BY WOLE OLANIPEKUN, SAN
YESTERDAY….

The lecturer explored some distinctive traits of the Yoruba and narrated the values of education. He also argued that the Yoruba traditional political system is naturally federal in character, saying that is why the Yoruba race has always been at the forefront of Nigeria’s socio-political evolution to federalism.

The only logical answer to this poser is in the negative; and this therefore invokes, triggers and activates Awo’s 4th rule of federalism, id est, “a unitary constitution in a bilingual or multilingual or multinational country must fail, in the long run”. This informed and prescient proclamation is now living out in this country. The Constitution of a people should be the codification of the mind and soul of their union, the foundation of their existence and the articulation of the substance of who they are, what they live for and how they have chosen to live. In Joel J. Seidemann’s words, it is the “birth certificate” of the people.” But when this foundation is destroyed, what can Nigerians do? I have consistently submitted at other foras that the problem with the 1999 Constitution is not only its many ill-thought provisions, but even the manner of its promulgation. I employ the word ‘promulgation’ very advisedly, seeing that it was an offshoot of military shenanigan, a relic of our dark past and a product of a skewed process.

Contrary to the preamble of the Constitution that “we the people … hereby make and give to ourselves the following Constitution”, it was they ‘the Federal Military Government’ who through Decree No 24 of 1999 foisted this albatross on us! It is therefore only normal that over the years, and more so, in recent times, the agitation for a truly federal and all- inclusive Nigeria has reached a deafening crescendo. This is the hottest topic in the polity as we speak; whither Nigeria? Must we continue in the uneven arrangement and alliance in which we have found ourselves? Have we not pushed this beleaguered arrangement called Nigeria to the brink, mandating us, as a matter of survival, to take urgent but calculated steps to retrieve it from impending implosion? At the launch of a book titled; ‘We Are All Biafrans’ in June 2016, a former Vice-President of Nigeria and former presidential hopeful, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, again broached the subject of restructuring Nigeria. In the Guardian Newspapers of June 1, 2016/8 Atiku enthused thus; “Agitations by many right-thinking Nigerians call for a restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities. As some of you may know, I have for a long time advocated the need to restructure our federation.

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Even the idea of having Federal Roads in towns and cities has become outdated and urgently needs revisiting. That means we need to tinker with our constitution to accommodate new thoughts that will strengthen our nationality. Restructuring and devolution of powers will certainly not provide all the answers to our developmental challenges; it will help to reposition our mindset as we generate new ideas and initiatives that would make our union worthwhile.

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Most of us have been in government before and what we ask is, why should somebody sit in Abuja and determine how primary education in Yobe, Yenogoa and, in Benin will be run and which teacher should teach the local language? … For us, that is an impossibility because primary school education has nothing to do with the Federal Government;primary education is cultural … It is only a grass root person that can teach a child his language, culture and values.


Most of us have been in government before and what we ask is, why should somebody sit in Abuja and determine how primary education in Yobe, Yenogoa and, in Benin will be run and which teacher should teach the local language? … For us, that is an impossibility because primary school education has nothing to do with the Federal Government;primary education is cultural … It is only a grass root person that can teach a child his language, culture and values.

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This leads me to ask; what then should be the stance of the Yoruba nation? What should our role be in the raging debate?

The elders at the Yoruba Leadership and Peace Initiative were apparently conscious of the need for the Yoruba nation to take a united stand when they remarked thus; “the time has arrived for Yoruba people to put on the thinking cap and take a stand on the current agitation across the ethnic groups in Nigeria” I cannot agree more. We must ensure that our voice is not drowned out in the tumult of agitations across the country. In addressing the subject of what our stand should be on the restructuring of our federal system, let me state that there should be no areas/subjects termed as “no-go areas”. This has been one of the undoing of past government efforts in this regard. In the run up to the 2005 National Conference, President Olusegun Obasanjo handed down some no-go areas” to delegates at the conferenceand, unsurprisingly, this signalled the futility of the entire exercise.

A communique released by the Yoruba Assembly (an umbrella body for several socio-political groups in Yorubaland) on June 26, 2017, succinctly captures the need for exhaustive discussions on the state of Nigeria, including its unity or otherwise. Reacting to naysayers who insist that discussions on the unity of Nigeria is a no-go area, the Assembly stated thus; “The on-going methodology of stemming the crisis by the presidency,whilst commendable for at least opening a fresh chapter in crisis management in Nigeria, has not provided any window of redress, as it seems only interested in affirming the worn cliche that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable. That statement cannot hold true under a civil setting or democracy.


Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/08/homogeneity-heterogeneity-redeeming-yoruba-identity/

Ok ., they are on the way.