By Kayode Emola

When the quest for an independent Yoruba nation took off fully in 2018, the focus was to begin a grassroots mass awareness and mobilisation. In early 2020 the decision was taken to stage a worldwide protest across the globe on 1st October which was supposed to be an Independence Day celebration for Nigeria. Every Yoruba son and daughter at home and in the diaspora was expected to come out for that protest to drive home our demand for a sovereign Yoruba nation.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 happened and this dream was scuppered as many nations were on lockdown due to the spread of the infectious disease. However, Yoruba people in the UK and some other European countries like Italy, Germany, and France were not deterred and went ahead with the protest rally. This made our demand resonate with the international community about the plight of our people back home under the oppressive Nigerian regime.

Whilst many of our brethren at home did not turn up for the rally, one particular person of note who held a mini rally around his Ibadan residence was Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho. This mini-rally encouraged many of our people back home to identify with our struggle and gave the Buhari government a run for its money.

Today, the UK team of the self-determination struggle has rekindled the flame of the international campaign with the support and presence of Chief Sunday Adeyemo live in London. The presence of Sunday Igboho will no doubt encourage a lot of our people whose hearts are dampened regarding self-determination and the continued deterioration of the Nigerian economy.

It is now expected that our people all over the world will see this rekindled flame of our campaign as the dawn of a new era. We need to use this opportunity of the Yoruba nation campaign in London to rally our people at home, in other countries in Europe, and on other continents to begin to organise massive campaign rallies wherever they are in the world.

They need to take our message of Yoruba exit under the Nigerian government control to the leaders of their countries of residence just like the UK delegation did. The UK delegation in the company of Chief Sunday Adeyemo was able to deliver the self-determination struggle letter of exit to the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Stammer in his official residence at 10 Downing Street.

This is a remarkable step in the right direction for our self-determination struggle as we engage positively with friendly nations in the world. We need to mobilise as many leaders as possible around the world that would be sympathetic to the plight of our people in Nigeria to act to pressure the Nigerian government on our quest for self-determination.

With the dwindling economic fortunes of Nigeria, it is best that we get as much support possible, that we can receive around the world during this stage of our struggle. This will place us in a better position to achieve greatness within the shortest possible time as many countries will be open to doing business with our new independent Yoruba nation.

I urge our Yoruba people especially those at home in Yorubaland to see the UK rally as an opportunity to begin a wholesale campaign at home for our sovereign nation. We need to get our traditional rulers and those occupying political positions to understand that the wish of the majority of our people now is nothing other than a peaceful separation from Nigeria.

It will be better if the Nigerian government will do the right thing while there is still time. Failure to act now when there is still the opportunity for dialogue may later be regretted if Nigeria were to descend into chaos and anarchy. I hope and pray that we will not be dragged into that situation by circumstances that are beyond our control, especially with the ongoing militancy in the southeastern region of Nigeria.

By Kayode Emola

Many of us knew that if a Yoruba man were to become the President of Nigeria, the number of our people crying for their own Yoruba country will begin to dwindle as people begin to sing another song. It wasn’t long after President Bola Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s president that all sorts of idea about how Nigeria can be great again began to fly in different directions.

Even now, with the collapse of the Nigerian economy, many of our people still believe that Nigeria can work. It is either they are deluded or they never believed in what an independent Yoruba nation has to offer.

My fear is not what will happen if we were to get our Yoruba nation; but rather what we will do with our Yoruba nation when we eventually get it with such people who never stood for anything. As things stand, many of us professing Yoruba nation have no vision for the Yoruba nation other than the position or status it will bring to them.

This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed before we even begin to talk about Yoruba nation and what type of nation it will be. We’ve allowed our blind love for Yoruba nation to lead us to the point where anything goes. This attitude that destroyed the Nigeria we are trying to escape is yet very prevalent among our rank and file; making it difficult to see how we can build a successful nation on these faulty foundations.

I don’t know if it is the Nigerian mentality that has eroded our morals or it is now an inbuilt culture which we must embrace for lack of escape. If we continue on this trajectory, Nigeria will seem like child’s play compared to the tribulations we would face in our Yoruba nation.

The plight of the matter is that many of us who live outside the shores of Nigeria and who have experienced life in civilised culture are no better than those in Yorubaland. Our exposure to better system of government has not inspired us as to what we hope to bring to the development of our land and people. We tend to think that getting Yoruba nation is an opportunity to become famous through the position that it affords.

My advice to those of us serious about the liberation of our people is to make clear what the vision we have for the new country are. Like our late SAGE, Obafemi Awolowo, who had a vision for Yorubaland and when the opportunity came, didn’t waste time on frivolities. He went straight into accomplishing the tasks he set for himself thereby bringing enormous development to the lives and livelihood of our people.

The time has now come for us to get rid of these professional profiteers among us, who are inglorious praise singers of politicians when it pleases them. They neither see nor hear evil and are insensitive to the sufferings of our people. Their mission is simple, be at the centre of attraction all the time because at one point or another they will benefit from whatever Yoruba nation has to offer.

We can see that Nigeria is headed nowhere and we who have vision for a glorious Yoruba nation must stand firm in our belief. We must never succumb to those who have nothing to offer other than seeking to fulfil their own self-interests.

Our struggle today is in comatose, because some of these self-serving parties have now risen to the position of the decision makers. Many of those who previously aligned with us are now singing the praises of the Yoruba/Nigerian politicians who have nothing to offer Yoruba nation.

Therefore, the time has come for a reset, for us to take stock of where we are and where we are going. The journey to nationhood is not one that can be attained by taking shortcuts to victory. It is a journey that must be meticulously planned and perfectly executed to achieve the maximum benefit that our people deserve.

There is now a lot of heavy lifting to do, as we need to define what the vision for Yoruba nation will be. This will ensure that when the independence finally comes, those people who have no idea of what nationhood is are not given the opportunity to derail the progress of the new country for their own personal gain.

By Kayode Emola

In 2 days-time, Yoruba all over the world will celebrate 138 years since the signing of the peace treaty signalling the end to the Kiriji war that devasted Yoruba land for over a decade. Last week, I wrote about the tragedies of that war and how it has shaped the current political landscape of Yorubaland.

The consequence of that war was the fatigue of war, which made us vulnerable to colonialism. This saw the Yoruba country divided into two with one part added to other ethnic nationalities forming what we know today as Benin Republic. The other Yoruba country was amalgamated with strange bedfellows to form Nigeria. Now, everything we’ve laboured for over the years have been stolen including our culture, and traditions. If care is not taken, our very existence cannot be guaranteed.

As we celebrate the labours of our Yoruba heroes who fought gallantly in that war for the freedom of their people, we must realise that the war is still not over. We cannot say there is peace when many of our people are still living as slaves in Nigeria. We need to fight for total liberation where our people anywhere in the world will be able to decide their own future and happiness.

As we mark the end to all wars among us in Yorubaland, it is time to stand united as one family to be able to resist any onslaught against our existence. We must begin to build back capacity among our people to ensure everyone of us in individually and collectively independent.

To this end, we must take bold steps in highlighting to our people that the only way we can truly build anything enviable is if we have our own independent country. Our ancestors who lived in the times of the Mali, Songhai, Ghana empire never dragged themselves down to become slaves to those mighty empires. They built their own enviable domain and ruled for thousands of years.

Therefore, those of us who believe in the self-determination of Yorubaland must begin a massive campaign of awareness to our people. We must drive our message to the hearts and minds of our people. We must encourage them to be bold to demand their emancipation from the politicians who are holding us captive in Nigeria.

If we begin to put direct and enormous pressure on the elected political office holders from our Yoruba ethnic nationalities. Then, there will be an increased level of awareness of the urgency for which we should leave Nigeria.

For those still hoping that Nigeria will be better one day, they need to understand that the British who built Nigeria did not build it to succeed. This is why they don’t even trade with us anymore. Nigeria’s trade with Britain is mere 0.4% and it is not even going to get better.

Without trade and commerce, there is no way we can build a viable economy. So, we need to get our Yoruba country out of Nigeria so we can establish trade with countries that really matter in the world.

We know what to do to be a great Yoruba country again and we must not fail to do it. I call on our comrades pushing hard for Yoruba nation to continue to strive for excellence in all that we do.

Our struggle is gradually moving to a phase where we need to begin to think of governance and moving away from merely protest. We ought now to begin to establish governance structure for the new nation so that we can deliver to our people their hopes and aspiration for now and into the future.