Prof Banji Akintoye, the leader and chairman of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide (IOOW) has withdrawn his resignation letter from the leadership of the group and returned to office.
This was contained in a statement issued and made available to our newsmen on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that the leadership of the organisation has been engulfed in crisis in the last couple of weeks over allegations of fraud and embezzlement, which led to the resignation of the immediate leader and chairman, Wale Adeniran.
Adeniran said he resigned to allow a thorough investigation into the allegation and called on Yoruba elders to set up a committee for that purpose.
Some of the concerned leaders, however, issued a statement rejecting the resignation letters of both Akintoye and Adeniran respectively.
Akintoye wrote in his letter:
“Three weeks ago, I wrote to inform Ilana Omo Oduduwa that I was resigning from my leadership position in the organisation. I made it clear that my resignation was due only to the need for me at my advanced age to trim off my responsibilities in Ilana to devote my energies to pressing challenges in the higher spheres of our Yoruba self-determination struggle.
“Since then, I have received, from all sections of Ilana, messages or letters rejecting my resignation and urging me to continue to make the sacrifice of leading Ilana. In the past week, I have been visited for the same purpose by leading persons representing the Elders Advisory Council, the Ilana Secretariat, and the two formerly differing sections of Ilana.
“I have also had the honour of being visited by Peter Bamgbade who is recognised in the whole Yoruba nation as a major influence for reconciliation and harmony among Yoruba people.
“I hereby give up my earlier resignation decision, and announce my return to my leadership position and role in Ilana.
“As I now return, I expect cooperation, mutual respect, brotherliness and disciplined conduct from all our members at home and in the Diaspora. As a disciplined self-determination organisation crucial to the realisation of our collective resolve to exit the contraption called Nigeria, there is an immediate need to harmonise and unify all the tendencies in IOOW.
“I hereby use this opportunity to announce the dissolution of all IOOW factions largely brought about by infiltration of our rank and file by adversaries within and without.”