A nation, not a tribe on october 20, 2013 at 2:00 am in news By Femi Fani-Kayode I was born on October 16, 1960 and consequently I
celebrated my 53rd birthday last Wednesday. It was a
quiet low-key affair in which, as is customary with
me, I spent most of the day in fasting, prayer and
sober reflection, surrounded by my loved ones,
thanking the Lord for granting me yet another year of life and for delivering me from the hands of my
numerous detractors and enemies. I also took the time to thank my dear wife and soul
mate, Regina, for standing by me through thick and
thin and for being such a blessing and my darling
children who have had to put up with a father that is
fast becoming one of the most controversial,
misrepresented and misunderstood figures in Nigerian modern history- a title which I neither crave
nor relish. It is because it is my birthday that I decided to share a
few home truths today that will gladden the hearts of
some but that may sadden others. Yet the truth must
be spoken and even if my voice is drowned by the
cacophony of dissent and rancour that sometimes trail
such literary interventions, let it be on record that on this day the seed of truth and liberation was planted
and the idea of a new beginning for a people that I
have come to love more than life itself, my people, the
Yoruba people of south western Nigeria, was berthed.
And for these views, these ideas, these contributions
and these philosophies, as disagreeable as they may be to some, I offer no apology. One of the basic
truisms of nationhood is that we as a people must
appreciate our roots. We cannot despise our roots and
set them aside and expect to flourish. We cannot deny
our family and claim to be a responsible member of
the wider society. Yes we are Nigerians but every Nigerian has a foundation and a root out of which he
sprouted. *Fani-Kayode There is no such thing as a Nigerian who did not come
from somewhere or who did not come out of a
nationality that is a constituent and vital part of the
wider nation. Nigeria is blessed with many proud,
strong, distinct, noble, enlightened and sophisticated
nationalities that make up the whole and each of them brings something or other to the table. From the Fulani to the Hausa, to the Nupe, to the Bini,
to the Ijaw, to the Igbo, to the Kanuri, to the Idoma, to
the Tiv, to the Urhobo, to the Itsekiri, to the Bacahama,
to the Ishan, to the Igbira, to the Igalla, to the Efik, to
the Ibibio, to the Isoko, to the Shuwa arab, to the
Kataf, to the Kwale, to the Jaba, to the Zuru, to the Kilba, to the Kalabari, to the Ikwere, to the Gula, to the
Gwari, to the Margui and so on and so forth, we all
have something to offer and we all have a sense of
self-worth and self-respect which was established
and cultivated many years before Nigeria even came
into existence. None of us must ever forget that beautiful root from whence we came for without it we
become worthless. For Nigeria to be great each, and every one of its
nationalities must first flourish and they must all be in
a position to achieve their full potentials. I am a
Yoruba man and I take immense pride in that. And
contrary to the views of many, the Yoruba, like all the
other wonderful nationalities that reside in the Nigerian space, are not a mere tribe. One of the most unfortunate aspects of not being
properly educated is the fact that those that suffer
from that affliction often accept everything that their
slave and colonial masters and ethnic overlords tell
them and, without thinking, they swallow the fables
and labels hook, line and sinker. When a supposedly educated person insists on labelling a nation of highly
advanced people, who have existed for thousands of
years as a distinct race, who have had their own
empires, who are the most educationally and
culturally advanced on the African continent, who
have a single language with approximately 20 different dialects within them, who have contributed
more to the industrial, commercial and intellectual
growth of Nigeria than any other, who have a rich and
illustrious history and heritage which few in Africa
can match, who number at least 50 million in Nigeria
alone and who constitute the largest number of African people living in the diaspora on earth, whose
people have spread all over the world and have
strong historical, cultural, religious and ethnic roots in
Benin Republic, Ghana, Togo, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba and
many other places, whose people have settled into
and legitimately lay claim to Ilorin, Kaaba, Akoko Edo and other parts of northern and mid-western
Nigeria, whose offspring and progenitor established
many kingdoms including the Bini Kingdom, whose
pantheon of gods and traditional religion of ifa is
respected and practised in many parts of the world,
whose historical, philosophical, religious and cultural contributions to Ancient Egypt are well known and
well documented, whose level of sophistication and
exposure to the knowledge of western education is
second to none and whose sense of liberalism, justice,
decency, hospitality and fairness is not understood,
appreciated or reciprocated by any other ethnic group or nationality in Nigeria and so much more and that
supposedly educated person still insists on calling
such people, despite their sheer numbers and their
homogenous geographical setting, a mere “tribe”,
then you know that that person is truly misguided. You may call others a tribe if you so choose but not
the Yoruba. We number as many people as almost the
whole of the UK or France and far many more than
three quarters of the countries on the European
continent and our history dates back as far as that of
the Celts, the Normans, the Vikings, the Romans, the Greeks, the
Egyptians and the Anglo-Saxons. Our forefathers are
amongst those that went to the best institutions of
higher learning and citadels of excellence in the world like Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Durham
universities as far back as the early 1800s and they
became the first lawyers, doctors, scientists,
intellectuals, poets, writers, journalists, philosophers,
priests and free thinkers on the African continent.
Little wonder that our former colonial masters resolved in their hearts that we must never be
allowed to take power at the centre because they
saw us as their equals as opposed to being their serfs.
We were right at the top whilst others were still living
in villages in the deepest and darkest parts of the
African forest. We forged and built great empires that we nurtured and protected with all that we had. Ours was not a primitive inheritance but a noble and
righteous one that was established by the Living God
and the hard work of our forefathers. And it is the
memory of those great and powerful forefathers that
I invoke today when I ask how far has our noble
heritage taken us in the contraption called Nigeria? How have we fared as a people? For better or for
worse? Our children ask us, ‘’Was it always like
this’’ and who ‘’were’’ the Yoruba? They
no longer ask who ‘’ARE’’ the Yoruba but who
‘’WERE’’ the Yoruba? Sadly that is our plight
today- a people whose children regard them as ‘’once were’’ and no longer ‘’are’’. We are still who and what we once were and it shall
always be so no matter what Nigeria and the world
does to us. We are a nation, not a tribe. And we are a
nation that is craving for recognition and nationhood.
A nation borne out of centuries of sacrifice, hard
work, perseverance and diligence and whose foundation is unsullied, noble and pure. We are a
nation within a nation that is beginning to berth and
that is eagerly waiting to be born. Today we invoke the spirits and rekindle the
memories of our forefathers and we weep for our
people. What do we tell them about how we fared
after they left us and went into eternity? This struggle
belongs to our generation yet the question needs to
be asked- have we lived up to expectation as they did? Have we asked the relevant questions, provided
the appropiate answers and fought the good and
noble fight as they once did? We remember with great
pride, great men and women of Yoruba stock that
have passed on and we reflect on their noble struggle
through the ages. Men and women that stood up when it mattered the
most and made a difference like Samuel Ajayi
Crowther, Sapara Williams, Richard Akinwande-
Savage, Kitoye Ajasa, Cissie Obasa, Eric Moore,
Herbert Macauly, Joseph Egerton-Shyngle, Curtis
Adeniyi-Jones, Adeyemo Alakija, Theophilius Adebayo Doherty, Victor Adedapo Kayode, Akinola
Maja, Joseph Akanni Doherty, Kofo Abayomi,
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Wuraola Esan, J.C Vaughan,
H.O. Davis, Adegoke Adelabu,
Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola,
Remilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode, Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, Bode Thomas, Adesoji Aderemi,
Odeleye Fadahunsi, Oduola Osuntokun, Emmanuel
Okunsanya Okunowo, Moses Majekodunmi,
Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola, Benjamin
Oluwakayode Osuntokun, Josiah Olawoyin, S.L. Edu,
Samuel Shonibare, Matthew Abonmagbe-Okupe, Dauda Adegbenro, S.O.Gbadamosi, Adeniran
Ogunsanya, T.O.S Benson, Augustus Meredith Adisa
Akinloye, Adekunle Fajuyi, Samuel Ademulegun, R.A.
Shodeinde, Olusola Saraki, MKO Abiola, Bola Ige,
Micheal Ajasin, Abraham Adesanya, Ganiyu Dawodu,
Adewale Thompson, Solanke Onasanya, Kudirat Abiola, Emmanuel Omotehinwa and dozens of others
that are too numerous to mention. These names shall never be forgotten and those who
bear them should hold their heads up high for theirs is
a noble lineage. Yet many ask what is next for this
great and illustrious nationality and this berthing
nation called the Yoruba? How do we achieve our full
potentials and become that which God has ordained us to be? Can this be done within the confines of the
Nigerian state? Some have argued, quite rightly, that
the way out is to have a Sovereign National
Conference that will renegotiate the terms of our unity
and revisit the very question of our existence as a nation. Yet the
truth is that the forces that control the centre in
Nigeria and that have controlled it since 1914 will
never allow that to happen without a fight. It is their intention and desire to keep us together as
one in a flawed and failed unitary state with it’s
federal facade in perpetuity regardless of the grave
damage that such a venture has wrought upon our
people over the last 99 years. Successive
President’s in the last few decades have offered government-sponsored national conferences none of
which are sovereign and each of which could not
possibly solve our fundamental problems or properly
answer our nationality question. The mantra has always been that the unity of Nigeria
is ‘’not negotiable’’ and our resolutions were
always subject to their approval or the approval of
some unrepresentative and questionable National
Assembly which hardly represented the interests and
views of the numerous nationalities in our country. We have one year to go before we achieve 100 years
of being together as one entity and I believe that it is
time for us to have a rethink and determine how we
want the next 100 years to be. It is time for us to
question all these so-called ‘’settled issues’’,
‘’no-go areas’’, ‘’non-negotiables’’ and ‘’givens’’. We can no longer be satisfied and content with the
failed answers and ideas of a vain and fanciful unity
that exists only in our minds and in our imaginations.
An illusionary unity that our fathers and forefathers
held so dear and even fought a civil war to maintain
and uphold. Given the nature of those that control the centre today and their unholy intentions for the rest of
the country we must revisit that question of unity and
we must ask ourselves ‘’at what price?’’ The world is not static- it is dynamic and it is changing
fast. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go. Empires fall
and empires rise. Nations break and new nations are
formed. The world is changing and the great people
and numerous nationalities that make up Nigeria must
espouse that change, accept it and not be left behind. What was good for yesterday may not be good for
today. And what is good for today may not have been
good for yesterday. That is where we are today- on the threshold of
change. And I believe that the time for that change is
now. It is a new dawn, a new day and a new era. And
I fervently believe that the God of heaven and He who
sits above the circles of the earth is about to do
something new, something refreshing and something very dramatic. Why? Because we are a nation, not a
tribe
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/nation-tribe/