By Kayode Emola
Following from our last’ week’s evaluation on how we, the Yoruba people, have found ourselves trapped in this bubble called Nigeria, it is worth exploring ways on which we can get out. There is an adage which says, “where there is a will, there is a way”. Maybe we are still in Nigeria because a lot of us have not got the will to get out of this mess we have find ourselves.
Until the majority of us find that will or are persuaded to believe that the will to get out of this mess is there, we may be on this mountain for a very long time. Sometimes I wonder what the Israelites were doing in the wilderness in the biblical time when they failed to take on the Canaan land God had promised them.
Is it that they became too comfortable in the wilderness with their daily portion of manna or that the will to go ahead was lost somehow. Is that the same problem we the Yoruba people are facing? If at all, the Yoruba people are not ready, what about the Igbo people that are also not more motivated. Are we the ones holding down the Igbo, or they have also become fatigued with the zeal to press on.
I do not believe it is difficult to get out of this grip Nigeria holds on us as getting out should not be a rocket science, and even if it is a rocket science, at least man has been able to build world class rockets that can travel to space. We just need to be determined to get out of the current mess Nigeria has become and until that determination is achieved, we will continue to remain on this mountain of indecision.
To forge ahead, it is worthy to look at few countries that have been in similar situation as ours and how they overcame the challenges they faced. Our first example would be Norway/Sweden, that were amalgamated by the British in 1814. When the time came for dissolution, the Norwegians stood their grounds on creating consular services abroad which eventually led to their dissolution in 1905.
Next in line are the Czechoslovakia; when the time came for their dissolution due to ethnic tensions that have caused wedges between the Czechs and the Slovaks, they amicably agreed to separate into two new countries in 1993.
Another good example was the former Yugoslavia whose case study looks very similar to what we are facing in Nigeria today. With the Yugoslavia scenario, we all knew how it eventually broke into six different countries and today each of those countries are thriving.
I will not forget to mention the Egypt/Sudan amalgamation by the British in 1899. This is a perfect condominium of the UK and Egypt holding legal sovereignty of the present-day South Sudan and the Sudan territories. The truth was that the British used Egypt to control the Sudanese territory thereby gaining influence on the Egyptians themselves.
When Egypt sensed that the British would never let them go, they quickly allow the two Sudanese countries that were one country then to go which ensured that they also got their own liberty. Egypt and Sudan both agreed to declare independence same day on 1 January 1956 and were able to break free from there amalgamation.
There are several other examples I can write about but time will not permit me to but I do believe the day will come when we can sit down to put this in a book for future generations to read. One thing is certain, all these countries got their separation through sheer determination and worked towards it. They didn’t sit down and wait for the benevolence of their slave masters to free them from bondage.
If we too as Yoruba or Igbo or any other nationality will achieve our freedom from Nigeria, then we will have to be determined to get it. We will not sit down, fold our arms and hope that the freedom we desire will come on a platter of gold. In the coming episodes, I will lay a step-by-step guide on how we can work together to achieve sovereignty, until then have a pleasant weekend.
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