By Kayode Emola
In April 1997, Tinubu wrote an article in ThisDay Newspaper stating that he, Tinubu, did not believe in “One Nigeria” (https://www.herald.ng/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tinubu-1997-.webp). This was during the time when the dreaded Sani Abacha was the head of state and Tinubu was in exile in London. The question now is, if Tinubu did not believe in “One Nigeria” in 1997, what changed?
If Tinubu did not believe in “One Nigeria”, after being in power for over two years it is high time he started to put measures in place to back that belief. Nigeria has never been one and not even Tinubu in 2025 can make it so. Tinubu must remain true to his word that he doesn’t believe in “One Nigeria” and start taking steps to dissolve the country.
The people of Nigeria are a laughingstock around the world, despite the many accolades our virtuous people are achieving abroad. The bad rulers at home misleading the general populace are making life unbearable.
Therefore, there is no reason why the president cannot follow through with the dissolution of the country, rather than complain about resource allocation to the states and local government. The endemic corruption in Nigeria cannot be fought when there is mass hunger in the land.
We have seen time and time again how the average wage available to our people cannot supply their needs beyond a day, much less keep them for a month. This is the real reason why there is so much corruption in every sector of the economy. Everyone in positions of authority wants to help themselves to the largesse of their office not minding the damage inflicted upon the economy.
So, we must appeal to the conscience of President Bola Tinubu, that this is the time for him to back up his purported beliefs with actions. Instead of using his office to strengthen the invasion of Yorubaland as Buhari, his immediate predecessor, did, he must follow through on dismantling the Fulani jihadist “One Nigeria” project.
Buhari’s attitudes and actions could be, if not forgiven, then at least understood: he is a foreigner to the Yoruba people and would naturally want to protect the interests of his own people. I don’t think President Tinubu will be accorded the same grace if he abuses his position as President of Nigeria to the detriment of his kinsmen.
The president must remember that the issues of ranching and Ruga, the land-grabbing agenda pioneered by Buhari, met with a stiff resistance by both the Yoruba and other nationalities in Southern Nigeria. Tinubu should not become so blinded by his ambitions for a second term that he sinks to the depths of promising the Fulani people land that he has not got authority to offer.
No man should be permitted to extort his people to please the North for the sake of his own political ambition. It is time the Yoruba people send a strong message to the federal government and the Fulani oligarchs that we will not sit by and allow the North to overrun us. Our fathers may have folded their hands in obedience to the atrocities of the federal government, but our generation has had enough of the injustices meted out to them, and will not stand for it any more.
