About 120 Yoruba groups, community-based and civil society associations will meet in Lagos next week to take a common position on the presidential candidate to support in the 2023 general elections.
The groups under the banner of All Yoruba Democratic Movements (AYDM) include Network for Yoruba Alliance (NEYA), Oodua People’s Congress (OPC New Era), Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), South West Professional Forum (SOWROF), Agbekoya Solidarity, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC Reformed), South West Progressive Women Coalition, Ibile, and South West Hunters Union.
Others are ANACOWA, representing Okada riders union in the South West, Itsekiri Progressive Youth Forum, Covenant Group (CG), Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), representing mechanics in the South West, Oodua Association of Bricklayers, Oodua Nationalist Congress (ONAC), Egbe Majemu Titun, Association of the Physically Challenged in the South West, Traders and several artisan associations spread across the old Western region.
The groups in a statement issued, Wednesday, signed by its General Secretary, Mr Popoola Ajayi, said the meeting will be the largest gathering of Pan Yoruba groups in recent times.
The meeting is expected to hold for two days, the first day being for leaders of coalition members, where the 2023 election will be thoroughly debated while the second day is for the general congress, expected to draw close to 2,000 delegates.
Leaders of Yoruba associations in South East and Northern Nigeria, plus those in Ivory Coast and in the West Coast are expected at the occasion, according to Ajayi who disclosed the theme of the conference as “2023: Which Way for Yoruba People and the Old Western Region?”
