By Kayode Emola
In May of this year, I wrote a piece delving into the roots of the multitude of problems that we, as Yorubas, have faced for many centuries, if not millennia. Whilst it is easy to blame these woes on others, external factors or circumstances related and unrelated, I believe we should also look inward at ourselves. Perhaps we may also be culpable in one way or another for our own travails.
Many people would disagree with the statement that there is wholesale slavery still going on in the world today. Maybe because the face of slavery has changed: the archetypal image that many people hold, the barbaric act of putting chains around the necks of Africans and shipping them to the New World, is no longer seen in our present time. Yet despite slavery being illegal, it was estimated that in 2019 around 40 million people were enslaved around the world, 26% of whom were children. This number should terrify any right-thinking person; the number of enslaved persons surpasses the entire population of more than 100 countries worldwide.
It behoves us to remember that slavery comes in many different shapes and forms, so to refresh our memories I will enumerate just a few of them. Historically, slavery has been given many different names: from unfree or forced labourer, domestic servant, servitude, personal property, bonded labourer or indenture. This goes to show that slavery, like any other institution, has existed since time immemorial and has taken varying forms across various civilisations.
In some dispensations, people freely entered into slavery as a way of paying off a debt. Others sold or willingly gave away family members or friends as slaves to pay their debt. Still others unknowingly entered into some form of servitude without actually knowing or consenting to do so.
When we talk of slavery in today’s world, particularly discussing the ways in which it relates to the situation of the Yorubas, we first remember the millions of our ancestors who were forced and chained onto slave boats taking them to the New World. That era of history will continue to besmirch the descendants of those whose ancestors were involved in this barbaric act, although I am sure that many of the people who took part in the African slave trade would find a way to justify their actions, one way or another. It is important to note that their actions of yesteryear had ramifications that are still impacting the lives of millions of people around the world today. Not only this, but the attitudes that underpinned the slave trade, remain, though subtle and often insidious, very much prevalent and will continue unremittingly if not opposed.
It can be agreed that nearly every nation, race and creed on this earth has suffered slavery in one form or another. However, we must ask: what actions did those vested with power and authority at the time take to mitigate the hardship of their people suffering at the hands of the slave masters? For instance, William the Conqueror of Great Britain introduced a law prohibiting British people to be sold as slaves overseas. As a result, by the year 1200, slavery in the British Isles was non-existent.
We may also read of the Obas of Benin of that time, how they resisted the sale of Benin people into slavery during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The same cannot be said of their Yoruba counterparts: many Yoruba traditional rulers and merchants were selling their people into slavery as if it was going out of fashion. Perhaps we now need to critically assess the attitudes of our Yoruba forbears and their role in the slave trade. Whilst we may not be able to list by name all of those who participated in the trade, it is telling that there is no account that reports the Yoruba traditional rulers putting up any form of resistance to the sale of their own people.
Was it that our ancestors simply acquiesced to the Europeans’ wishes, or they were willing accessories? We have read and heard of how our people were sold for a bottle of dry gin, an umbrella, a mirror and many other everyday items we may refer to as petty household objects. Some even commissioned slave hunters to raid neighbouring towns for slaves in order to fulfil their lust and appetite for materialism.
If we compare what happened during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to what is going on in the present-day Nigeria, we find that those historical slave raiders and merchants share a number of traits with contemporary rulers. The Yorubas, by dint of British imperialism, got trapped in a country without even knowing how it happened. Our ancestral rulers entered into many treaties and trade deals that resulted in our being enslaved right in our very own homeland. Today, it is typical of every Yoruba person to want to run away from Yorubaland rather than stay and build the country, because that which we ought to be able to call home can no longer be said to be home.
For all intent and purposes, and without any disrespect to our leaders, I believe the Yoruba people now need to look for their redemption far beyond the current political and traditional rulers. Those who have been the authors of our woes cannot now claim to be our saviours, especially given their continued silence in the face of the multitude of ongoing oppressions.
Many of our current Yoruba political rulers are quick to point out their affinity and inalienable loyalty to the Awolowo dynasty. However, I would posit that the majority of these people are Awoist in their mouths, but far from it in their attitudes. For example, the current misrule of Buhari causes people to think that, by comparison, our own Baba Iyabo was a saint when it came to the interests of the Yoruba people. Yet, when viewed objectively, I cannot propound any economic or political advantage that the Yorubas enjoyed as a result of his presidency. In fact, contrarily, I can say that the Yorubas lost a lot to Obasanjo’s rule, both as a military head of state and as civilian president.
With the Yorubas seeking to withdraw from Nigeria, one can only hope that the perpetual cycle of slavery suffered for centuries by our people will finally come to an end. If we are truly to be free, we must guard our freedom jealously. We need to ensure that we watch each other’s backs and stand up for one another because those that seek to do us harm are unrelenting. We must not let down our guard for any period of time, for any reason. Our freedom is an immeasurably precious commodity: it is time we started treating it as such.
