By Kayode Emola
We may recall that the renewed call for Oduduwa/Yoruba self-determination struggle started in earnest around 2018, a few years after Buhari was first sworn in as President. At that time, it was clear that every indigenous nationality in Nigeria apart from the Fulani was in hot soup. The times then called for patience, resilience, and understanding of the period in order to navigate the choppy waters.
Whilst I believe a radicalist like Buhari may never hold such a position of power in Nigeria again, it is prudent to begin the preparation for Yoruba exit from Nigeria in earnest. One may ask what have we been doing since 2018 and why is the Yoruba nation not established yet? To be honest, all we have been doing is window dressing and not really digging down to the needful activities that will get us to the finish line. We have merely been noise makers who are happy in his/her own voice.
To be a truly radicalist movement ready to take Yoruba country out of Nigeria, we must be ready to do at least the basic necessary things to help us advance our cause. We must be ready to identify for whom are we fighting this struggle, have we really educated them enough, have we really sought their consent, or have we really identified the necessary ingredients for a freedom struggle?
To date, many of our engagements have been virtual Zoom meetings, and insulting each other at the slightest provocation. It is as if we went to university to learn how to insult people and how to derail a movement. All these are a sign of a people who do not understand the rudiments of a struggle and are just in the struggle to test their relevance.
In the history of struggles, we recall how Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) organised a million-man march in solidarity with the sufferings of African Americans. He didn’t stop there as he believed black people needed to be financially independent from the white-dominated societies, in which they find themselves.
He created several businesses for his movement such as factories, newspapers, shipping, passenger company, etc just to mention a few in order to generate funds. These investments were used to finance the activities of the movement until his trial, detention, and deportation back to Jamaica. The same model was adopted by the Nation of Islam (NOI) under Malcolm X Shabazz in the 1960s.
In the case of Brother Malcolm, he helped a lot of African Americans establish businesses in Harlem, New York, and went as far as establishing their own bank that supported black businesses in America. His life was tragically cut short before he could realise his dream of an independent black country outside of America.
In the two examples above, we would see that there was a pattern, their engagement with their communities was paramount, and they established businesses to raise revenues. They operated a system that ensure their messages were passed to millions and several others outside their communities.
On the other hand, our Yoruba freedom movement has been primarily dependent on the benevolence of very few individuals. It is these same individuals who themselves are relied upon to make necessary financial contributions in order to send the messages of our Yoruba exit to our people back home and to the international community.
This method of fundraising has significantly hampered our activities and made things feel as if we’re at a standstill in most cases. As much as we have made progress, it is not the one that we would have desired. Nonetheless, it is not one that should make us quit, it is one that should galvanise us into action for the soul of our nation.
Going forward, we need to re-strategise and come up with a formidable formula for constructive engagement with the Nigerian government, our own people, and the international community. This is the first step in planning and the necessary ingredient if we must win this freedom struggle. We cannot rely on just a few individuals to make the financial contribution needed and think that would be enough to get us anywhere.
We must also begin to use this opportunity that a Yoruba man is the President of Nigeria to advocate for meaningful changes to the Nigerian constitution that would push us closer to our exit from Nigeria. We must ensure that Yoruba land and every other region becomes autonomous in this dispensation thus making Nigeria undesirable to the Fulani hegemony. This would ensure the quick dissolution of the country Nigeria.
I will implore our Yoruba people both home and abroad to not relent at this time as this is the time for serious planning. It is the time to take stock of where we are and where we are going. In everything that we do, we must realise that Nigeria is not a home for the Yoruba people and we must do everything within our power to get out at the earliest opportunity.
