Chairman of the Yoruba Obas Conflict Resolution Committee, Oba Obateru Akinruntan, has said Nigerians should not think that former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and the incumbent, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, are enemies.
Speaking after a meeting of the committee members in Ibadan yesterday, he disclosed that the duo would resolve their differences.
Checks by Daily Sun revealed that many Nigerians believed that Obasanjo, who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) earlier this week and Jonathan, who is the PDP presidential candidate for this year’s general elections had fallen apart.
Akinruntan, the Okoro Agija 1, who is the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom in Ondo State, noted that Obasanjo and Jonathan knew how to settle their differences, adding that the committee wanted peaceful conduct of this year’s general elections.
“We don’t dabble into politics. They (Obasanjo and Jonathan) have been friends for ages. They would settle themselves. If you see them fighting on pages of newspapers, it doesn’t mean they are enemies. If any of them has any event now, don’t be surprised to see them turning up,” he said.
The meeting was attended by the Oluyari of Iyari in Ondo State, Oba Daodu Joel Sunday; the Jowe of Irukorogha in Ondo State, Oba Matthew Olasheinde; Gbaluwe of Igbotan Kingdom, Oba Ajayi Adeniyi; Sabigana of Iganna in Oyo State, Oba Saliu Oyemonla Azeez; and Oba Sikirulahi Adelani from Ogun State.
The monarch also spoke on the efforts of the committee in resolving conflicts among Yoruba Obas, adding that the provocative utterances that could lead to feud among the traditional rulers had been checked.
Akinruntan noted that the committee had been having separate meetings with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade Olubuse II, towards resolving the feud between the two Yoruba monarchs.
He said the efforts had been yielding fruitful results. The two monarchs, he stated, hardly launched verbal attacks against each other like before.