Ilorin — Former Minister of Works under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, at the weekend faulted the manner in which the leader of Yoruba emerged recently, saying the Yoruba had jettisoned the culture through which Yoruba leadership emerged in the past.

Adebayo who spoke with newsmen in his country home , Oke-Onigbin, Isin Local Government Council Area of Kwara State said: "It is not wealth or age that determines who becomes the leader of the Yoruba. The leader emerges and wealth or age is not the parameter."

According to him, "What is killing our politics is being introduced to the matter of Yoruba leadership. This will spell doom for us unless we nip the situation in the bud."

He said that, the process of assuming leadership of the Yoruba had been that the leader naturally emerges while the criteria needed was consistent commitment to the cause of the Yoruba.

Adebayo who also served as minister of Communications during the regime of President Obasanjo added: "When Papa Awo emerged the Yoruba leader, he was neither the wealthiest nor the oldest. Even among those in his age category , he was not the oldest. In fact, Papa Ajasin was older than he was ".

The former governor of Kwara State under the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) stressed that as a witness to the processes by which the last two successors of Awolowo emerged, he was saddened by the present situation, saying the situation undermined cherishable values in the process of emergence of the leader.

He noted: "The dimension we are witnessing now saddens me. I was there when Papa Ajasin emerged the leader. I was also there when Papa Adesanya emerged. They emerged in the light of a situation that is not dirty unlike what we are witnessing now."

Adebayo who denied interest in the leadership seat however advised that in order to have a leader that would enjoy wide acceptance, parameters irrelevant to criteria and processes of emergence of the leader should not be relied on.

He also said that he remained a non-member of any of the existing political parties since inception of this democratic dispensation because, according to him, the parties are not organised in line with the ideals he is used to.