Under the banner of the Yoruba Obas Forum, a group of traditional leaders from the South West and Yoruba-speaking areas of the North Central geopolitical zones have demanded constitutional roles from President-elect Bola Tinubu for royal fathers.
The request was made by the royal fathers in their letter of congratulations for Tinubu's victory in the most recent presidential election.
The forum's administrator, the Elerinmo of Erinmo, Oba Michael Ajayi, the Molokun of Atijere, Oba Samuel Adeoye, the president, and its general secretary, the Olukotun of Ikotun-Ile, Oba Abdulrasaq Abioye, all signed the statement.
The monarchs urged the president-elect to be gracious in his triumph by forming a government of national unity and urged the other unsuccessful presidential aspirants to assist Tinubu in the quick growth of the nation.
A part of the statement stated, “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.”
