Connect with us

Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: Does President Tinubu Now Believe in One Nigeria?

Published

on

By Kayode Emola

In the closing remarks of his now-famous interview titled “I Don’t Believe in One Nigeria” with the Thisday Sunday Newspaper on 13 April 1997, Tinubu expresses frustration at the state of affairs in Nigeria. He further called for a more inclusive and just system of governance, insisting that unless the country is restructured along lines that respect the diversity of its people, the unity of Nigeria will remain a myth”.

Could we say that the President was naïve at that time when he was calling for the restructuring of Nigeria? Or is it that this is a political mantra that soothes the elites of Nigeria to give the Nigerian populace something to hope for that they know will never materialise?

For those who care to listen, Nigeria can never be restructured, and anyone asking for restructuring or regionalism is living in a fool’s paradise. Time will not permit me today to go into more details on the reasons why Nigeria cannot be restructured. Maybe on a later day, I might be able to analyse the full details of why Nigeria cannot be restructured.

The bottom line is that we went to war from 1967-1970 because the government of the day didn’t want restructuring. Instead, Gowon, who was the military head of state then, created 12 states of the federation, and from then on, Nigeria was further balkanised into 21 states, and then to 30 states, and finally to 36 states. We should remember that all these were done during the military era, and they were done for a purpose, which is to frustrate restructuring. Again, time will also not permit me to dissect this today properly.

We can see that those clamouring for restructuring today have a better candidate in the president of Nigeria to make it happen if he wanted to, but who has not uttered a word on it since he became president. Is that because the president of Nigeria knows that the cry for restructuring is just a ruse to keep those disillusioned with Nigeria with hope that Nigeria has a chance of survival?

Nigeria is long gone, and those in power are just carrying the carcass of a dead nation. How can someone explain that with inflation at over 27% and minimum wage at around $30/month, Nigeria is still a work in progress? Over 100 years ago, the minimum wage was around $33/month. Have we gone forward or have we gone backwards? Can the Nigerian politicians live on $30/month salary like millions of Nigerians are doing and still see the country as a viable project? Your guess is as good as mine.

The Truth is that President Tinubu is a master class politician who will say things to please his grassroots base. However, when push comes to shove, President Tinubu will only do what will make him survive in his own position as the leader and godfather of his empire.

Tinubu never believed in ‘One Nigeria’ and never will he believe in ‘One Nigeria’, but because he is the president of Nigeria, he doesn’t care if Nigeria burns to the ground. As long as he continues in power and his stooges continue to give him reverence for a job well done, then the rest of us can go to blazes.

However, I know that one day, just like Chief Obafemi Awolowo predicted that the suffering of Nigerians will get so severe that it is the people themselves who will revolt against the government. Let’s not think that day is far ahead; it is as close as the dawn of a new day.

We all witnessed what happened to the 8th President of Sri Lanka (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) and his family in 2022. They thought they had Sri Lanka at the palm of their hands as their personal possession until a nationwide protest toppled the government. The same is what happened in Nepal last month when the Nepalese government was toppled by its people.

Tinubu should not wait until there is a massive protest by the people before he does the right thing. He should convene a Sovereign National Conference and let the ethnic nationalities decide their future. The last time we had a conference of a similar sort was in 1957, when Nigeria was fighting for its independence from Britain.

Since that agreement was broken by the military in 1966, the people of Nigeria deserve another conference to decide their future and not just a patched job by the military. The Nigerian people deserve a better country, and not just the one dictated to them by the politicians.

They deserve to live in their own homeland to build the country of their dreams and not just chase illusions in foreign lands. Many Nigerians from the North to the South are fed up with politicians telling them Nigeria will one day be better when there are no concrete steps by the politician to better the lot of the people.

The mood music is that the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria want to go their separate ways as Nigeria is no longer a viable project. However, if the government of the day or their successor thinks they can forcefully keep Nigeria as one, then what happened in several war-torn countries like Sudan, Somalia, former Yugoslavia etc, may be staring in our face with an ever-increasing population being born into poverty.

I hope and pray that the Yoruba people will not be caught off guard. We should remember that the Igbo nation went to war between 1967 to 1970, and they have not relented their effort since then. The Yoruba seem to be lagging in sensitising our people that Nigeria is the reason many of our people are running out of the country seeking greener pastures abroad.

The earlier we start sensitising our people that the Yoruba nation is the only way out of this mess we find ourselves in, the better it will be for all of us. The remnants of Nigeria who shall go their own way too will still be where they are, but we shall be good neighbours and trading partners to one another.

We Yoruba people, shall pursue growth and development for our people, and our people shall have a place where they can call home without fear of being kidnapped or killed by alien invaders. This is where the true hope of a renewed nation lies and not in the failed British experiment called Nigeria.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: Roadmap to Yoruba Nation

Published

on

By

By Kayode Emola

We all know that there is not one event that ruined the fortunes of Nigeria today. In fact, Nigeria suffered from a series of historical, political, and socio-economic woes that is shaping its many struggles today.

In the words of the US President Donald Trump, Nigeria is a disgraced country in the comity of nations. For that reason, he has stated that the US is coming guns-a-blazing to rescue Nigeria from its myriad of security problems that the government has refused to tackle.

Many people agree that Nigeria has failed, and the return to civilian rule in 1999 has not brought the expected hopes that the people thought democracy would bring. The systemic corruption, ethno-religious divisions, and weak institutions that are bedevilling the country have done little to better the lot of the population.

Therefore, when we eventually get our Yoruba nation, one would expect that the problems that bedevilled Nigeria will confront the new nation. The Yoruba people, through our self-determination route, have always emphasised the need to pursue a non-violent approach to our autonomy.

We have documented several atrocities committed against our Yoruba people, from kidnapping to ethnic cleansing, and the nonchalant attitudes of our state governors toward our plight. Some Yoruba people have even clamoured for restructuring as a pit stop to self-determination, knowing full well that this is not palatable to the Fulani oligarchy controlling Nigeria.

We have therefore insisted that if Nigeria fails to convene an assembly where all the ethnic nationalities can have a meaningful dialogue, the end of Nigeria may be brutal and violent. In the end, the breakup of Nigeria will be inevitable, and everyone will lose substantially from a chaotic breakup.

International law favours negotiated, peaceful settlement as unilateral declaration without broad domestic and international support is politically difficult. However, if the US were to intervene in Nigeria with the level of insecurity going on, it creates a clear pathway for the unilateral declaration of independence of the southern peoples of Nigeria.

Our mass campaign for Yoruba independence has gained prominence and support in international circles. We must begin to show what the Yoruba nation means in concrete terms and the benefits of an autonomous Yoruba nation for our people.

Our detailed blueprint covering constitution, minority rights, revenue sharing, pensions, public services, security, and judiciary should now be watertight and ready for consumption by the Yoruba public. Our economic plan must show fiscal viability, tax base, trade, and transition programs, as international actors and investors will judge us by the quality of our state-building plan.

Where possible, our constitution must be made up of transparent consultative referenda to measure support for the transition into full statehood. Our elections must be devoid of the cash and carry politics practiced in Nigeria, where only the moneybags and their stooges occupy political positions.

In all of this, we should not forget to engage the international diplomatic community and our diaspora population. Strengthening friendship with foreign parliaments with careful briefings on our pathway to international recognition.

We must recognise that international recognition is political and not automatic. According to the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States to be recognised as an independent nation, our permanent population, defined territory, capacity to enter trade relations with other states, and our government structure will stand us in good stead.

Above all, we must recognise that the life and livelihood of the ordinary Yoruba citizen matter. They should be the focal point of any actions in the emergence of the Yoruba nation. We must ensure that the Yoruba people are better for it and that the efforts to pursue an independent Yoruba nation are worth it for them.

I therefore enjoin our comrades to be battle-ready when the US comes to Nigeria guns-a-blazing to the rescue of the Christian population. This is our moment in history when fate has met our preparation, and we must be ready to seize the moment when the inevitable happens.

Continue Reading

Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: Trump’s Designation of Nigeria As a Country of Concern

Published

on

By

By Kayode Emola

For many Yoruba people clamoring for their own independent sovereign nation, the designation of Nigeria by President Donald J. Trump as a ‘country of particular concern’ was a welcome development. For many of us, this was long overdue, as it seemed no one was listening to our cry for help in the past.

At last, it suddenly felt that we were being listened to, and what we have been clamouring for is coming to us from the most unlikely sources. Whilst many Christian communities were being brutalised by the combination of Boko Haram and the Fulani terrorists in conjunction with their foreign and local sponsors, the Nigerian government stood by doing nothing to help.

They allowed the Fulani terrorists to run riot on defenceless communities in the name of Jihad, when the truth is that these people themselves are not even religious. They hide in the name of religion to commit atrocities that are beyond imagination, creating fear wherever they go.

In September 2025, more than twenty communities were displaced in Kwara and Kogi States by these terrorists. We did not hear any word from the President of Nigeria, nor the Governors of Kwara or Kogi State. They went about their business as though the lives of the citizens didn’t matter anymore.

As a matter of fact, the Governor of Kwara State went with President Tinubu to commission a project at the end of September in Imo State, whilst his own state was being attacked. This goes to show that the so-called political leaders are just in politics for the optics rather than the opportunity to serve their people.

For all intents and purposes, the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern must mean something for the ordinary people whose lives are being affected by the wanton killings. It should not just be another rhetoric on the pages of our screens and print media, and I am glad President Trump is making serious moves towards it.

I am particularly thrilled that President Trump’s statement is being backed by action and that the US Secretary of War is now on standby to mobilise soldiers into Nigeria. For far too long, the terrorists in Nigeria have been kidnapping and maiming innocent people whilst the Nigerian army stands by and watches.

The government of Nigeria, too, instead of dealing with this menace, is romancing the terrorists and allowing them to join the Nigerian army. What an abomination! To me, this is a national disgrace by the Nigerian government. It shows that the government of Nigeria is the real culprit of the crime and is creating a narrative to soothe their nefarious actions.

The Fulani are a deceptive people who stole Hausa lands in Northern Nigeria by stealth from the original landowners. They surreptitiously coveted all the Hausa kingdoms of Northern Nigeria into their emirate. They had hoped that they could replicate their achievements of coveting the Hausa land everywhere else in Nigeria.

However, they themselves have now realised that they have moved too fast and too soon. Yoruba, Igbo, and other ethnic nationalities in Southern Nigeria gave them a run for their money despite the humongous support they received from the Federal Government during the reign of Buhari.

We as Yoruba must come out with the full facts of the Nigerian situation to the President of the United State so that we can get the appropriate help we desire. We must ensure that President Trump is adequately informed to make the right decisions that will be a win for us all.

Nigeria is not supposed to be a nation, and even the British who amalgamated us know it. That is why they used the word amalgamation rather than union. The amalgamation was supposed to be in part and practice, and not necessarily the formation of a nation.

However, a lot of our Yoruba people who cannot see beyond their noses do not know what the amalgamation means. If they had known what we as Yoruba have lost because of the union of Southern and Northern Nigeria, I am very sure they would be the ones clamouring for our sovereign Yoruba nation.

The time has come in the history of our people where we must capitalise on the goodwill of the US President to achieve our Yoruba nation. The US doesn’t want to be bogged down in an endless war in the most populous black nation on earth. We must do everything within our power to ensure that the Yoruba nation gets the right support it deserves from the world’s powers.

Therefore, if we can present our case that the best thing that can happen for us as Yoruba is to have our own independent nation where we can secure our own borders. We would help in solving the conundrum of insecurity that we find ourselves in.

We need to make the US government aware that we are by far the largest trading nation with the US on the African continent, and it will do us Yoruba, and the US a great deal of good to partner together to create a win-win solution for all parties.

Continue Reading

Voice of Emancipation

Voice of Emancipation: What About the Coup Plot?

Published

on

By

By Kayode Emola

It is more than two weeks since the rumour of a coup plot resurfaced in Nigeria. It is the first attempt at a coup since the beginning of the fourth republic in 1999. For all intents and purposes, I believe it marks the start of the end of Nigeria, considering Nigeria’s history and the prevalence of military coups.

However, the most surprising of it all is that the presidency is in denial of the coup plot or even admitting it to the Nigerian populace. Yet, the president is making dramatic changes that suggest he is very unsettled by this development.

If anything at all, I believe what we witnessed was just a hoax and the real coup is about to happen soon. There is no smokescreen without a fire, and the president had better watch his back, especially with his recent reshuffling of his service chiefs.

If anyone around the president gives him advice, they should know that he just made the wrong moves. If not, why will the military intelligence where his National Security Adviser (NSA) is involved in a coup, and to date, the Security Adviser is still holding his position. It beats my imagination that this president cannot wake up and smell the coffee.

Of the said 16 military officers who were implicated in the phantom coup, the majority were from the north, and many of them are Fulani. The National Security Adviser is also a Fulani man, and it is the north that is hellbent on throwing the country into confusion, as they are definitely unhappy with Tinubu’s presidency and rightly so.

Maybe President Tinubu forgot what happened in July 1966, when Gowon was appointed as Aguiyi-Ironsi’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to placate the north. Ironsi, by appointing Gowon, did not know that he is digging his own grave, as Gowon would later mastermind the coup of 1966, where he eventually succeeded Ironsi.

If there is going to be a coup plot in Nigeria today, the first person who will be in the know will be the National Security Adviser. If President Bola Tinubu thinks that the one person he can trust to protect him is his Fulani friend, then he is, of all presidents, the most pitiable.

I would love to say Nigeria is dying, but the truth is that Nigeria died a long time ago, and the present rulers are doing a good job in preserving a carcass and calling it a nation. Everything Tinubu protested before he became president, he is doing ten times over, and yet he doesn’t bat an eyelid.

If, after criticizing the Federal Government when he was in the opposition, he is doing worse than the government he criticized. It shows that Nigeria has no hope of redemption, and the politicians are just stringing the people along.

If the Yoruba people know what is good for them, they should start preparing for their exit from this ungodly union called Nigeria. We should not put our hope on one of us being the president of Nigeria.

We should ensure that Tinubu is the last president of Nigeria. This is because, whether we like it or not, after Tinubu’s presidency, the Fulani will take over the presidency, and by that time, they will come with vengeance for us, Yoruba.

Whether Tinubu leaves the presidency by the ballot or a coup, Yorubaland will never see the development it truly deserves among the comity of nations. Our people are scattered abroad like sheep without a shepherd. Many are in unspeakable trauma abroad with no home or hope to return to.

If Tinubu’s presidency is not bringing any true meaningful development to our people, then I don’t think we should expect any miracle when a Fulani man becomes president of Nigeria. I cannot emphasise enough the great danger that awaits the Yoruba people if we fail to act now while there is still an opportunity.

Therefore, the time is now to begin our exit preparations from this contraption, Nigeria. There is nothing to keep us in Nigeria, and I cannot believe that we will miss Nigeria after our liberation. So the choice is in our hands to either leave Nigeria now or become a vassal state.

Continue Reading

Trending