Voice of Emancipation: Yoruba Heritage is Not for Sale

By Kayode Emola

It is not enough that Nigeria has taken almost everything from us the Yoruba without giving us anything in return by turning every institution we built during the Regional Government of Awolowo between 1951 and 1960 into becoming a Nigerian property. It is now very evident that the sons of the destroyer are awake to steal our heritage, culture, and tradition.

Let us recall a few of our Yoruba properties and institutions that the Nigerian government has confiscated into becoming Nigeria’s property for the sake of convenience. First of all, before we go on to that, let’s say naming us Western Nigeria was very convenient for the colonial masters who had their perfect plan on how to steal our properties for their serfs in Northern Nigeria.

Our fathers were unsuspecting and believed that the other nationalities would be honourable with their actions, but time has revealed the truth. That is why our generation must not fall foul of the same mistakes they made back then. Let’s tell many of our folks that they are Yoruba and some of them might want to behead you for insisting that they are not Nigerians but Yoruba.

Yoruba people back home are much poorer today than 100 years ago, it is because we lost our sense of reasoning, thinking every other nationality in Nigeria has our best interest at heart. The truth is that they don’t and until we get out of Nigeria, we may lose the last thing we hold dear to us which is our heritage, our culture, and our tradition.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s when the struggle for freedom was rife around the globe after the second world war. African countries began vigorously to fight for their place in the world, but rather than drop the colonial mentality and embrace who they truly were, they left things to chance. Those who were fortunate to be at the helm of affairs at the time failed to imbue in their people any sense of identity.

Rather, they sought to continue in the legacies of their colonial masters to the detriment of their people. It is no wonder today, many African countries still suffer from the European colonial amnesia that was inflicted on us for many centuries.

In Yoruba for example, rather than go with the name Yoruba region of Nigeria for example, we chose to bear, the Western Region of Nigeria, which was the genesis of all our problems. Very quickly, we began to name everything we built after Western Nigeria and when it was time for the children of destruction to raise their ugly heads, we lost everything in a heartbeat. One by one, what we owned was turned into Nigeria, removing any trace of Western Nigeria in it effectively turning Yoruba institutions into the Nigerian government property.

Take for instance, the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) belongs to the Yoruba people and will forever be our property, but today, we dared not even mention that it is ours. Many of our elderly folks will remember that it was Pa Awolowo who built the first Television station in Africa and named it Western Nigeria Television (WNTV). It was one of the first victims of the sons of destruction whom we accommodated thinking we were of the same ilk.

Again, The Yoruba government bought several properties abroad where it operated its diplomatic affairs. The majority of them were named Western Nigeria House (WNH) including what today stands as the Nigeria Embassy in London. Your guess is as good as mine, it is no longer WNH, it is now proudly Nigeria House erasing any memory of Western Nigeria that it ever had.

Of all the many things that Nigeria took from us the Yoruba, it is only those that had Oodua or Yoruba in its etymology that they couldn’t steal. It is the very reason why we must guide against the erasure of our Heritage and do everything we can to protect our Yoruba identity.

Recently, the Osun State Governor and his government contracted the Osun Osogbo Festival 2024 to an Igbo man, giving a Yoruba festival and heritage to a foreigner. The worst couldn’t be imagined when they quickly trademarked it and are now actively trying to rename it The Nigerian Festival. They are hell-bent on wiping the memory of our gullible people from anything we hold on to that reminds us of who we are as Yoruba.

If memory serves me well, we remember that the “ENDSARS” protest was branded a Nigerian protest only for the properties of Yoruba folks in Lagos to be the once that were targeted. In the end, the protest only actually gained momentum in Lagos which ceased to be the capital of Nigeria since 1991.

The sons of the destroyer are awake again deceiving our Yoruba Youths that there is hunger in town and everyone must come out to protest. Whilst, I support the protest, I believe it should begin in Abuja, filter through to Enugu and Kano, and then maybe in Ondo. It is after it has gained momentum in these regions, that we the Yoruba people can believe it is truly a Nigerian protest.

My message for our Yoruba people is to pick a side, and the best side to stay on is the Yoruba side. We must start by making the Osun state government realise that the Osun Osogbo festival is not for sale. It is our heritage and we are not prepared to lose it for all intents and purposes.

If the Osun state government doesn’t know anything about our history, then it is time to teach them. We must make them know that the Yoruba people are not interested in Nigeria. We are not prepared to throw away that which we hold dear to us which is our heritage and our culture. We have lost a lot and it is time that we start regaining our long lost glory.

It’s high time our Yoruba people left Nigeria and its inherent problems and focus on the Yoruba challenges. For all intents and purposes, Nigeria is Yoruba major problem and the sooner we get rid of Nigeria, the better every Yoruba person living in the homeland will be. So, my advice for our Yoruba people is to put our Heritage and our culture first in everything we do.

The time is now for every Yoruba to think Yoruba first, put Yoruba first, and act Yoruba first in everything we do. We must shed our Nigerian mentality which is nothing other than the colonial mentality. We must rebrand our Western Region or South West mentality into Yoruba country, whether within Nigeria now or when we eventually exit Nigeria for good.

I will not ruminate on this much but I believe by now, we get the idea of what I am trying to say. Nigeria is dying and there’s nothing any of us can do about it so the earlier we begin to build our Yoruba identity, the better it will be for every one of us.