By Kayode Emola
One of the reasons why the Yoruba Self-Determination Struggle has endured to date is that very many of us are uncompromising. We refused to be cowed into adopting a pseudo name or title for our struggle just to appease the system. We remained true to the calling and focused on our end goal, which is a sovereign Yoruba nation.
This obviously didn’t go down well with a lot of our people who came to the struggle with varying motives. Some joined us for their own personal gain rather than for the purpose of an independent Yoruba nation. Some others came to do the bidding of their slave masters, who sent them to destabilise us.
The unfortunate thing is that those whose hearts are not well-grounded in the struggle found themselves wavering and eventually falling by the wayside. They let themselves be deceived that self-determination is a walk in the park.
The important thing now is that those of us still standing should redouble our focus and commitment so as not to be distracted. The journey ahead is tough and not for the fainthearted.
There are still some among us on the self-determination struggle who are supposed to be on the path to freedom, leading our people to the promised land. Yet, their contributions to the struggle have been none other than to create a very beautiful website and to sit on social media all day to criticize others.
Such are those that claim to have formed a government in exile a while ago, without any election held in Yorubaland. In their mind, once they can get our people on social media to recognise them, then they can claim to the whole world that they are the face of our struggle. My take is that a government in exile is not a guarantee that we will get international recognition or the Yoruba nation of our dreams in a heartbeat.
The Yoruba nation is a recognised entity globally, and that alone is more than enough for us. Our struggle is to liberate our people from the slave camp that Nigeria has come to represent for many of its citizens. We do not need to put ourselves through the cacophony of forming a government in exile to pass a clear message to the world.
Therefore, those who are truly committed to the Yoruba nation struggle in the homeland must be ready to pick up the gauntlet and take the campaign to the enemy’s camp. We cannot sit down comfortably in our sitting rooms abroad and hope that one day the Yoruba nation will come. We need to constantly be on the neck of the so-called elected representatives, demanding our inalienable right to self-determination.
We need to be very careful as we march along, as some organisations that were initially set up to actualise the Yoruba nation struggle are now actively campaigning for a restructured Nigeria. These are the same people who were supposedly pushing for Yoruba autonomy from Nigeria under the Buhari regime, but are silent when a Yoruba man is the president of Nigeria.
I do not say their demand is wrong, but how can they not see that Nigeria cannot be restructured, nor can we ever go back to regional governance? I say this boldly because the genesis of the Nigerian civil war from 1963-1970 was because of restructuring.
Ojukwu, who also asked for a restructuring of Nigeria, way back in the 60s, from the unitary government of Aguiyi-Ironsi promulgated in May 1966, had to go to war. Gowon was not having any of it and went ahead to create 12 states of the federation after the Aburi accord failed. This led to Ojukwu pulling the Eastern region out of Nigeria the following day, and thus the civil war began.
For anyone to think that more than 50 years after the civil war and over 20 more states created by several military governments, it’s time to restructure Nigeria is daydreaming. Not even Tinubu, who is now president, has the power to restructure the country, let alone the ordinary man on the street. The best Tinubu can do is ask his rubber-stamping national assembly to create more states to palliate some people, to allow him to finish his tenure in office.
For Nigeria to be restructured, every ethnic nationality will have to sit down at a round table and discuss the modalities. Outside of that, anyone hoping that because Tinubu is the president and is a Yoruba man, then he can restructure Nigeria is living in a fool’s paradise.
The Fulani North has nothing to offer to Nigeria, and if we continue to pander to their antics of requesting a restructured Nigeria, they will be happy that they got us where they wanted. The only thing that can shake the core of that belief is a total dissolution of the forced union. That is what those of the self-determination stand for, and that is why they are afraid of us.
Four out of the six regions of Nigeria have now shown interest in exiting the union; the only thing remaining now is for any region or ethnic nationality to unilaterally declare its sovereignty and stand by it. Once that is done, it will shatter any legitimacy binding Nigeria together and steer it into total collapse, just like Yugoslavia.
That is what we on the self-determination struggle must focus on, rather than throwing punches at ourselves on the pages of newspapers like some organisations and individuals are doing. Whoever thinks they can abrogate power to themselves because they have created an organisation and a colourful website is only deceiving themselves.
I urge such people to begin to put their houses in order and come up with plans and programs to enhance the Yoruba nation’s struggle. Rather than becoming a noise-making machine on the pages of a newspaper. Self-determination struggle is not for the faint-hearted, and it is not something you pick up and drop off at will. You must be constant in your belief of an independent Yoruba nation and continuously work towards achieving this goal.
After all, Mandela stayed in prison for 27 years before his dream of dismantling the apartheid regime in South Africa was realised. He didn’t waver in prison to beg for his freedom, to give up the fight. He stayed true to his belief. I only wish some of our comrades who can’t even identify themselves in our Yoruba meetings but can throw punches in columns and WhatsApp pages would change for the better.
The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement is moving the struggle forward as best as it can, creating structures that will make us a formidable team. Perfecting all the programs initiated from the beginning of this struggle since 2018, and making sure we are laser-focused on our journey to freedom. My only prayer is that we get to our destination as quickly as possible and not be derailed by these detractors.
The journey is going to be tough, no doubt about it, but what is certain is victory if we do not give up. I implore our committed people still standing not to be carried away by the noisemakers who are constantly antagonising every little effort. I urge our people to concentrate on those things that bring us closer to our goal rather than listen to those who are trying to derail us. The Yoruba nation has come to stay for good, and this time around, we will get it right.
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