By joshua 
Ayo Ola.
National Coordinator, The Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM), Comrade Taiwo Otitolaye, has said OLM was not part of any agenda to mobilize for the presidential ambition of anybody.
He also said in a statement on Tuesday that OLM was not part of the 57 Yoruba groups that met in Lagos to mobilise South West for a pro restructuring presidential candidate in 2023.
The meeting was said to have been presided over by a veteran journalist, Mr. Adewale Adeoye.
He was quoted to have said he was invited by the groups to preside over the meeting. Adeoye who said the groups are to meet again in the first quarter of 2022, was quoted to have warned that multiplicity of presidential contenders in Yorubaland will be counter-productive.
He added that the coalition was aware of presidential aspirants like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, and Dr. Kayode Fayemi
The communiqué issued after the meeting was signed by Sunday Akinnuoye, Femi Agbana, and Mrs. Ganiat Toriola.
It was reported that the groups had representation from the O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), Agbekoya, South West Students Coalition (SWSC), Oodua Muslim-Christian Youth Dialogue, (OMCYD), Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM), Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA), Oodua Self Determination Alliance (OSDA), Itsekiri Salvation Front (ISF), Network of South West Vigilante (NSWV), Oodua Hunters Union (OHUN), Yoruba Automobile Technicians Association (YATA-South West), South West Tailors Union (SWTU), South West Professionals (SOWPROF), Covenant Group and several civil rights groups based in the South West among others.
But Otitolaye said his group, OLM, was not part of the meeting.
His statement was titled, “57 groups’ meeting on Tinubu, Fayemi, and Osinbajo: Count OLM out.”
The statement read: “As an ideological Yoruba Self-determination movement that has played a prominent role in a true Yoruba Autonomy, we hold it Sacrosanct, to key into the larger Yoruba interest not the ambitions of individuals that have dragged us behind; placing self-interest over the race.
“The OLM is pained by the setbacks recorded in our collective Struggles during the military era, and shortly after the military dis-engaged.
“The OLM was part of the historic achievements in the creation of the Oodua Development Council (ODC), under the late Yoruba leader, Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya, and other leaders.
“The ODC had several developmental thematic commissions that were to drive development in Yorubaland, and among the YORUBA worldwide. It was during that period that Pan Yoruba Congress was put in place. Yoruba from the Diasporas (Benin Republic, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, United States, etc) attended the congresses that were held.
“Specifically, our late Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman, Baba Omojola was instrumental to these achievements.
“Under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the great nation builder, the Yoruba were the pride of Africa. These progress are long gone. The Nigerian project has not eroded our past, the future is bleak under the present arrangements.
“Our farmlands and agriculture which was our base for livelihoods and development are on the extinct, our youth have no hope. Go to the villages, and see what the women and people go through. It’s a pathetic situation.
“All sections of the country are in rumpuses. Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Benue, the Eastern states, South West and other areas.”
It added, “The OLM is in line with the Yoruba Struggle for autonomy. Our politicians have failed us, the Nigerian system has failed us; we cannot continue in a rigmarole Political Journey that leads nowhere. Under the present structure, 2023 is a MIRAGE. It will only bring more chaos.
“Therefore, Support for any of the three personalities are short-sighted and at variance with the larger Yoruba interest.
“The OLM will only be available for an inclusive Yoruba consultation to design a collective pathway.
“Igbaradi L’oogun.”