By Kayode Emola

Despite repeated calls for Yoruba politicians to intervene in the Sharia debacle, evidence has shown that they are the architects of our Sharia problems in Yorubaland. A few days ago, the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde stated that his government is not against the setting up of a Sharia panel in Oyo State.

Seyi Makinde in his submission stated that members of the public can approach the Sharia Panel if they feel like doing so. With this statement, the Governor is making the Sharia law which is a religious code an alternative dispute resolution in Oyo State and invariably in Yorubaland.

Seyi Makinde should understand that the introduction of Sharia law is not just about alternate dispute resolution but a conquest agenda being peddled by the Fulani north. If Seyi Makinde needs a history lecture on Sharia law in Nigeria, he should see what is unravelling in northern Nigeria.

There are currently 12 states in Northern Nigeria practicing Sharia law, but they have no development to show for it. Nearly all the Northern states where Sharia law is being practiced have been overrun by the Fulani and Boko Haram militias.

The last thing anyone need in Yorubaland is a religious code to serve as a means of conflict resolution. There are many kabiyesi in Yoruba with palaces dotted everywhere in Yorubaland. These palaces can serve as an alternative dispute resolution centre if the need arises and not the Sharia law.

Just a few days ago, the militant group Boko Haram and ISWAP invaded the army barracks in Wajikoro area of Borno state, killing over 16 soldiers, including the Brigade commander, and wounding many others. A report from the pilot sent to provide air cover for the soldiers shows that a lot of them could be seen running away from the barracks, meaning that they are being dislodged by the terrorist group.

We can recall that a similar incident occurred in a military base in Damboa area of Borno State on January 4, 2025, where no fewer than 6 soldiers were killed. We must not forget that it was the introduction of Sharia law that gave birth to the militant group Boko Haram. If the Nigerian military, who are supposed to defend the nation, are not able to defend themselves, what hope does the civilian population have?

We cannot be oblivious to the fact that those Yoruba Muslims peddling the introduction of the Sharia law on behalf of their slave masters in Yorubaland are doing it for the financial reward they have been promised. These lots are ready to sell their heritage for the little pittance that will not benefit their race nor themselves.

Therefore, we Yoruba must understand that the only way we can get rid of this menace is to fully exit from Nigeria. If we don’t unite to pursue the total liberation of Yorubaland from Nigeria, then attacks on military barracks and civilians by terrorists will be the new norm.

If we truly want our freedom, this is the time to come together and act in unison to synchronise our activities for our liberation. We on the liberation struggle must now embark on a wholesale education of our people about our activities for the liberation of Yorubaland. Nigeria has shown time and again that it is not going to be what we wish it to be; therefore, we do not need to pretend that it will ever get better.

By Kayode Emola

Last Tuesday, President Tinubu announced a State of Emergency in Rivers State, citing, as his reason, breakdown of law and order. In his address to the nation, he announced the removal of the elected Governor and deputy Governor, as well as the dissolution of the state’s House of Assembly. In their stead, Tinubu appointed a sole administrator to govern the state for six months.

To the outside observer, the situation in Rivers State seems to be nothing but a power play and a show of strength. However, the consequences of this action may far outstrip that which even Tinubu himself can handle.

Whoever advised the president to take this line of action has not done him a favour. As a matter of fact, the president may have just signed his own deposition order by inviting the military back to take power from democratically elected officials. After all, who is to say that the military will be content limiting themselves to being merely a tool in the hands of Tinubu, rather than seeking to exercise their strength and start claiming the power from other elected individuals, potentially including the president himself?

It will behove the president to be cognisant of the fact that one good turn deserves another, and that he who lives by the sword will die by it too: the way he invited the military to seize power from the River State Governor is predictive of the way he would be removed from power himself. By heeding the advice of unscrupulous people, he has just set the timer on a bomb destined to detonate under his own feet.

There are so many alternative ways that the situation in Rivers State could have been handled that would have scored political points for the president. His rash actions have opened a can of worms, unstopping a djinn that cannot be bottled again.

President Tinubu would be wise to start making serious provisions for his safety, because there may not be a forewarning on the day his own turn comes. I hope and pray that he will have the sagacity to deal with it at that time.

However, the time has come, not only for Tinubu, but for every Yoruba person to seriously think about their safety. The president’s decision to declare of State of Emergency in Rivers State is not out of his love for the state. It is merely acquiescence to the will of his FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who is the true marionettist behind the machinations in that state.

In trying to conciliate his friend Wike, the president has just put his political future in peril; his actions have now revealed the obvious presence of powerful men behind the scenes directing the affairs of the Nigerian people.
In so doing, the president has now placed himself into a lot of danger. His actions give the Ijaw nation heavy motivation to sabotage the government, the result of which would be that the already struggling economy will give way completely, if activities in the Niger Delta are disrupted in any way, shape, or form.

The Yoruba people must not be mere spectators this time around. President Tinubu is in the presidency only for himself, his family, and his cronies. Despite some people’s hopes that a Yoruba man holding the office of president might bring positive change for the country, and especially for our people, the events of this week show that nothing has changed and that the Nigerian government is still riddled with corrupt people who should be in prison and not in a place of authority.

We cannot allow the future of our children to be mortgaged by a government that shows disregard for the rule of law and international convention. We must take our destiny into our own hands and advocate for a system of leadership that serves its electorate and strives to lift up the downtrodden. The answer, sadly, as Tinubu’s actions have shown, is that this is not possible in the current system of Nigeria. The corruption has gone too deep and its hold on the political strata is too inexorable.

The only way we can safeguard a positive future for our children is to not only wipe the slate clean but to throw away the old slate and build ourselves a new one. We must press all the more earnestly for our own Yoruba nation, so that we have the environment in which to start afresh, with a clean, new slate and a pure moral foundation on which to construct our future and the future of those to come.

By Kayode Emola

Last week we witnessed another mass killing of innocent citizens in Ondo State. This daring move by the Fulani terrorists is meant to provoke the civility we’ve once enjoyed in Yorubaland. Yet, the so-called government and representatives of the people have no response to these egregious killings.

Till date, not one person has been arraigned before a competent court of law to answer for these crimes against humanity. It beggars’ belief that the majority of our people waiting to become victims of these crimes carry on with their daily lives as though nothing is at stake.

It must be clear to the Yoruba people by now that we do not have a government, and our land is at siege and being left to the mercies of the gods to protect us. Therefore, we should not sit by and wait for a saviour to save us from this calamity that has befallen us. We must rise to the occasion now to liberate our people once and for all.

Since 2015, over twenty thousand innocent Yoruba farmers and villagers have been killed in several parts of Yorubaland, from Igangan, Saki, Owo etc. Around the border towns of Yewa in Ogun State, hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes, and to seek refuge in neighbouring Republic of Benin.

This does not seem to move our political representatives in the local and federal levels to act in defence of their people. Our political class continues to live in denial of all these activities as though they are not victims of what is happening in Nigeria.

The time is now ripe for every Yoruba to take a stand before it is too late. We all heard the warnings of Obadiah Mailafia in 2021 that the Fulani are planning a jihad against the Christian South of Nigeria. Mailafia narrated how the Fulani intend to enter our towns and villages in the final phase of their campaign to conduct their mass killing after overrunning our forests and bushes.

The signs are all over the place and we must not pretend that these attacks are spontaneous and of no effect when innocent people are being butchered in their sleep for committing no crimes. We must all rise in unison, not just to condemn these killings but to take serious actions to mitigate the continuous attack on our people.

By so doing, we stand the chance of salvaging our Yorubaland from these wanton and senseless killing of our people. For if we fail to liberate our people now from these Fulani jihadist killings, history will judge us far worse than those who led us unknowingly into the Nigerian experiment.

I must not fail to emphasise that the Ondo State killings should be our wake-up call to action and the final straw that broke the Camel’s back. We must go out in this rage to liberate our Yorubaland by pushing back these bloodthirsty Fulani terrorists into whatever hole they emanated from.

This is not the time to pander with the political establishment of Nigeria that sits by and watches while our people’s lives, and livelihood are being destroyed daily. We must not be sentimental to think that because a Yoruba man is the president of Nigeria, then he will be able to muster the federal might to save our people from destruction.

The evidence is before the world that nearly 2 years into President Tinubu’s presidency, the egregious killings of innocent Yoruba people in our land by the Fulani terrorists have increased. Despite huge allocation of resources to the state governors as security allowance.

Therefore, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, we should not believe that we live in a sane environment with people who reason with logic. Now is the time to respond back in kind to those that have sworn to dispossess us of our God given inheritance. If we fail to act now, God will raise the stones in the land to fight for His people.