samkoro: Yorubas are the Problem with Nigeria - By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Written by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 05:01

By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Prosective Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
In sum, the Yoruba political leadership, as mentioned by Balarabe Musa, has shown itself over the years to be incapable of rising above narrow tribal interests and reciprocating goodwill from other sections of the country by treating other groups with respect. Practically every crisis in Nigeria since independence has its roots in this attitude.

i. The Yoruba elite and area-boy politics;
ii. Igbo marginalisation and the responsible limits of retribution; and
iii. The Yoruba Factor and "Area-boy" Politics.

See also The Adulteress' Diary by Lamido Sanusi

My views on the Yoruba political leadership have been thoroughly articulated in some of my writings, prime among which was " Afenifere: Syllabus of Errors" published by This Day (The Sunday Newspaper) on Sept 27, 1998. There was also an earlier publication in the weekly Trust entitled " The Igbo, the Yoruba and History" (Aug. 21, 1998).

In sum, the Yoruba political leadership, as mentioned by Balarabe Musa, has shown itself over the years to be incapable of rising above narrow tribal interests and reciprocating goodwill from other sections of the country by treating other groups with respect. Practically every crisis in Nigeria since independence has its roots in this attitude.

The Yoruba elite were the first, in 1962, to attempt a violent overthrow of an elected government in this country. In 1966, it was the violence in the West which provided an avenue for the putsch of 15th January. After Chief Awolowo lost to Shagari in 1983 elections, it was the discontent and bad publicity in the South-West which led to the Buhari intervention. When Buhari jailed UPN governors like Ige and Onabanjo, the South-Western press castigated that good government and provided the right mood for IBB to take over power. As soon as IBB cleared UPN governors of charges against them in a politically motivated retrial, he became the darling of the South-West. When IBB annulled the primaries in which Adamu Ciroma and Shehu Yar Adua emerged as presidential candidates in the NRC and SDP, he was hailed by the South-West. When the same man annulled the June 12, 1993 elections in which Abiola was the front-runner, the South-West now became defenders of democracy.



When it seemed Sani Abacha was sympathetic to Abiola, the South-West supported his take-over. He was in fact invited by a prominent NADECO member to take over in a published letter shortly before the event. Even though Abiola had won the elections in the North, the North was blamed for its annulment. When Abdulsalam Abubakar started his transition, the Yoruba political leadership through NADECO presented a memorandum on a Government of National Unity that showed complete disrespect for the intelligence and liberties of other Nigerians.





Subsequently, they formed a tribal party which failed to meet minimum requirements for registration, but was registered all the same to avoid the violence that was bound to follow non-registration, given the area-boy mentality of South-West politicians. Having rejected an Obasanjo candidacy and challenged the election as a fraud in court, we now find a leading member of the AD in the government, a daughter of an Afenifere leader as Minister of State, and Awolowo´s daughter as Ambassador, all appointed by a man who won the election through fraud.



Meanwhile, nothing has been negotiated for the children of Abiola, the focus of Yoruba political activity. In return for these favours, the AD solidly voted for Evan Enwerem as Senate President. This is a man who participated in the two-million- man March for Abacha´s self-succession. He also is reputed to have hosted a meeting of governors during IBB´s transition, demanding that June 12 elections should never be de-annulled and threatening that the East would go to war if this was done. When Ibrahim Salisu Buhari was accused of swearing to a false affidavit, the Yoruba political elite correctly took up the gauntlet for his resignation.



When an AD governor, Bola Tinubu, swears to a false affidavit that he attended an Ivy League University which he did not attend, we hear excuses.


For so many years, the Yoruba have inundated this country with stories of being marginalised and of a civil service dominated by northerners through quota system. The Federal Character Commission has recently released a report which shows that the South-West accounts for 27.8% of civil servants in the range GL08 to GL14 and a full 29.5% of GL 15 and above. One zone out of six zones controls a full 30% of the civil service leaving the other five zones to share the remaining 70%. We find the same story in the economy, in academia, in parastatals.

Yet in spite of being so dominant, the Yoruba complained and complained of marginalization. Of recent, in recognition of the trauma which hit the South-West after June 12, the rest of the country forced everyone out of the race to ensure that a South-Westerner emerged, often against the best advice of political activists.



Instead of leading a path of reconciliation and strong appreciation, the Yoruba have embarked on short-sighted triumphalism, threatening other "nationalities" that they ( who after all lost the election) will protect Obasanjo ( who was forced on them). No less a person than Bola Ige has made such utterances.



To further show that they were in charge, they led a cult into the Hausa area of Sagamu, murdered a Hausa woman and nothing happened. In the violence that followed, they killed several Hausa residents, with Yoruba leaders like Segun Osoba, reminding Nigerians of the need to respect the culture of their host communities. This would have continued were it not for the people of Kano who showed that they could also create their own Oro who would only be appeased through the shedding of innocent Yoruba blood.

I say all this, to support Balarabe Musa´s statement, that the greatest problem to nation-building in Nigeria are the Yoruba Bourgeoisie. I say this also to underscore my point that until they change this attitude, no conference can solve the problems of Nigeria. We cannot move forward if the leadership of one of the largest ethnic groups continues to operate, not like statesmen, but like common area boys.

iii.The Igbo Factor and the Reasonable Limits of Retribution.

The Igbo people of Nigeria have made a mark in the history of this nation. They led the first successful military coup which eliminated the Military and Political leaders of other regions while letting off Igbo leaders. Nwafor Orizu, then Senate President, in consultation with President Azikiwe, subverted the constitution and handed over power to Aguiyi-Ironsi. Subsequent developments, including attempts at humiliating other peoples, led to the counter-coup and later the civil war. The Igbos themselves must acknowledge that they have a large part of the blame for shattering the unity of this country.

Having said that, this nation must realise that Igbos have more than paid for their foolishness. They have been defeated in war, rendered paupers by monetary policy fiat, their properties declared abandoned and confiscated, kept out of strategic public sector appointments and deprived of public services. The rest of the country forced them to remain in Nigeria and has continued to deny them equity.

The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep the Igbo out of the scheme of things. In the recent transition when the Igbo solidly supported the PDP in the hope of an Ekwueme presidency, the North and South-West treated this as a Biafra agenda. Every rule set for the primaries, every gentleman´s agreement was set aside to ensure that Obasanjo, not Ekwueme emerged as the candidate. Things went as far as getting the Federal Government to hurriedly gazette a pardon. Now, with this government, the marginalistion of the Igbo is more complete than ever before. The Igbos have taken all these quietly because, they reason, they brought it upon themselves. But the nation is sitting on a time-bomb.

After the First World War, the victors treated Germany with the same contempt Nigeria is treating Igbos. Two decades later, there was a Second World War, far costlier than the first. Germany was again defeated, but this time, they won a more honourable peace. Our present political leaders have no sense of History. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians, are Nigerians, but suffer because of actions of earlier generations. They will soon decide that it is better to fight their own war, and may be find an honourable peace, than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity.

The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have exacted their pound of flesh from the Igbos. For one Sardauna, one Tafawa Balewa, one Akintola and one Okotie-Eboh, hundreds of thousands have died and suffered.

If this issue is not addressed immediately, no conference will solve Nigeria´s problems.


By Sanusi Lamido Sanus

Ricky_Ross: [b][/b]is yoruba not yorobah.

I think this is the closest answer you can get. And just for the records, it is Igbo and no ibo. I am aware that you know what you are doing, but dont start a fight you cannot finish. You can get the correct answer from yorobah brothers like OBJ

sheyguy: You 're asking a question with the simplest answer ever, but one that can never be answered by any person.
It is like cheating wife or husband caught red handed in the act and is being asked about ugly details of the affair by the other partner . . . He or She may never speak out!!!

Demdem: Above all, Ojukwu died a Nigerian, u all should stop this.

van bonattel:

Whish topic, lemme tell you what the topic is, now remove your pants, deep your finger into your anus, deeper.....deeper still, now drag it out and smell it, what does it smell like? That is the summary of your life

Imanuelle: I read d yorubas posting that banjo was sent to betray his own people...
Do u really think ojukwu would be stupid to send banjo to finish his own people?
He did banjo a big favor. He wanted him to b d 'Jesus' of his people... To save his own people from the claws of the nigerian Army. Ȋ̝̊̅† was never a suicide mission.
Imagine the respect banjo would command if he had succeeded in saving his people from the hausa-dominated nigerian army.
U guys should think!!

van bonattel:

Whish topic, lemme tell you what the topic is, now remove your pants, deep your finger into your anus, deeper.....deeper still, now drag it out and smell it, what does it smell like? That is the summary of your life

Madawaki01: dat's why he wanted 2 b d one 2 appoint a governor 4 mid west and not d person fought d war(banjo)let me make dis clear,ojukwu wanted 2 b d president of nigeria and not a fucking president of what wud b d smallest nation on earth(biafra)he just used dat as an excuse.

splendidb20:

these topics below didn't make the frontpage
www.nairaland.com/798602/anambra-state-universitys-nuta_bolt-team

www.nairaland.com/916400/how-anambra-univeristy-students-conquered

www.nairaland.com/977445/anambra-state-university-world-news

the bad ones will always make it to the front page

CyberG:

You missed the point or you did not want to see it so I will have to re-focus the conversation. Like I told another poster,you didn't understand what this discussion exposes the double standard, outright falsehood and propaganda-pregnancy of ibos and not the number of victims of the war. Read it again and look at the arguments being made, it's really easy to see that.

Other issues you raised are immaterial to this debate and will be better on their own thread and we can thrash it out.

Madawaki01: Don't know why either,but in d peak of d battle,he was killed by ojukwu for selfish reasons,they said he called his army the liberation instead of the biafran army,does this concern ojukwu?what he wanted was the sovereign state of biafra and banjo was fighting d nigerian army,but he wanted people to say the biafran army conquered the mid west,i think he wanted d whole of nigeria(to b the president)and not only biafra,when he knows dat he didn't hav experienced officers in his army,why didn't he wait for a little time before plunging into a war,maybe he thinks a war is a childs play,he only led his pple into misfortune and igbos are licking that wound till today

Ukpaianthony: Cyberg or wat ever is ur name,Don't put ur family in trouble,U re treading where an angels fear to tread,No body challenges the igbo's,go n meet ur father n ask him abt the war!!!! Better go sleep,, u slimmie fool

sleekdot: Igbos and their ancestral stupidity again

Only a Yiboman would expect his enemies at war to feed him

Bunch of cannibals

No wonder your coward leader fled to Abidjan

www.nairaland.com/attachments/789775_Ojukwu_getting_ready_to_run_jpg967aeb75e390ca75377ad019b3c9fae5

Mr Everest: Are you a kid? Even if you are, it does not give you the right to ignorance because we live in an information age. That sh!t you wrote was fabricated by mischeif makers!