Voice of Emancipation: Yoruba Road to Sovereignty

By Kayode Emola

Moving away from the vital lessons learnt from the just-concluded four-part series on Nehemiah and how he was able to restore the lost glory of the Israelites. We shall be looking at the Yoruba people’s quest for sovereignty.

Yoruba as a nation that has existed long before Nigeria was created but lost its sovereignty when the British invaded our space in the early nineteen century through the use of force. I will not dwell on the history of how we lost our sovereignty today but would rather focus on how we can regain our sovereignty back.

Never in the history of elections held in the Yorubaland had we counted 5 million votes during an election; yet, in a twist of fate over 5 million Yoruba signed the petition to exit Nigeria in less than 3 months. This goes to show that an average Yoruba person is wanting out of the unbearable union of hardship called Nigeria.

With the petition out of the way, it is now time for the real hard work of emancipating our people from these colonial shackles of slavery once and for all. One notable Nigerian Frank Kukori once said, that “the struggle for freedom, democracy and human right is not a campaign party”. I dare say that those campaigning for several electoral positions in Nigeria for the 2023 elections are not fighting for democracy or freedom of their people; they are on a self-destructive mission wasting their time on a failed project called Nigeria.

Nigeria as a country has failed in all indices of developmental growth as it has since 1960. There are no grandstanding or campaign promises that can salvage the ruins of Nigeria. As I write this article, university lecturers have been on strike for over 2 months and their polytechnic counterparts for over a month. Despite this, those clamouring for one Nigeria have no clue how Nigeria will actually work without a viable educational system. The fact that the university lecturers are on strike due to failed promises by the Federal government on the agreement signed in 2009 says a lot about where Nigeria is heading. If this is the case, then it begs the question of why Nigeria should continue to be one when the brains that should be engaged to bring about development are not being utilised.

Surreptitiously, the Yorubaland that is the beacon of light for Nigeria and produces the majority of the resources used to build Nigeria has now become a low wage, low skilled economy. Many people wonder why we have numerous bike men in Lagos and cheap labour from the north without really looking at the root cause of this problem.

During my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nasarawa State, I was teaching the final year student Physics and Mathematics and one of the questions I asked most of the graduating students were their aspirations for the future. These were brilliant students and not mere pushovers so the answers I got were quite revealing. Some of them told me that they will go into farming because their parents do not have money to send them to higher institutions. However, the majority of them told me that they will become bike men popularly known as “okada riders”.

This revelation shocked me because I would have expected to hear the students say things like, they will go to college or try and secure university admission. If high school children are aspiring to become bike men, then it tells us the type of society we are building. It is the reason why we have several hundreds of thousands of motorcycle riders from the north in Lagos and many other places in Yorubaland. If anyone thinks that by becoming a governor or president this problem will abate, then it must be the greatest joke of the century.

Whilst we Yoruba cannot change the mentality of the northerners, we can still shape the future of the Yoruba nation and its people by bringing about policies that will uplift the lives of our people. When our current politicians react to events, one wonders if they were sleeping when the problem was building up and what was their action plan to resolve the issue? For instance, take the motorcycle menace in Lagos, it is easier said than done that the governor is banning okada riders from the streets of Lagos. My question is what is the alternative provided? The answer is none. Nearly all the major highways in Lagos are blocked by trailers and tankers and one cannot get to an appointment on time without a motorcycle. If that is the case, why not come up with a holistic approach to dealing with the root cause rather than window dressing the situation.

The truth is no ban on motorcycles can work effectively anywhere in Lagos State without the critical infrastructure like roads, trains and other transportation networks built to standard across the length and breadth of the state. Also, the building of these infrastructures will not be possible as all the revenue generated from Lagos State goes to the Federal government to be then shared by other states. It shows that we have a very complex problem on our hands and the simple solution is pulling Yorubaland out of Nigeria and establishing our own sovereign nation.

We have been labouring for some years now to establish an independent Yoruba nation and I am pleased to say that the journey is nearer than we would imagine. There are numerous high-level engagements at the moment on how the Yoruba nation can be actualised and I am happy that several people are utilising their skills to bring about our sovereign nation into manifestation. Never have I been any prouder to be a Yoruba person and I can say that the struggle for an independent Yoruba nation is worth the effort.

Some naysayers will want us to believe that it is not possible, however, history teaches us something that those who are determined do eventually win if they do not give up on their belief. We have tried Nigeria for over 60 years and what that has resulted in is mass poverty for our people and it is time to change the cause, and the only destination for salvation is an independent Yoruba nation. In an independent Yoruba nation, we will be able to build all the critical infrastructure needed to bring about good life and happiness for all our people.

An independent Yoruba nation will offer everyone the opportunity to aspire to whatever height they wish and it will give a lot of our people the opportunity to dream again. We will eradicate the menace of having to rely on motorcycles as our major means of transportation as it is not in itself the most convenient means of transportation. We will be able to build other infrastructure such as schools, roads, health facilities, sports centres, and good telecommunication service among many others.

My message to all Yoruba both at home and in the diaspora is that we are now ready to move to an independent Yoruba nation. I urge us to be prepared as the days are getting nearer and closer every passing day. Those who treat it with levity and nonchalance will be surprised when it actually comes to past. Until we meet again next week, continue to stand up speak out and together we will make the world hear us.