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| Akinrinade |
Former Chief of
Defence Staff, General Alani Akinrinade (rtd), will lead eminent Nigerians to
Agip Hall, MUSON Centre, Lagos on Thursday, April 17 for the public
presentation of a book, ‘The Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in
Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency’.
Written by Dr.
Wale Adebanwi, and published recently by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
(UK and New York, USA), the book is a definitive text on the political movement
and parties led by the sage and premier of the Western Region.
Joining
Akinrinade, the chair of the presentation is National Leader of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the chief presenter;
Chief Awolowo’s ‘Jewel of Inestimable Value’, Mama HID Awolowo as
the mother of the day and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade as the father
of the day.
The host
governors are Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun
State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and Babatunde Raji Fashola of
Lagos.
The special
guests of honour include Governors Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Segun Mimiko of
Ondo, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa,
Rochas Okorocha of Imo and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano.
The guests of
honour are Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi,
General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Segun Osoba, Chief Olu Falae, Alhaji Lateef Jakande,
and Otunba Niyi Adebayo.
Executive Editor
of TheNews, Kunle Ajibade, is the book reviewer while Deputy Editor-in-Chief of
TELL Magazine, Demola Oyinlola, will be the MC.
The Afenifere
Renewal Group (ARG) and the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Lagos, are the joint
hosts of the presentation ceremony which commences at 11am prompt.
“The Yoruba
Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency’
investigates the dynamics and challenges of ethnicity and elite politics in
Nigeria. It is the first authoritative, scholarly book on the
political elite of one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. In its
examination of how Chief Awólowọ re-made Yorùbá history in modern
times, the book combines the perspectives and disciplinary methods of
anthropology, historical sociology and political science.
Adebanwi,
who was a public affairs journalist in Nigeria for many years but is now an
Associate Professor at the University of California-Davis, USA, demonstrates
how the corporate agency of the elite transformed the modern history and
politics of the Yorùbá. The argument is organized around the ideas and
cultural representations of Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ, the central signifier of
modern Yorùbá culture. Through the narration and analysis of material,
non-material and interactional phenomena – such as political party and ethnic
group organization, cultural politics, democratic struggle, personal ambitions,
group solidarity, death, memory and commemoration – the book examines the
foundations of the legitimacy of the Yorùbá political elite.
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