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Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: The Legend Oranmiyan

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By Kayode Emola

Many Yoruba people especially those born in this 21st century have not caught up with who we truly are and until we reawaken the exploits of our forebears, these achievements may be lost in history. Most of them would have heard of Oduduwa and few would know Oranmiyan but not many would know what these Yoruba greats went on to achieve.

Legends have it that Oranmiyan existed around the 9th century A.D and was the last born of Oduduwa. The greatness of this humble son of Oduduwa continues to be a part of us till today and if exploited can rekindle the flames of greatness we Yoruba enjoyed for many generations.

The story of Oranmiyan goes thus: The Edo people believe that Oduduwa is the right heir to the throne of their land formerly known as Igodomigodo. After a very long interregnum, the Edo people approached Oduduwa to come and take the throne and rule them. As Oduduwa was an established king in Ife, he asked his son Oranmiyan to go and rule the Edo people.

When Oranmiyan got to Edo, he managed to rule Edo for several years, but the Edo people never truly accepted him as their king as he was not born in Edo which is against their culture and tradition. Fortunately for Oranmiyan who had an Edo wife at the time gave birth to a son called Eweka who would go on to be the substantive king of Edo. His descendants’ seats on the Benin throne till date. However, this episode of how Oranmiyan wasn’t accepted by the Edo people to be their king made him call the place Ulè Ubinù (land of angry people corrupted to Bini or Benin as we know it today.

Oranmiyan who didn’t want to go back home to Ile-Ife sojourned North-Eastwards of the Yorubaland to Oyo-Ile, present day Ilorin to build what was the most vibrant and most successful empire in Yorubaland and indeed Africa at the time. He became the first Ala-afin of the Oyo empire before Afonja lost the empire to Alimi the Fulani trickster who usurped power from him forcing the remnant of the kingdom out of Oyo-Ile to its present-day location in Ibadan but that is a story for another day.

Having ruled the Oyo empire for several decades and upon the death of his father Oduduwa, Oranmiyan was called to settle the family dispute in Ife and to become the new Olofin of Ife as it was referred to back then (now known as Ooni of Ife today). Thus, Oranmiyan is the only person in history in Africa who successfully led 3 major kingdoms that still exists till today. Not even his own father achieved this feat.

The story of Oranmiyan shows nobility and what Yoruba can achieve if we set our minds to it. When the European imperialists came to Yorubaland, we were already a successful people who took pride in our culture and tradition. However, our brains have now been brainwashed to feel inferior to these European slavers who took everything from us and gave us nothing but misery in return.

Knowing fully well, that they can never truly conquer us except they corrupt our system, the Europeans merged us with our neighbours on the north and on the east whose ways of life are completely different from ours. They ignored our tradition and followed the greed of their heart which was only interested in our natural resources and God-given wealth.

It is the reason why we Yoruba must be resolute in dissociating ourselves for Nigeria as quickly as possible to build a strong and stable country of our own. A country where birds will sing as birds and the vulnerable will have their rights protected in the laws of the land.

At the forefront of this struggle lies the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement (YSDM) that has taken the baton of liberating our people from this perpetual slavery we find ourselves in Nigeria, unbeknown to most of our people. Despite the many attacks on this baby organisation that was formed in 2021 out of love for our people, it has continued to flourish and ready to face the challenges that lie ahead.

In its quest to energise our youths and to galvanise support for the struggle, the YSDM is currently undergoing a structural revamping which will bring our message to the grassroots. As this are the people who ultimately matters as they are the ones bearing the brunt of the Nigerian misrule of over 100 years.

The YSDM is also calling on genuine Yoruba who truly believe in the struggle for liberation to support its quests both financially and materially. Rising from an emergency council meeting on 13th March 2024, the Chairman Emeritus Prof. Banji Akintoye urged every Yoruba citizen to support the Oranmiyan-10 initiative which he hoped to raise funds for the activities of the organisation.

Whilst many nay-sayers will question the rationale for this initiative, I believe this is a golden opportunity to rally round our grassroots to get support for the movement. The Oranmiyan-10 initiative is only asking for ten units of the currency where we are domiciled into the central fund. This fund is dedicated to the rebuilding of our Yoruba land that is nearly turning into a wasteland by the forced emigration of our people en-mass from their ancestral home.

It is very easy to criticise, but I urge those who want to criticise to come up with a viable alternative. Many of them would ask us to call on the wealthiest amongst us for generous donation, but I will challenge them to put this together and see how many will respond. The freedom of a nation doesn’t have to lie in the hands of few powerful elite.

Afterall, as much as Nehemiah received from the king of Babylon, very many Israelites contributed their personal time and resources into rebuilding the temple walls of Jerusalem. Let us as Yoruba come together to support this Oranmiyan-10 initiative and to provide positive criticism where necessary and help to scrutinise how these resources will be allocated to ensure our people at the grassroots level are benefitting from it.

I know it may be tempting to label this initiative another gimmick to syphon resources from the Yoruba people. Let us remember that many establish nations also face periods in their existence where resources have been misappropriated, this has not caused the citizens to stop paying their taxes that go on to provide necessities for its citizens.

For instance, the US government spent over $1trn during the covid-19 pandemic half of which was misappropriated, that has not stopped their citizens from paying their taxes. Likewise, the UK spent over £400bn, most of which were misappropriated and that has not stopped the UK citizens from paying their taxes.

If we learn to support little initiatives like this that are designed by leaders of the struggle to help better the lives of many of our people without it inflicting maximum damage to our pockets but capable of transforming the lives of many. I believe we will achieve our Yoruba nation sooner rather than later.

One of our limiting factors in this struggle has been our limited resources. If we focused more on contributing our widow’s mite rather than endless meeting and criticism, we may be able to achieve something tangible in a short space of time. I therefore urge our people to be more generous in their heart to warm up to this initiative of Oranmiyan-10 that is capable of delivering the expected result of a Yoruba nation sooner rather than later.

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Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: President Tinubu’s Recent Trip to Turkey

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By Kayode Emola

If there’s any indication that Nigeria is not a united country, the recent trip by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Turkey clearly highlighted it. Not only did this trip show that Nigeria has no foreign policy, but it also clearly indicated that the only thing that matters in Nigeria’s political climate is the vested interest of the Fulani people.

For the many who are shouting “One Nigeria”, I’m not sure they understand what “One Nigeria” mean. If they truly understand what it means, maybe they might begin to change their tune. Many Nigerians behave as though the country is united, yet every day, decisions show that it is meant for one tribe, “the Fulani people”.

The mere fact that we talk about Northern and Southern Presidents shows that nothing on earth can unite this very disunited country. If not, why are we not more concerned about competence and what better unites us rather than focusing on the region where the president hails from?

First stop, President Tinubu inherited a very bad country to govern. The country was already financially and morally bankrupt in many aspects. Therefore, trying to resuscitate an already dying country is no easy task. The question then should be, are Nigerians genuinely looking for a united country? One that works for everyone and not just a select few. The simple answer to the ordinary man is Yes, but the real answer to the Fulani is No.

The Fulani, who are less than 5 per cent of Nigeria’s population, believe they are born to rule Nigeria because the British manipulated the entire country’s governance structure in their favour. The entire 12-core Northern states of Nigeria are governed by the Fulani tribesmen despite not holding the majority population of those states.

This goes to show that in a free and fair election system that is characterised by real votes, the Fulani stand no chance of election victory. However, because all the Emirs and traditional institutions in Northern Nigeria are dominated by the Fulani people, despite a diverse population cutting across over 50 ethnic nationalities. They have the opportunity through their feudal system to manipulate election results.

The “One Nigeria” hypothesis is just a mirage when it comes to governance in Nigeria. What better illustrates that Nigeria is “One Fulani Nigeria” rather than “One Nigeria” is when it comes to governance, it is about the Fulani and others. If you doubt me, let’s do a run through the Presidents of Nigeria since the fourth republic began in 1999 to see the pattern of leadership. This is also even though the Fulani have been ruling Nigeria since independence in 1960, when the British handed over the country to them when they were leaving.

From 1999 to 2007, President Obasanjo was brought in to placate the Yoruba people after the daylight robbery of the June 1993 election that was annulled by Babangida. Even though empirical evidence now shows that Obasanjo’s father is an Igbo man. From 2007 to 2010, the late President Musa Yar’Adua took office, and he was a Fulani man whose tenure was cut short by his untimely death. President Goodluck Jonathan, his vice, took over Yar’Adua’s remaining tenure till 2011 and used the power of incumbency to win the 2011 election and run Nigeria until 2015, until he was removed by the Fulani political machine.

After that, late President Buhari, another Fulani man, became president from 2015 to 2023, following which President Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba man, became President. If Tinubu were to complete an 8-year term like most of his predecessors, it is most certain that another Fulani man will become the President of Nigeria by 2031. This is not because the Fulani are the most qualified to rule Nigeria. It is just a sheer born-to-rule mentality that the colonial master Britain ingrained in them that has made them think of themselves as the most superior race in Nigeria, despite being the least populated people in Nigeria.

Therefore, we see that Nigeria does not have an internal or external policy that puts the welfare of its citizens at the heart of governance. It only has a policy geared towards the satisfaction of the Fulani tribe, no matter whose ox is gored. This lie of a nation can, on the face of it, be allowed to continue for a time, but it definitely cannot endure the true test of time, when the real patriots of the country demand justice.

Nigeria was not built on a foundation of justice; it was built on lies by the British to deceive the population. Whoever is the President of Nigeria must listen to what the Fulani people have to say, even though their opinion may be rubbish and detrimental to the larger population. This is the foundation of the President’s visit to Turkey, because, for all that matters, if he refuses to go to Turkey, then he is damned by the Fulani political machinery that controls the governance structure of Nigeria.

In analysing the President’s visit to Turkey, more people are more concerned about his wobbly feet, when what they should be worrying about is his wobbly decision. Turkey, through its Senior Military General in 2014, enacted a foreign policy that none of its weapons must be used to kill a Muslim. It went further to state that any country that kills Islamist fundamentalists should be treated as a terrorist government. It then begs the question as to what the President of Nigeria was doing in Turkey. When it is an open secret that 90 per cent of the weapons in the hands of the terrorist groups in Nigeria like Boko Haram, Fulani militia, Lakurawa, ISWAP and other jihadi groups, are being supplied by Turkish defence contractor SADAT International Defence Consultancy.

Despite the military support already promised and being delivered by the US government, which is beginning to yield positive results. The President of Nigeria is listening to the likes of Islamist fundamentalists like Sheikh Ahmad Gumi to look to Turkey for help in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. This goes to show that the Fulani position is not to fight terrorism in Nigeria but to quell any dissenting voices that may stand to oppose their hegemonic rule.

However, I have a message for people like them. The time for gentlemanly diplomacy, our parents played with the Fulani North, is over. This era is that of confrontation, where we must do the needful to confront their lies with hard facts that cannot be denied. Nigeria does not belong to the Fulani, and it’s high time we called their bluff and decided our future once and for all. We can no longer live in a country where it must be a Northern President vs Southern President, even though the person who eventually emerges has nothing to offer to the country other than the protection of the Fulani hegemonic advantage.

It is time for us, the Yoruba and other indigenous nationalities, to take a stand to put this corrupt system to an end. This cannot be done on the pages of a newspaper, but by sheer resistance and dismantling of the demonic system that the British imposed on us.

The time has come for all of us to do our bits in taking the message to our people in every corner of the Yoruba land and other parts of Nigeria, that what they claim to be “One Nigeria” is nothing other than “One Fulani Nigeria”. This is because Britain, which bought Nigeria for £865,000 from the Royal Niger Company in 1899, is not ready to let go.

The only way to break the chains of Britain from our necks and bring real development to our people is to completely dissolve the country of Nigeria. This will mean that every indigenous nationality in Nigeria can go its separate way to build great nations for itself with its own unique identity for its own people. If not, we will continue in this illusion called “One Nigeria” thinking it holds any true meaning for us other than death and destruction through conquest.

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Voice of Emancipation: Tinubu and the 2027 General Elections

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By Kayode Emola

For many Yoruba people, their belief is that Tinubu is a Yoruba president therefore he should do things at the federal government to favour the Yoruba people. Some have even alluded to the fact that during Tinubu’s presidency, more Yoruba people are now occupying juicy positions in the federal government and other parastatals of Nigeria.

My take is that branding Tinubu as a Yoruba president is very misleading and disrespectful to millions of hardworking Yoruba people who are finding it difficult to make ends meet. For the record, Tinubu is not a Yoruba president, and he does not represent the Yoruba people or their interest in Aso rock.

If we look at many of Tinubu’s appointment, we will see that it is a president favouring his inner circle. His appointments are purely political and has nothing to do with the colouration of their ethnicity. Therefore, we cannot associate Tinubu’s political appointment as though he is doing the Yoruba people a favour.

Recently, Tinubu has moved to lift the wanted status placed on Yoruba nation activist Sunday Adeyemo (aka Igboho. For the record, Sunday Igboho did not commit any known crime in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. He even took the federal government under Tinubu’s predecessor Buhari to court and won damages of twenty billion naira (₦20,000,000,000) for destroying his Ibadan residence and killing three of his friends. Money that the government is yet to honour, yet his personal and business accounts continue to remain frozen.

Another matter of note is the position of the Tinubu’s government attempting to make a secret deal with the Biafran leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The Tinubu government is currently giving the Biafran leader a 5-point bail condition in exchange for his freedom. This is following the international pressure that the President is currently facing particularly from the US government.

It must be noted here that the sudden change in direction by the Tinubu’s government to grant amnesty to Chief Sunday Igboho and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not because he has suddenly become generous. His sudden action is because of panic in Aso-Rock with the American intervention in the coming days.

We recall that the US government has urged the Nigerian government to deal with the rising insecurity. Despite, all the funds and military grade equipment pumped into Nigeria by the Trump administration, it feels like, the terrorists are still operating in Nigeria with impunity.

Therefore, one can conclude that the lifting of sanctions on Chief Sunday Adeyemo and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not from the benevolence of Tinubu’s heart. This moves by President Tinubu is a strategic move in trying to consolidate his opportunity of winning a second term presidency in 2027.

We Yoruba must understand that the granting of few political positions to Tinubu’s cronies is not going to reverse the many years of neglect of services and infrastructure needed for development. The real growth and prosperity of the Yoruba people will not come by appointing few Yoruba people into positions of power. It would come by adequately building a social framework that would lift the millions of Yoruba people who are trapped below the poverty line.

We should therefore not be fooled that Tinubu’s move towards Chief Igboho and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu are out of benevolence. It is time for us to remain resolute in our continued demand for the complete dissolution of Nigeria. We must not allow President Tinubu use we the Yoruba people as a bargaining chip for his return to Aso-Rock in 2027. If Tinubu wants to be a Yoruba president, then he should begin genuine efforts in the dissolution of Nigeria as no person is able to adequately deal with the many challenges facing Nigeria.

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Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: Nigeria Government Descends into Lobbying

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By Kayode Emola

With rising insecurity in Nigeria following President Trumps threat of military action. The Nigerian government has resulted into their default mode of operation which is the use of propaganda. This time it is on another level as they have employed the services of a lobbying firm in the US to push their own side of the story.

Since President Trump’s threat of military action in October 2025 and the subsequent Christmas day bombing in Sokoto by the US army, there has been countless killing of innocent people in towns and villages across Nigeria. This phenomenon doesn’t look like it’s going to stop or slow down anytime soon and the Nigerian government’s action in all of this is to sell a false narrative of winning the war on terror.

To be clear, the former Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle who served under Tinubu as Minister of State for Defence has been implicated in terrorism financing in Nigeria. To date, no action has been taken to either prosecute him or press charges against him.

There are many like him who are financing terrorism in Nigeria and doing the Caliphate’s bidding to Islamise Nigeria. Yet, the Nigerian government look the other way round as innocent Nigerians are being killed daily.

Money that is supposed to go into building schools, hospitals, good roads and other infrastructure are now being diverted into lobbying for favour from the US government. This goes to show that the Federal Government of Nigeria has lost its focus on the priorities on ground and resulting into frivolities.

The mere fact that the Nigerian government resulted into lobbying private firms in the US to put out their position rather than use diplomatic channels show that they know time is running against them. Instead of the Nigerian government to deal with terrorism headlong and terrorism financiers, it is engaging in a propaganda war.

My advice to the Nigerian government is that deception can only last for a time but in the end, the truth will come out. By that time, the truth will be difficult to ignore no matter how hard they try.

To win the war on terror, the government must be decisive in dealing with the insecurity bedevilling the country and their sponsors no matter who they are and where they from in the country. This means that no one should be untouchable when it comes to terrorism financing and the kidnapping of innocent people.

However, since the government cannot fight those financing terrorism and their foot soldiers in the forests, it has resulted in propaganda and lobbying to try and buy some time for itself. I only wish that they would wake up and smell the coffee before it’s too late.

As for my Yoruba people, we should look at what is going on as an opportunity to come together and make a stand on what we want. At present, many Yoruba people are looking to President Tinubu to come rescue them from their predicament. They do not know that Tinubu is not playing any ethnic card, rather he is playing a game for his own survival.

I want to implore our Yoruba people that; the only solution now is a total and complete disengagement from Nigeria. We need to put pressure on the government of Nigeria through the international community to revisit the amalgamation issue and the forced 1999 constitution which does not represent the wishes of the Nigerian people.

If we fail to act now, we should not be surprised when in the future we become slaves to foreigners in our own land. We see many terrorists seizing lands in the north and asking communities to pay tariff for using their own land.

This is now happening in many places in Yorubaland and in no time will become the norm across the entire Yorubaland except something is done urgently. If we think it’s not possible, then we should take a good look at North African countries where most of their populations are now Arabs.

It wasn’t like so in the past but because of the complacency of the natives who use to own those lands, it was taken away from them by force. Let us look back at what has happened to other people in the past to know that action rather than sweet words is needed in times like this.

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