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).


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 Sanusi.

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.

I've always known my friends from the west of the Niger were an item. Their tag team with the North during the elections was the funniest, funnier than those of Awo days.


They snitch, and are loud mouthed, but I love them anyhow.

One Nigeria?... Hmmm, only God can do that.

*y'all check out who's below me?

Hian

The Nigeria today .....



Hausa's been firming boss

Yoruba's been snitching

Igbo's been hating

Blame it on others.

This country just looks like it can never be united

okay

Mehn, see bashing

Nigeria is suppose to have out grown this so called tribal and sectional politics....... If every region keep agitating like this we will end up going no where and by then breaking up or regional divorce becomes the only alternative. Let us allow this government to work........every other past government has been given their chances to operate. buhari has his own plans as a president so let all allow him do it the best way he sees suitable.......he has just 3yr and 9months left. If we could survive abacha and other regimes I see why we can't survive this one........as dictatorial as abacha regime there are still some things that we know and can point out to that he did rightly......every government like an individual business man has a game plan on who and what he need to deliver.....let buhari select his team so that his own success or failure will be on him self and not others.........this is a democratic society that even the highest government can be booted out when the time comes so buhari is not and will never be an exception if the time for change arises.........they have show us that change is possible so it is very applicable.

Make I buy dis plot

Wud lyk e knw mur bout d peace d Germns found after WWII........ Any 1 knws?

don,t believe or trust Dis poo1 no source 2 no full for e to read and make my conclusion.dat said so hausa have no part in what happened to nigeria and igbos are onlookers.imagine the power of the yorubas.please the op and sanusi if he actually said this) should stop smoking oshogbo weed,its meant for only yorubas

dele1727:
don,t believe or trust Dis poo1 no source 2 no full for e to read and make my conclusion.dat said so hausa have no part in what happened to nigeria and igbos are onlookers.imagine the power of the yorubas.please the op and sanusi if he actually said this) should stop smoking oshogbo weed,its meant for only yorubas

YORUBAS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA - By Sanusi Lamido 

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/

* 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.

Una don see where long distance relationship dey work?....Trust issue no dey

dis wouldn't go down well with guys I know. anyway sha am igbo so wetin consign me #Proudly5%

xtrorse:


YORUBAS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA - By Sanusi Lamido 

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/

* 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. 

Obviously the only person that Need to stop smoking anything is dele1727

I'm tired of all these. Make una just divide jare. All man to his tent

We are all guilty in one way or the other. Every tribe in Nigeria is guilty of sectional bias, because they want the best for their people. Nigeria is a conglomeration of nations and our Constitution should better be redrafted to address this. It's easier to see the peck in someone's eyes while blind to the log in one's own eyes.

LanreBrown:

Obviously the only person that Need to stop smoking anything is dele1727

Do well to update your post with these sources.

princdebola201:

It takes someone with an Empty skull to recognise another...
U re better off financially yet ur erosion land looks like a dungeon

U re better off financially none of ur flat head brothers makes up 1 to 3 richest in africa

U re better off financially but folorunsho alakija can buy the whole south east region

U re better off financially ur brothers pushing drugs to asia for survival ,this year alone more than 10 flats head have faced firing squad

u re better off financially all ur flat head brothers troop into south west even with boko haram menace in north ur brothers still go there for survival

Keep living in self denial when u re suffering in abject poverty ..
Tell me how many igbos businessman today that make it in ur Cursed Land..?

Instead they ran away, like ekenedili is packing ur flat head brothers like sardines to south west everyday
Ur flat head brothers have being reduced to a level of ass licking Ijaw man a minority tribe in nigeria..

Ur guys re living a miserable life...living like sheeps with no sheperd..
Tell me the politician that is sellable in ur cursed region apart from rochas you guys called mallam
Common ijaw a minority have produced a president despite he is clueless..

You should be ashamed of ur miserable live and pray to God to remove the curse placed on ur tribe by tafa balewa

Go and put ur shanty house in order and stop washing ur dirty rags outside u miserable descendant of cursed tribe from erosion ravaged land of Biafra

princdebola201, you had the guts to brag against Igbos. You and your Yoruba tribe should be ashamed of yourselves for dare comparing Igbos with Yorubas.  

You should be ashamed of yourselves for being in the habit of using other regions to shield your cowardly mien. It's shameful that a typical Yoruba person cannot make his stand known without dragging some other tribes along. If it is not distorting history, it is ass-licking your slave masters by propagating lies of how your slave masters have always been peace-loving and accommodative and that it is the Igbos who provoke their host! Yet the Christian minorities and other Southerners in the North and in the Middle-belt continue are being maltreated and relegated to the background.
It is so disgusting and pathetic already!

You mentioned curse, what kind of curse are you referring to?
Is it the curse Alaafin of Oyo placed on the young braggard, Bode Thomas, for arrogantly insulting his office? Bode Thomas barked and barked like a dog till he kicked the bucket! Is that not the same way many Yorubas are barking on Igbo matter?

Is it the curse that made your god, Awolowo, to die in a miserable way?

Is it the curse that made your warrior, Benjamin Adekunle, a.k.a the scorpion, to eat his own excrement before he chose death in 2014? The was same Adekunle who mocked the pope, Red Cross, Caritas, World Council of Churches, UN etc.

What about your Field Marshall, MKO Abiola, who sunk containers of Christian materials and paid off the importer just to impress his slave masters in the North? Was it not this atrocious deed amongst many others that brought curse upon him which led him to his Waterloo? 

So, what curse are you referring to? 
Is it the curse on your slave masters or yourself? 

Despite Awolowo’s free education, is the South-West not the worst hit by illiteracy in the South? 
Whose region is being ravaged by internationally acclaimed drug peddlers, high-profile assassinations, frequent ritual-killings and treasury lootings?

Whose region is being ravaged by carnage, blood letting, terrible and strange diseases, abject poverty and penury?

I'm just trying to be as modest as possible with my choice of words. 

Let's go down memory lane.

After the civil war, your god, Awolowo, defrauded the Igbo Nation, robbing her of her enormous wealth and transferring same to you parasites. As the Finance Minister, Awo, gave a paltry £20 to Igbo men who proved they had an account in the bank. That was all the Igbo man started life with!

And in 1971/72 Awo and his criminal gang colluded and issued the indigenisation decree which compelled the British companies to give up ownership of their companies.
With the stolen money from Igbo men's sweat at their disposal Yorubas in conjunction with their Northern co-travellers were able to acquire the companies in Nigeria.

Igbos started life from ground zero after the civil war with just £20, with their lands devastated, farmlands destroyed, markets destroyed, schools levelled, hospitals broken-down, with hunger ravaging her people and the children at the mercy of  kwashiorkor. Inspite of these debilitating factors Igbos being a resilient people exerted themselves and within a short while they are at the top, competiting only with themselves.

As if the bank robbery was not enough and inspite of the 3Rs strategy mapped out to rehabilitate the Eastern region, Gowon and the subsequent regimes diverted the crude oil revenue from the East to develop Lagos State into a mega-city. And here you are bragging about same Lagos cum SW. Is Lagos State your father's land? Common migrants making noise as if they own Lagos. FYI, Lagos was built with the blood and sweat of every ethnic group in Nigeria! Take it or leave it! Nigeria or no Nigeria, you and your ilks CAN NOT do ANYTHING about it!

So far the Igbos have done well for themselves. The Igbos now boast of the best middle class, the most educated, the most enterprising, the most ambitious, goal getters and achievers.

Igbos survived the policy of strangulation imposed on them them by Gowon and Awolowo. And they are still surmounting some other criminal policies put in place by the criminal gang to checkmate the progress of the Igbos - quota system, federal character, admission catchment areas in schools, cut off marks for admission, fraudulent census figure, false voters register, lopsided local government areas and the likes.  

And now Igbos are more than equal to the Yorubas and their co-travellers who were bequeathed with Nigeria's wealth on a plater of gold. The criminal gang acquired virtually all oil wells. They cornered over 85% of the oil wells as their prize for the war they prosecuted against the Eastern region.

princdebola201, and you're here comparing yourself with that same man you robbed his wealth; the same people who would need to get higher scores than the Yorubas to gain admission into schools.

Just by being Igbo by birth, Igbo standards have become too high even amongst themselves, but that has not made them lose heart and in fact it brought out the best out of them. 

Inspite of the tortuous journey the Igbo man passed/passes through to achieve success the criminal system in place and the gang will not allow the Igbo man be. The gang is bitter and angry at the success of the Igbo man, that they use any given opportunity at their disposal to remind Igbos that they are the ones who accommodated them and therefore they should abide by their dictates, whims and caprices, including being coerced to vote the candidate of the host's choice in election.
But the Igbo man's resolve remains strong.

And you are here boasting of Folorunso Alakija who acquired her wealth from the commonwealth, from the crude oil in another man's backyard! It's a shame!

Before the 1967-70 civil war, an average Yoruba man did not measure up to the ever industrious Igboman. Even in the South-West Igbos were in the lead. Igbos were the first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, the first VC of the University of Lagos and the first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology in the South-West; the police was run by an Igbo IG; the military as a professional institution was run by brilliant Igbos; the first president of Nigeria and the first military ruler of Nigeria.

Nigeria economy assumed a downward trend when the gang acquired all Nigerian companies by virtue of indigenization decree of 1972. But they could not manage the companies instead they ruined, defrauded, liquidated, bankrupted and destroyed all the companies - that was the mother of destruction of Nigerian economy! The swindlers indeed bastardized the Nigerian economy. 
And to divert attention from their ineptitude and crass looting of the treasury they would use illogical reasoning to attempt to bamboozle other people while pointing accusing fingers elsewhere!

After more than 40 years, despite the stolen wealth, the respective regions of the criminal gang cannot be said to be transformed and be one of the enviest in the world. None of their cities could be likened to, say the least, Johannesburg!

With all the disadvantages Igbos faced and still face they rose from grass to grace and you are not even ashamed to compare them with treasury looters. 

It's not how far but how well!

Time shall tell...

Bullshit... Who gives a damn about this?

Truth be told, Nigerians are like a couple in a forced marriage!

xtrorse:


Do well to update your post with these sources.

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.

Do Well to read through Post (to the end) and Keep your Google Search Engine Close By.

Simply Google searching "Excerpts from Sanusi Lamido's Paper Presentation at the National Conf.." would've given you all the Sources U needed

DrLee:
This country just looks like it can never be united

Before nko? So, you still get hope for Nigeria? that means you're among the people that are still dreaming.

Still Reading !!

Even a baby know that yorubas are the problem of Nigeria! They are bunch of cowards, their men got no balls and they never want to succeed and they won't let others succeed! Nonsense!!
Proudly 5%..... And loving it!

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.

.
Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB comes to mind.