By Kayode Emola

Last week, the entire African community came together in solidarity with Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the leader of Burkina Faso. However, it was not because he paid anyone to support him, nor did he lobby the African communities around the world to stand in solidarity with him.

The support for Traoré came from a genuine love for a leader who is simply doing the right thing for his country. My hope and prayer is that he stays alive and able to help build a better Burkina Faso; and, when time comes for him to leave the stage, not just Burkina but the entire African continent will be the better for it.

The story of Burkina Faso should teach our Yoruba people, as well as the entire African community, that Western imperialists do not seek our welfare in Africa. They only seek what they can exploit from us to better their own society.

Therefore, the time is now for us to realise in Yorubaland and in Africa that our liberation will not come out of the Western Europeans and Americans wanting us to be free. We must, as citizens, rise up and free ourselves from these centuries of bondage. It is high time we in Africa took a stand to do the needful, else we risk remaining in perpetual bondage.

It is a pity that all the institutions that are supposed to strengthen the African community, such as the African Union and ECOWAS, are now mere puppets of Western Europe and America. It is not surprising that no African president or head of state has to date spoken a word about the travails experienced by Traoré from those that are seeking to take his life. How can they, when they and their respective peoples are also in bondage from the neo-colonialists who have seized total control of the nations in the African continent.

We, as African citizens, cannot think for one minute that the Americans or Europeans have our best interest at heart when it comes to their dealings with our continent. We need to stand up for ourselves, just like Ibrahim Traoré is doing for his country, Burkina Faso. It is the same thing that great leaders of the past like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Chief Obafemi Awolowo et al did for their individual countries in the 1950s and 1960s.

The great work of freedom for the African continent rests in our shoulders now. It is our duty to ensure that we advocate for the liberation of our people from the foreign governments who strive to keep African in perpetual poverty.

However, we cannot talk of Africa’s freedom without the understanding that every individual nation within Africa needs to work out what freedom means for themselves. This is why we as Yoruba must rise to save our nation from both the internal and external threats facing us today.

There is much that we can learn from Traoré’s example. He has sought to remove foreign influence from policy-making, and endeavoured to ensure that decisions made in his Burkina Faso are made prioritising the best interests of the people and country. In the same manner, we must ensure that our political and economic strategies are rooted in Yoruba interests, rather than kowtowing to foreign pressures or allowing the political elite to limit policy only to what favours themselves.

We have a moral duty to speak truth to power and to hold our leaders accountable. We need to grasp the realisation that those currently representing the Yoruba people are the architect of our problem; and we need to start striving for the understanding of what our society truly needs.

Our people deserve a country that invests in them. They deserve one that puts money into developing local industries, technology and infrastructure, that promotes self-sustainability and, above all, invests in the greatest resource our country has: our people. They need economic policies that promote creation of jobs and support entrepreneurship, not ones that exist merely to line the pockets of the political elite whilst the rest of the country languishes in poverty.

As we press on with our journey for the liberation of Yoruba nation, it is time to let our people know that we have entered a state of affirmative action. This is no longer the time for us to stand idly and talk endlessly about what freedom will do for us. It is time to do the work that is needed for the liberation of our country.

We have seen that a large part of Traoré’s success comes from the support he has from his people. By promoting his vision of national pride and self-determination for the average man on the street, and by ensuring his policies reflect the aspirations of ordinary citizens, he has won the hearts and minds of his populace. As he advocates for his people, so his people, in turn, advocate for him.

The Yoruba independence movement is likewise championing the interests of the Yoruba people. It stands to advocate for all our people, regardless of class, gender, region or age. We therefore entreat every Yoruba person to support the efforts of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement (YSDM) in return, seeking a Yoruba nation independent of Nigeria. Your support of us, as we fight for you, can have the same groundbreaking effect that has been seen with Ibrahim Traoré and the Burkinabè population. We have a golden opportunity to liberate our Yoruba nation once and for all and I believe we should step forward to do just that.

By Kayode Emola

At the point of writing this week’s article, I cannot decide which of the two conditions is the greater problem plaguing Nigerians: whether we are gullible to the point of foolishness, or simply the attitude of “I don’t care.” Nigerians have had more than their fair share of calamities befall them, that is undeniable; however, our woes are compounded exponentially by our people’s refusal or simple inability to resist unwanted social ills. It would seem that we tend more towards capitulating to social injustices, rather than outrightly rejecting them.

In my article of 22 February 2025, I detailed why Tinubu’s promise of uninterrupted power supply before 2027 was a ruse – for those who missed out on that article, here is a link: https://thebossnewspapers.com/2025/02/22/voice-of-emancipation-tinubus-uninterrupted-power-supply-promise-is-a-ruse/ Even so, not many people minded the fact that this was just yet another political gimmick.

Just this week, as if to prove that Nigeria cannot go even one week without political comedy, the Federal Government announced its plans to install solar panels in Aso Rock. Mustapha Abdulahi, the Director General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), was tasked with explaining to Nigerians why the presidency decided upon this course of action, instead of building viable infrastructures that will provide electricity for the general populace.

I wrote in February’s article that for Tinubu’s promise to amount to anything, the best he could do would be to provide free fuel for all Nigerians to power their generators. After all, since we get the crude oil for free, why shouldn’t Nigerians be allocated a portion of it every week to power their homes? The government has failed to do the needful for its citizens in any other respect.

The electricity situation in Nigeria is the greatest problem faced by the population, second only to the corruption pervading our leadership. Yet by the installation of solar panels in Aso Rock, the government is giving the clearest signal yet that it has no interest in improving the situation for its populace.

All this goes to show that President Tinubu has no interest in providing electricity – or any other basic amenity – for the country. His sole ambition is to retain the presidency for eight years, thereby fulfilling his childhood dream of ruling the most populous black nation on the earth.

If developing the country is not their primary purpose of taking the position, then I wonder why Nigerians still pander to the rhetoric of the presidency? We ought to know that no president, whether past or present, has the capacity to change the root problems at Nigeria’s very foundations.

When a building’s foundations are weak, no one is surprised when it cannot weather the storms, so how much more so if it is a country whose foundations are hollow? When Nigeria’s foundations are so feeble, how can we expect a president to make any meaningful progress with the country? Nigeria is built upon lies and deceit, therefore anyone expecting a miracle is deludedly living in a fool’s paradise.

It is clear that nothing good can come out of Nigeria, and so any effort spent trying to correct things will be fruitless. Those looking from afar and hoping that things will one day get better are simply wasting their precious time. If it is not so, why will the president promise uninterrupted power supply before 2027, whilst setting no roadmap on how to achieve it?

This is all the more reason why we must come together as one united Yoruba people, to demand our exit from a country that holds no future for our children. Why should we waste our time in a country where lies and deceit are the daily breakfast served to us by the politicians?

We need not continue in this madness of idly sitting and hoping that our fortune will change for the better through mere optimism alone. We need to be proactive in dismantling the root cause of our problem: the fallacious amalgamation of Nigeria itself. In this way, truly independent nations, united by a common history and way of life, can be formed out of it. We need to strive assiduously for the rebirth of our Yoruba nation, knowing that when we are no more, a lasting legacy has been left behind for our children.

By Kayode Emola

It’s yet another Easter, when we reminisce on the sacrifice made by our Lord Jesus Christ, whose death at Calvary brought salvation to all who believe. As Christians celebrate worldwide, I believe we should take the time to reflect on the true meaning of Easter.

Easter reminds us of all the great sacrifices made by God when He gave His only begotten Son to die for the sins of mankind. God didn’t condemn us to our fate after the fall of Adam, nor did he withhold salvation or place caveats or limitations on it. He was compassionate, pitying us in our sorry state, and so made a way to ensure salvation through Christ Jesus.

Today, as we celebrate Easter, let us remember our fellow Yoruba people who find themselves trapped in Nigeria, living below the poverty line. These people are helpless and vulnerable, desperately in need of a saviour to get them out of their dire situation.

Unlike Adam, their situation is not because of their own mistakes or wrongdoing, but because of the misrule of past leaders who have failed to do what is right for Nigeria. We need to give them the hope of better days ahead, but also show them that this cannot happen within the corruption and brokenness that defines the country of Nigeria.

Our only hope of redemption is an independent Yoruba nation where everyone has equal opportunity to triumph. It is our duty to build a nation based on merit, not nepotism, where excelling in your chosen area of expertise is not predicated on knowing the right people; where workers are fairly rewarded for their labour so that they can take good care of themselves and their families.

This is why we must all stand firm now to demand our sovereign Yoruba nation. We have seen how people are being kidnapped on the highways and in our towns and villages, how farmers are unable to even go to their own farms for fear of being kidnapped. I believe that those of us who have the means should combine our resources to help fight this insecurity in our land, the greatest threat that the Yoruba people face today.

We must come together in support of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement as they strive to wrest Yoruba independence from the clutches of Nigeria. This is the only means we have of stemming the flood of misfortune bedevilling our people.

Our Yoruba nation needs us. This is not the time to sit on the fence, watching what others are doing. Rather, it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let us not ask what others are doing about the situation, but instead ask, at this critical time, what can I do to help the Yoruba nation and its people regain their freedom?

At this time of Easter celebrations, let us reflect on the sacrifice God made by giving up His only Son, and in turn be ready to give up that which is dear to us for the emancipation of our nation. As we do this, I pray that the good Lord be with us in all that we do, especially in that which we do for the good of others as we seek to secure our sovereign Yoruba nation.