, Ajagbusin, Alago via Agobo, Omi Oniyan, Onisara to Mogbemi, Okitipupa, Ayetoro, Wasinmi, Ilu-titun, Mahin, Foiku and Ita-Ogbolu.
To Osun State: Ilesa, Ife, Iwaraja, Ikirun, Iwo, Ifewara, Gbongan, Ikire, Igbajo, Osogbo, Inisa and Imesi-ile.
To Ogun State: Abeokuta, Ilaro, Imeko, Egua in Yewa Axis, Sagamu, Ogere, Ado-Odo, Oja-Odan, Ipokia, Igbogila, Ayetoro, Isanlu, Ajilete, Ogere, Owode, Idi-Iroko and Panseke.
To Ekiti State: Aramoko, Ado-Ekiti, Iworoko, Ise, Emure, Ijero , Omuo, Ileje meje, Ishan, Imojo, Ikere , Iju, Isua, Okemesi, Ido-Faboro, Ilawe and Ilupeju.
To Lagos State: Ibeju- Lekki, Okokomaiko, Mile 12, Agege – Abule Egba, Fagba, Idi-Araba, Ijora, Ikorodu, Badagry and Epe.
To Kogi State: Kabba, Lokoja, Obajana, Iyamoye, Omuo Road, Mopa, Isanlu, Ife-Olukotun axis, Odo-Ape, Okebukun, Oshokoshoko, Oyo, Ayere, Ogidi, Iyara, Ayeh, Illa, Ikke, Ogbagba, Ekita, Oke-Ofin, Aja-Okuta, Ponyon, Amuro and Egbe.
To Kwara State: Ilorin, Jebba /Kambi, Olooru, Oko-Olowo, Offa, Sao, Malete, Omuaran and Ila-Orangun.

Everywhere we went, the story is the same. Helplessness is written on all faces. The people need something to believe in for their protection and safety.

Baba Akintoye, Adeniran and their group were never concerned or bothered about my personal deprivations nor those of my accompanying associates and colleagues on the road in all these journeys for the struggle, but are quick to demand and lay claim to supposed dividends dropping by the wayside. Many times we have had to break journeys and sleep rough or stay till late at night to repair any of our broken down vehicles. The risk is ours. If anything had happened to any of us on such forages, as far as they are concerned, it would have been good riddance!

If they are that desperate they can come for the vehicle; that will in no way stop our commitment nor disturb our continuing itinerary, but I doubt to what use they will put it since most of them are armchair revolutionaries and internet warriors. Daily, they pay lip service to a cause that demands affirmative action.

By the way, Prof. Akintoye was properly and duly carried along as all this was evolving, long before I took delivery of the vehicle. He cannot deny that I personally introduced him to this worthy individual, to whom he and Dr. Adeniran proceeded to malign me to the effect that I collected three computers, in addition, from him and never handed them over to the organisation. The gentleman was aghast as to the quality of the people he was dealing with since he had never, till today, given me any computer! He gave the promise, but it never materialized.

10. “Sometime in September 2021, a donor got a vehicle delivered to Prof. Akintoye and I for our use. It must be stated that we did not request for a vehicle from the donor. Nonetheless, we
thought it was thoughtful of him.”

So, someone donated a vehicle for your personal use? This was never reported to the organization, to the best of my knowledge. That one now does not belong to Ilana, which is okay. But you want the General Secretary to go and drop the one he is using for the work of all Yoruba in your compound. I think by the same token, that vehicle donated to you should be dropped in Ibadan too, to be picked from Ibadan to Cotonou at any time it is needed by the duo of Alana and the chairman.

This situation is similar to the one that evolved around the gift of a brand new Toyota Prado SUV to Baba Akintoye sometime in 2018. Baba said it was a gift from his children, which is alright, but the top echelon of Yoruba World Congress (YWC), at that time, claimed otherwise. They averred that Baba was not saying the truth, to the extent that the vehicle was donated by a politician.
This is the genesis of what eventually split the YWC.

11. Dr. Adeniran has himself stated his involvement with the radio project. How can you, as the chairman of a project, claim ignorance of the final completion sum of a project before ordering
the deployment of funds? Wasn’t there an agreement? What were the terms and delivery mandates? What due diligence was conducted to show there was no underhand dealings?

12. “To state that “Madam Salako was removed (from office) because she wouldn’t keep sending Diaspora money to Akintoye’s personal account…” is nothing short of blatant falsehood. As
earlier affirmed, Prof. Akintoye never requested for money from Salako and neither did he ever receive any from her. I dare anyone making wild and disparaging allegations against Akintoye
and I to provide whatever evidence they have to counter the above affirmation.”

This is the evidence as given by Sola Salako. Upon my incessant requests that she should make her accounts known to the exco, and after much harassment by Prof. Banji Akintoye, on the 6th
of August, 2021, she remitted the sum of 3000 Pounds to him through the account of Barr. Supo Ojo. Bank account statements don’t lie. Further investigative journalism would reveal who is being truthful or who is peddling falsehood. This, however, is not querying whether or not money for the purposes of the organization may not be sent to Prof. Akintoye, but to deny that such was requested for and received smacks of an unholy motive. All we demand are acknowledgement and accountability.

13. “… Therefore, the Alana had no choice but to dissolve the Ilana UK Chapter controlled by Salako and call for fresh elections to elect a new UK Executive Council. It was this action that triggered the wild allegations and tantrums being thrown by Akinola and Olukoya.

“It bears recalling that Akinola had protested angrily against the redeployment of Salako from being the Diaspora Secretary to strictly International Relations. He did say that he regarded the action as an attack against his person and threatened that he would destroy Ilana because of it.”

Weighty issues like the re-deployment or removal of a high ranking officer or the disbandment of a whole national chapter, in this case, that of the United Kingdom, should be exhaustively discussed at the highest organ of the organization before a major decision is reached and agreed. Unless we are running a one man show (as it later proved to be), such decisions should
never be arrived at by dictatorial fiat. This was what I challenged. These decisions were never discussed at exco, nor was I, as the General Secretary, informed or aware. I believe the right
thing to do was to protest this, much to the chagrin of my detractors. Hence I had to do the next honorable thing by resigning.

Since my resignation, it is like Ilana has murdered sleep, and it can sleep no more! What would I gain by destroying Ilana Omo Oodua, as Adeniran is alleging? I have since moved on. There are
more important things to do in the service of Yorubaland to free us from the Nigerian bondage into which we unwittingly weaved ourselves. Ilana is destroying itself with all these wild allegations and campaign of calumny against its perceived enemies. I am not one of those enemies. Ilana has already hit the button to accelerated self-destruction when it left the leprosy
on its own skin to cure the ringworm on others.

First it was a screaming headline that some people have collected N350 million from Abuja, with my name included. When this shameful propaganda refused to sell, they have resorted to other
perceptibly silly tactics like all these raggedy statements by Adeniran. It should be an eye opener to the perceptive public that something is wrong somewhere if Prof. Banji Akintoye, rather than
calling his attack dogs to order on such a wild and criminal allegation that some people collected N350m from Osinbajo, had gone out to corroborate it and grant it credibility by lending the mentally deranged purveyor his name. Very sad! We should never make the mistake of importing such character traits of decadent Nigeria into our aspiring new Yoruba Nation. I was completely left horrified when Baba said Abuja was trying to get at him by bribing his lieutenants with N350m! Ki la gbe, Ki la ju?

This tendency is reminiscent of the persecution my office as General Secretary endured for all the time I served. Baba was reluctant to have me there, and it was evident from the very beginning. He felt threated by my track record, reputation and commitment to the struggle, just as he was uncomfortable with Dr. Amos Akingba, Akogun Tola Adeniyi, Otunba Deji Osibogun and Comrade Victor Taiwo before me. My office was not helped nor empowered in any way.

Whatever we achieved were by dint of hard work, commitment and personal sacrifice. It was in the bid to further frustrate me that they said I should drop all equipment (e.g. the car) at
my disposal. These are equipment that they never sourced for, worked to procure or hoped to use for the benefit of our people.

14. This piece would not be complete without touching on the point of the ambition of Dr. Wale Adeniran to be the next Alana. When the constitution of the new Ilana Omo Oodua was being
drawn, the draft had no position for a Chairman as it was considered that Baba Akintoye would serve well there. The position of Chairman was surreptitiously smuggled into the final document by Prof. Banji Akintoye, to accommodate Adeniran, without the benefit of the exhaustive debate that produced the rest of the document. What transpired between Prof. Akintoye and Dr. Adeniran, to culminate in that coup, remains in the realms of conjecture. However, subsequent actions of Adeniran and observations of certain subterranean moves and statements made by him confirm that to be his ultimate goal.

Does he have the character, charisma and intellect to succeed in that endeavor? Only time will tell. During meetings, he had always exhibited edginess and flippancy where calmness and candor would have served. But if anyone loves Akintoye, they should speedily remove him from Benin to anywhere not remotely close to Adeniran, if they desire his longevity. A word is enough for the wise.

I wish them and Ilana Omo Oodua the best of luck in that regard.

Finally, to the writer, Mr. Bolanle Bolawole, who has blatantly condemned me in his write up without even a single call to me to air my own side of the story, I think he could have done
better with some constructive research, investigative journalism and interviews.

One Omoluka, a social media blogger of the Yoruba genre, was challenged after he made the same wild allegations and spurious, cantankerous statements against me on the same matter. I
proceeded to call him the same way I called Bolawole. He has since apologized, but his apology will not be accepted until he has gone on air in the same way he vigorously attacked me on the
same topic he had previously not investigated.

I expect Bola Bolawole to give this rejoinder the same publicity he gave Adeniran’s piece.

Using such words and phrases as “Traitors”, “Disgruntled Elements”, “Selfish”, “Self-serving pecuniary considerations in blatantly destructive gangster style” to describe people and situations you know little or nothing about is a particularly bad advertisement for the brand of great journalism you profess to sell. Being an avid reader of your columns, am particularly embarrassed that this could be the kind of gobbledygook that I had been consuming all these years.

Beyond all these, I have no more comment to make on the Ilana matter. I am too busy to engage in frivolities and comments of the absurd. Anyone who has anything to prove should join us on the field, where Yoruba Lives Matter, not bantering on irrelevances that do not in any way help to liberate Yoruba from the shackles of slavery holding our limbs down!

Thank you,
Arc. George O. Akinola