The campaign for Yoruba self determination did not start with Tinubu. The campaign is agelong. As far back as late 1958,the Yoruba leadership demanded for the “secession clause” to be included in the then proposed 1960 constitution. As early as 1994 December, the first Yoruba self determination group was launched in December at Ile Ife There are about 26 Yoruba self determination groups in Yorubaland. For the fact that they do not issue statements does not mean that they do not exist or that they are not active.
President BUHARI was elected as President but he is not the only political force that will determine the future of Nigeria or the furure of Yoruba people. It is the people that will pave the pathway they wish to trudge. I stand to be corrected, but I think the most formidable people-driven movement in Yorubaland today is the self determination groups. OPC and others have their flaws, like all of us including NLC, but I give these children of the poorest of the poor credit for being able to organise themselves into millions of cells irrespective of their lack of education and exposure. Perhaps some students will do their research on OPC now or in the future.
If there is an internal attack on Yorubaland today, those that will bare their chests are not journalists like me, but OPC. The group has dark spots but there is no cloud without silver linen. I credit them for providing security for many Yoruba individuals, communities and corporate institutions which they do till date. In the area I live in Lagos, OPC is the security shield against armed robbers all night. They are paid peanuts. When Gani Adams meets Obasanjo, he is a sell out, but when a top Afenifere or APC official meets Obasanjo, it is “political strategy”. If OPC failed to curb Ijaw militants, in what way have we invested in the organisation to expect it to perform wonders except we constantly deride them?
The military has clamped down on Ijaw militants in Ikorodu, but how many arrests have been made inspite of the bombing? Do we have the record of innocent Yoruba people killed during the airforce raid and not a single Ijaw has been brought before the law court on after the airforce raid and killings? It is so in many areas of Lagos and Ibadan. They are not career politicians and infact many of them have no financial means like active members of political parties, but they are a force nevertheless. Thy may have gone astray, but also It is not all their fault that the society does not know how best to make use of them in all instances. Yoruba as a nation can emerged. History of mankind is so complex to be predicted through mere speculations in the classrooms.
No one ever thought the Soviet Union would collapse. The best professors of Politics in Ethiopia did not see the possibility of Eritrea emerging neither did they give East Timor, less than 2 million people, a chance of emerging from a brutal Indonesia of 220million people with one of the world’s most cruel military might. If the Yoruba people today decide to have their own sovereign state, they can, once the will and the vigour is present and I don’t think any force on earth will be able to stop them.
The intra and inter-class conflict, the naked show of wealth by thieving politicians, the lack of hope in a desparing society and the arrogance of those who are expected to listen to common sense are all pointers to unexpected possibilities in a country that has not known peace but misery since it’s forceful 1914 amalgamation.
Credit: Adewale Adeoye, Ekiti Forum