BULLETIN #2: ACHIEVING SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE YORUBA NATION--THE CHALLENGE TO SW GOVERNORS


Kindly send your comments to : yorubaref@gmail.com




(A) THE YORUBA REFERENDUM AS THE WAY OUT:


1. The spirited efforts by the UPN Governments between 1979 and 1983 to advance the “freedom for all, life more abundant” paradigm in the developmental narrative of the Region was truncated by the Unitarization process imposed by military fiat in 1966, reinforced by the 1979 Constitution.
2. Subsequent Yoruba (SW) Governments, under both military and civilian rule took this Unitarism for granted, grafted economic paradigms onto it, without negating it and ultimately surrendering to its Macro and Micro economic and political mandates thereby ensuring the continuous underdevelopment of the country under the Unitarist 1999 Constitution.
3. The latest examples are “Amotekun”, without the capacity to dispense justice, and the “SW Development Commission” without its own macro and micro economic capability; both anchored on the architecture of the Nigerian Post-Colonial State, already proven to be antithetical to the Region’s development.
4. Yet, we know that the 1999 Constitution was falsely premised on “We, the People” as claimed in its Preamble, for, it is a known fact that “We, The People” had no hand in its making, directly or indirectly, as it was a product of military fiat which was not acting and did not act on our behalf even as the producers of the Constitution, by this admission, unwittingly affirmed the Peoples’ Sovereignty.

5. The Preamble to the Constitution, being a statement of the principles in the Constitution, does not by itself, grant any powers and rights not specified in the Constitution, just as it cannot also be based on a false Premise. A false premise implies that the entire principles, powers, and rights it purports to embody are also false. Nevertheless, the false Preamble implies the need for the People to exercise the right to correct this anomaly by ensuring that any Constitution is indeed a product of “We, The People”, the only guarantee of its Legitimacy and therefore its effectiveness.
6. At this point, the question of whether our elected officials can, with all conscience, turn round and overturn what they have sworn to uphold and govern with, becomes relevant. Constitutional existence of citizens is derived from the delegated authority of “We, The People” via any direct or indirect method, be it a plebiscite, referendum, or simple votes on its provisions. Whichever way it is done, the imprimatur of the People must be made manifest. Thus, for those sworn based on its provisions, it must follow that the restoration of the power of the People and its true reflection becomes their only conscionable activity.
7. The YORUBA REFERENDUM provides Yoruba elected and other political leaders the opportunity and means to make #6 a reality, through a fundamental intervention in the Re-Formation of the Nigerian Post-Colonial State, now entering a new phase, at this time, when “RESTRUCTURING” has become the political mantra on every mouth and from every forum such as the National Assembly’s Constitutional Review Committee and calls during the recent stakeholders’ meetings across the country as well as by prominent personalities.
8. The Yoruba Referendum LEGITIMIZES our quest to have an Autonomous Yoruba Political paradigm without being circumscribed by the central authorities.
9. It provides a credible alternative to the direct involvement of the Yoruba in pan-Nigerian politics by which her politicians are forced to embark on unnecessary alliances within Nigeria.
10. Ensures and assures that Yoruba Political direction is anchored on a firm political demand as enunciated in the “Annexure to the Bill for a Referendum” whereby the Yoruba can address her present challenges by creating the necessary political atmosphere and challenge to extant Nigerian political structures and projections.
11. Assures the Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi states that their Yoruba kin in the West are aware of their own demands for a REFERENDUM to choose where they want to belong.

(B) THE YORUBA REFERENDUM PROVIDES FOR AN ALTERNATIVE STATE:

The ALTERNATIVE FORM OF STATE can be found in the ANNEXURE to the Bill for A Referendum, [/b]derived from the Draft Yoruba Constitution, stated hereunder:
1) For the [b]CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: A Federal Nigeria, through a valid Federal Constitution, to be known as The Union of Nigerian Constituent Nationalities, with a Federal Presidential Council, whose members will be selected or elected from each of the Nationalities as Federating Units and from whom a Head of State will be selected or elected as the primus-inter-pares with an agreed term”
2) For[b] YORUBALAND[/b]: (a) Western/Oduduwa Region shall be a Constituent Unit of the Nigerian Union. (b) Western/Oduduwa Region shall adopt a Parliamentary System of government. (c) The Central Government of the Union shall have no power to interfere nor intervene in the affairs of the ODUDUWA REGION, save as shall be agreed to by three quarters of the members of the Region’s Parliament. (d)There shall be a Division of the Federal Armed Forces in the Region, 90% of which personnel shall be indigenes of the Region. The Divisional commander shall be an indigene of Oduduwa Region. (e) The Judicial power of the Region shall be vested in the Supreme Court of the Region, Court of Appeal, High Court, Customary Court and Other lower courts as the Parliament may establish. (f) There shall be a Court of Appeal in each of the provinces. There shall be, in each province, a High Court from which appeals shall lie to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of the Region. (g) Western/Oduduwa Region shall have its own internal security system. (h) Each Constituent Unit of the Nigerian Federation shall control primary interest in its own resources with an agreed Tax Model for the Federation.”


(C) WHY A YORUBA REFERENDUM WHEN THERE IS A NATIONAL ASSEMBLY?

1. We agree with the Yoruba truism that says one’s head cannot be shaved in his or her absence. All of Nigeria’s Constitutions since 1979 shaved our heads in our absence; the main reason for the societal dysfunction being experienced in Nigeria and the only way to remedy the situation is for the Yoruba Nation and People to, in a Referendum within Yorubaland, determine the framework for their aspirations and self-actualization which then become the foundation for RESTRUCTURING of Nigeria.
2. Senator Omo Agege, Deputy Senate President and chairman of National Assembly’s Constitution Review Committee did not mince words when he categorically declared that the National Assembly cannot produce a new Constitution as it can only amend what already exists, thereby reinforcing the fact that the National Assembly does not represent the Peoples of Nigeria, more so when the 1999 Constitution it seeks to amend does not recognize the Peoples, substituting them with the administrations of the States and Local Governments.
3. Furthermore, the process of amending the 1999 Constitution abridges the Right of Self-Determination or Autonomy and therefore True Federalism in that the required concurrence of 24 states already denies Self-Determination, where, for example, the Yoruba Nation’s time-honored values drives her civilization, and this cannot simply be made dependent on other Peoples.
4. Looking towards a countrywide Referendum to be supervised by the Center denies the reality of the perfection of Nigeria’s continuity through a paradigm anchored on an electoral veto based on a combination of votes from the North West and East, enabling them to determine any outcome, and this, despite any handshake across any river(s), considering the history of such relationships since the anti-colonial era to the present.


(D)WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
1. The main task is to aim towards ensuring that the YORUBA REFERENDUM is held before the 2023 elections. This will be achieved by compelling the Yoruba Houses of Assembly to pass into Law the “Bill for A Referendum”; as the collective expression of the aspirations of the People.
2. Towards this end, “We, the People”, must make our political leaders choose a “YES” or “No” to the quest for the YORUBA REFERENDUM.
3. In pursuit of this, the Yoruba Referendum Committee is organizing a Petition directed SOLELY at our current Political leaders as the decision makers, and these are the Governors, Speakers of our Houses of Assembly and Political leaders in and out of office.
4. We enjoin readers to sign this Petition and promote it on as many platforms as possible.
Thank you for reading.