YORUBAS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA - By Sanusi Lamido

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 and area-boy politics;
* Igbo marginalisation and the responsible limits of retribution; and
* The Yoruba Factor and "Area-boy" Politics.
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)...
Being Excerpts from A Paper Presented At The “National Conference On The 1999 Constitution” Jointly Organised By The Network For Justice And The Vision Trust Foundation, At The Arewa House, Kaduna From 11th –12th September, 1999.
http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/yorubas-are-the-problem-with-nigeria-by-sanusi-lamido-sanusi-elombah-com.111348/

REMI FANI KAYODE, AKINTOLA, AWOLOWO, WESTERN REGION AND THE CRISIS THAT TRUNCATED THE FIRST REPUBLIC

These captains of the “tribalism industry” have good incentives to always omit the causes of the January 1966 coup preferring instead to dwell only on the coup itself. The reason is simple; It was in their own Western region then known as the “wild wild west” that election rigging, thuggery, violence, arson, mass murders and other forms of corruption and acts of lawlessness that occasioned the January 1966 coup took place as pioneering acts in Nigeria.

Soon after Nigeria got independence the Western region was in turmoil. Premier Ladoke Akintola and Chief Obafemi Awolowo became embroiled in a protracted crisis. By 1962 the crisis led to sustained violence and acts of lawlessness with law makers engaged in vicious physical combats in the Western regional parliament. Amongst serious injuries and other damages, the mace of office was broken. The federal government intervened to curb the lawlessness and violence by imposing a state of emergency and appointing Dr Moses Majekodunmi as interim premier of the Western region on the 29th of June 1962. This became the first imposition of a state of emergency in Nigeria’s history due to heightened levels of lawlessness. Following an alliance between Akintola and Ahmadu Bello, Ladoke Akintola was returned to power on the 31st of December 1962 in spite of protests by Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe who requested fresh elections rather than reinstating Ladoke Akintola.

By 1963, the plot between Akintola, Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello was perfected and Chief Obafemi Awolowo was arrested for coup plotting/ treason. His trial commenced in earnest and he was alongside some accomplices convicted for treason and jailed for 10 years. This again was the first alleged coup plotting and conviction in Nigerian history. Intent on totally decimating Chief Awolowo, Ladoke Akintola together with vice premier Remi Fani Kayode went into a political alliance with Prime minister Tafawa Balewa and new political party known as the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) was formed. By this time Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe had realised the folly of entering a coalition with Tafawa Balewa’s government and teamed up with incarcerated Chief Awolowo’s Action group to form the all progressive grand alliance (UPGA).

In 1964, federal elections became due. As usual ethnic chauvinism, intimidation and violence was part of the frenzied campaigning. Remi Kayode and Akintola’s campaign was as usual almost entirely based on tribalism. When the elections were finally held, it was massively rigged in the Western region. Indeed deputy premier Remi Fani Kayode had famously boasted that “there is nothing they can do, whether they vote us or not, we will win.” This statement turned out to be true as massive rigging was orchestrated in the elections. Once again this became the first pioneering act of election rigging by indigenous actors in Nigeria’s history. The announcement of the rigged election results quickly sparked off unprecedented acts of thuggery, violence, arson, mass murders and general acts of lawlessness in the Western region.

Daily mass murders and arson became routine in the Western region (wetie). This violence and lawlessness in the Western region was to continue from 1964 until 1966 when the military lost patience and finally struck.

The Western region was thus a region in crisis from the onset of post-colonial rule. By the time of the military coup, Chief Obafemi Awolowo himself was incarcerated for treason and the region was practically on an uncontrollable violence and trajectory of self destruction for almost two years from 1964 to 1966. At the same time that the Western region was aflame the Eastern region was calm and democratic. Unlike the Western region there were no cases of election rigging, thuggery or other such acts of lawlessness in the East. In the North there was sporadic violence in the TIV division which was put down by the military.

Of all the regions, the western region was torn the most by crisis and acts of lawlessness which eventually occasioned the coup. If the leadership of the Western region had played by the rules and avoided the infighting, the election rigging, the thuggery, the planning of a coup in 1963, the arson, the mass murders and other such corrupt acts and vices many of which were being introduced for the first time in Nigeria and which incidentally continues to haunt the nation to date, there would have been no coup and Nigeria would no doubt have immensely benefited from a functional democracy devoid of election rigging, thuggery and violence as it obtains in many progressive nations around the world.

The leadership of the Western region in conspiracy with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello are singularly responsible for the events and crisis that truncated the first republic and ruined the nation.

Those who carried out the coup choose to act out of genuine anger and frustration at the carnage in the Western region. Whatever the demerits of the coup, It is obvious the coupists had nothing to gain other than the patriotic urge to end the corruption and lawlessness that had taken hold of the nation particularly the Western region.

Yorubas created the crisis that occasioned the coup and whose region the coup saved from self destruction are some of the biggest ungrateful noisemakers who peddle the propaganda of colouring an anti corruption revolutionary coup with patriotic ideals very similar to that of Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings in a tribal garb. In Ghana, Jerry Rawlings led a coup that eliminated three former heads of state, top military officers and top members of the judiciary. Not one of those killed was from Jerry Rawlings Ewe tribe, but Ghanaians didn’t spew tribalism into the coup and Ghana is better for it. With too many vultures and opportunists...preying on tribalism in Nigeria the story was bound to be different and thus a coup driven out of patriotism and obvious anger at the state of affairs was reconstructed as an Igbo coup and the worms were let out from the woodwork.

JANUARY 1966 COUP

Adewale Ademoyega, a full blooded Yoruba army officer, was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the January coup. His book ‘Why We Struck’ gives insight into the coup’s antecedents; planning; modus operandi and partial success. Any study of January 15 that ignores Ademoyega’s book is incomplete.

In a September 5 2010 interview with ‘The Nation’ newspaper, Matthew Mbu, then a Junior Defence Minister, narrated how, at an Air Force base in Kaduna on an official assignment on 5 January 1966, he was bluntly told by Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun that the military was going to sack the government. Ademulegun made no bones about their plan to shoot key members of the political class, notably Chief Okotie-Eboh, the Minister for Finance.

... the killing of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Unegbe is attributed to his possession and non-surrender of the Lagos armoury keys to the plotters.
As professional soldiers the plotters knew this. Going by the accounts of Ademoyega and Gbulie who wrote ‘Nigeria’s Five Majors,’ what the plotters desperately needed were armoured vehicles to consolidate their gains in Lagos on January 15.

In page 60 of his book, Ademoyega mentioned Unegbe as one of the officers he and his colleagues had marked down for arrest.

Northern officers and men were involved, especially at the execution stage. Max Silloun, the military historian, mentions them in his landmark online article ‘The inside story of Nigeria’s first military coup Parts 1 and 2.’ It can be accessed from most search engines. Prominent among these Northern officers was the then Lieutenant John Atom Kpera who later became the Benue State governor in the Babangida regime. Kpera participated in the coup under Captain Ben Gbulie, Nzeogwu’s right hand-man in Kaduna. (See Ben Gbulie: ‘Nigeria’s Five Majors.’).

Although Adewale Ademoyega is the most prominent Yoruba participant in the coup, there were other Yoruba officers who were involved at the dangerous execution stage of the coup. One of them is Second Lieutenant Olafimihan, an officer serving under Madiebo in Kaduna. He was sent by the plotters to gauge his commander’s loyalty. (See Madiebo pp.17-18). Another is Lieutenant (some books refer to him as a Captain) Fola Oyewole. He, like Ademoyega, went on to fight for Biafra and wrote a book on his coup and wartime experiences. The book’s title is ‘Reluctant Rebel.’ There is also Captain Ganiyu Adeleke who became an instructor in the Biafran Infantry School. For confirmation, see the list of coup plotters detained by Ironsi’s regime in Ademoyega pp.106-108, and this quote from Nowa Omoigui’s online account: ‘Mid-Western Invasion of 1967’: ‘Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, who had taken part in both the January 15 coup and the Mid-Western invasion before becoming an instructor in the Biafran School of Infantry was released at a later date after his co-plotters had been freed.’ Omoigui’s work is significant because, though he exhibits a high level of professionalism in his research, he has no sympathy for the January 15 coup. If his facts corroborate Ademoyega’s they are worthy of attention.


For personal studies consult the following sources as quoted in this post:

http://www.naijastories.com/2013/04/the-facts-and-fiction-of-the-january-15-1966-coup/

https://www.nairaland.com/334770/famous-aburi-conference-full-minute/3

* Nowa Omoigui’s online account: ‘Mid-Western Invasion of 1967’ - where he mentioned ‘Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, who had taken part in both the January 15 coup and the Mid-Western invasion before becoming an instructor in the Biafran School of Infantry.

* ‘Why We Struck’ - a book by Adewale Ademoyega, a full blooded Yoruba army officer, who was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the January 1966 coup.

* Max Silloun (the military historian) landmark online article - ‘The inside story of Nigeria’s first military coup Parts 1 and 2

* 'Nigeria’s Five Majors’ - book by Ben Gbulie

* Major General Alexander Madiebo - excerpts from his interview with National Mirror
http://elombah.com/index.php/special-reports/13104-blame-gowon-and-awolowo-for-biafra-genocide-general-madiebo

* ‘Reluctant Rebel’ - a book by Captain Fola Oyewole, who went on to fight for Biafra just like Ademoyega

* See the list of coup plotters detained by Ironsi’s regime in Ademoyega pp.106-108

* Sanusi Lamido's writings, "Afenifere: Syllabus of Errors" published by This Day (The Sunday Newspaper) on Sept 27, 1998.

* Sanusi Lamido's writings/publication in the weekly Trust entitled " The Igbo, the Yoruba and History" (Aug. 21, 1998)

* Sanusi Lamido's paper presented at the “National Conference On The 1999 Constitution” Jointly Organised By The Network For Justice And The Vision Trust Foundation, At The Arewa House, Kaduna From 11th –12th September, 1999.

* http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/yorubas-are-the-problem-with-nigeria-by-sanusi-lamido-sanusi-elombah-com.111348/

Get the books and published papers and acquire some useful knowledge that can help you make informed decisions, and unravel the lies and propaganda being peddled in the public domain by the criminal 'sophisticated' tribe, even in this age of information technology.

well, this just proves racism

Ethnicity and Hate post



[size=15pt]#SUGARBEE[/size]

This is not true. The yorubas still remain vital in Nigeria's progress.

Nigeria was not one

Nigeria is not one

Nigeria can never be one

Nigeria will never be one

Amalgamation of strange bed fellows

Why force people to live together?

What is all this pretense and false hope that one day Nigeria will be united?

I support a referendum NOW!!!!

Hausas are the saints

Igbos are d problem...without igbos in nigeria..we can compete with u.k and usa

kestolove95:
Igbos are d problem...without igbos in nigeria..we can compete with u.k and usa

then help tell una people to let us gooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I think emir Lamido Sanusi should be mindful of his public destructive remarks on yorubas. Unfortunately, people that are living in glass houses are now attempting to throwing pebbles and the end might be destitute.

but Naija problems no start yesterday sha...it have tey!

Mods frontpage pls

The Emir has spoken

What's da long trash about?

wittytezzy:
What's da long trash about?

didn't write comprehension exam in English language during your NECO

The issue of Biafra was settled in 1970. If you try another secession be mindful of the hardships-
Arewa to Ibo leaders


Nigeria does not owe Ibo anything, try a secession again and face consequences -
Junaid Muhammed to SE leaders

ngozianu:

didn't write comprehension exam in English language during your NECO

bi mi leekan si

Tinubu is the problem with Yorubas.

Some yorubas can be so du.mb at times.

Tinubu didn't know his greed would lead him astray, that's why he ignored the Obas !

He must have thought by having osibande as VP,all his problems would be automatically solved just like he succeeded in planting fashola and ambode in Lagos

If tinubu is expecting juicy contracts or securing juicy posts for his cronies ,he should just have it at the back of his mind that the only thing osibande can do is share his salary with Tinubu

Tinubu has plans that Yorubas will be proud of.

Buharis is planning not just to change the status quo but also to liquidate conflict of interest between the office holders and the statutory office they occupy. So that when a NW person is the MD of an agency, the Minister fot that agency comes.from another zone and the Secretary to that Ministry does not come from same region with either the Minister or the MD. This is called "the wafer effect".

So that if you look at the current list of the MDs and where they come from you can pretty much predict who will not have representation where. Buhari wants to give Security and Agriculture to North and Economy and Finance as well as Justice to West. Oil Minister is likely to come from West or South South.

With the outcry and agitation for Biafra, it is less likely Ibos will be given any area of national security, banking, minerals, foreign affairs or oil. Ibo might end up with sport, education or communication.

I say communication because he will then charge the Iboman to counter his brother Nnamdi Kanu and kill Biafra off the airwaves.

OPCNAIRALAND:
Tinubu has plans that Yorubas will be proud of.

Buharis is planning not just to change the status quo but also to liquidate conflict of interest between the office holders and the statutory office they occupy. So that when a NW person is the MD of an agency, the Minister fot that agency comes.from another zone and the Secretary to that Ministry does not come from same region with either the Minister or the MD. This is called "the wafer effect".

So that if you look at the current list of the MDs and where they come from you can pretty much predict who will not have representation where. Buhari wants to give Security and Agriculture to North and Economy and Finance as well as Justice to West. Oil Minister is likely to come from West or South South.

With the outcry and agitation for Biafra, it is less likely Ibos will be given any area of national security, banking, minerals, foreign affairs or oil. Ibo might end up with sport, education or communication.

I say communication because he will then charge the Iboman to counter his brother Nnamdi Kanu and kill Biafra off the airwaves.

the statement i have highlighted cannot work as long as there are corrupt senior/junior officials in those ministries and MDGs still in service who will teach the new appointees how to loot and siphon money