By Kayode Emola
Last week, I wrote about the waning superpower status of America and the imminent emergence of China as a new superpower. Little did we know how much can change in a week in the world, as we witness the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The current nation-state configuration shows a skewed arrangement in favour of the European colonial powers of the twentieth century. We have seen several direct military attacks on Middle Eastern and African countries by Western European countries and America. In some cases, there has been no basis for this attack beyond the motive of occupation.
The invasion in 2003 of Iraq by combined forces from America, United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland remains fresh in our minds. Furthermore, these allied forces were supported by other countries including Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. The reported justification was been to disarm Saddam Hussein’s government’s stockpile of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Yet to date, no such weapons have been found. Even when the war officially ended within two months of the onset of military combat, the allied forces continued occupation for another ten years.
We are seeing history repeat itself today, as Ukraine is unable to defend itself against a powerful nation like Russia. One might have expected the United Nations to rise to the occasion in Ukraine’s defence, but alas, it feels like the UN is failing to unite the peoples of the world when it comes to aggression against oppressed minorities. I have previously questioned many of the UN charters and conventions, particularly that it seems only to act when a disaster has already taken place, rather than intervening to prevent them.
Russia has stated that the West has not been listening to them, whilst the West feels that the reverse is the case and that it is Russia who has failed to listen. Overall, it seems like no one has been listening to each other. A matter that could have been resolved diplomatically may now cause the world yet another century of bitterness, pain, and anguish.
We should make no mistake that the totality of the military might exhibited by the Great Powers is little more than a display of pride in their artillery and capabilities. The result is that many innocent people will die of hunger and starvation. Lives will be forever traumatised and many nations will never be the same.
We have witnessed two devastating world wars in the last century with the start of the Second World War not dissimilar to events witnessed on 24 February 2022. We can see parallels between the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany under Hitler on 1 September 1939, and Russia in this case seeking to maintain their sphere of influence in Ukraine. At the same time, the West is also fighting for their own piece of cake in the country.
The similarity of these patterns evidences that the Great Powers are only interested in domination. I do hope that Africa and Africans learn from these global events, as it is we who suffer the greatest extent of the brunt when matters escalate beyond control.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is not only the dysfunctional nation-state arrangement in our world today. We see many of the African states that were carved out by European imperialists in the 19th and 20th centuries. And yet to date many of these African tribes and peoples have not been given the liberty of self-determination, to determine their own nations and borders, as enshrined in the UN Charter.
If the western world is truly sincere about promoting peace, fairness, and equity, then there needs to be equal representation on the global stage. We have witnessed and continued to witness, violence across many areas in Africa, including Biafra, Ambazonia, Tigray region, Somalia, and Sudan, just to mention a few.
If democracy is what they say it is, and the western countries are promoters of world peace, these warring nations should have been offered the opportunity to determine their own future through the ballot. Binding people together in a forced union of state is a crime against their collective conscience.
The Yoruba population throughout the world numbers over 100 million, yet as things stand presently, we have no permanent seat at the table of United Nations, where global events are discussed. This is due to the fact that we have no nation-state of our own, as our sovereignty has been ceded to Nigeria. However, this is not because that is what we chose but because it was forced upon us by imperial Britain.
One may argue that the Yoruba nation is represented by Nigeria, but it is categorically clear that there cannot be true representation by a third party of the interests of another people. Nigeria has several ethnic groups, diverse in their way of life and culture, and representation depends on whoever occupies the presidency. It is for this reason that the world needs to critically reassess the present configuration of nation-states.
Whilst it may take the world further time to consider allowing oppressed peoples of the world to have their say, I will implore the Yoruba themselves to rise up for their nation. It is only when we stand up for ourselves that we can be heard and respected among the comity of nations.
While I will not implore the Yoruba people to take up arms to fight for their freedom. I call on every well-meaning Yoruba person to put their human and material resources into helping to free the Yoruba people from their perpetual bondage and to use every instrument prescribed by local and international law to do so.
We need to understand that the Nigeria created by Britain was not for the benefit of Nigerians themselves but for the benefit of Britain. We cannot truly benefit from Nigeria if the colonial structures of oppression are not dismantled.
The only way to do this is for the indigenous peoples of Nigeria to accept that Nigeria is not a viable entity. The Yoruba people need to realise this, relinquish their obsessive grasp on identifying as a Nigerian, and start seeing themselves primarily as a Yoruba person fighting for the interests of Yoruba. We must stand, we must unite, for the sake of our people, our children, our unborn country, and our future to be able to stand against powerful enemies.
