‘We’ve invested so much in Nigeria’ — Yoruba elders disown Igboho over secession bid

March 24, 2021

by Olufemi Atoyebi

Kunle Olajide, secretary-general of Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), says Sunday Adeyemo, a Yoruba youth leader popularly known as Sunday Igboho, does not represent the Yoruba people in his call for secession.

Igboho had recently said Yoruba is no longer part of Nigeria, calling on people of the ethnic group residing in the north to go back home.

Speaking with TheCable on Wednesday, Olajide said Nigeria would be stronger if it remained as a unit.

He said the Yoruba people had invested so much in Nigeria’s formation and unity, and it would be unwise for them to seek secession.

Olajide said: “It is his (Igboho’s) personal desire but the present circumstances in our nation do not favour and will not make it achievable, and the fact that Yorubas have invested so much in the unity of this country and in the making of Nigeria. The tribe cannot choose to opt out without any adequate plans.

“I am not aware that the Yoruba nation or citizenship has given a mandate to anybody to desire their extinction from this country. So it is not a decision that can be taken by an individual or a group of individuals.

“Anybody who is familiar with the history of Nigeria will know that we have been together for over 100 years, even before the British came and we have Yorubas all over the country just as we have other Nigerians everywhere.

“It is not something that you can declare by fiat. In any case, our diversity in this country and our population are our strengths. Fragmentation and dismemberment of this country cannot be in the best interest of anybody.”

‘YORUBA ARE ANGRY’

Olajide said the Yoruba people are angry over the “ethnocentric nature” of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He, however, noted that the ethnic group remains part of the country.

“Yes, all of us, especially the Yoruba nation, are angry about the ethnocentric nature of the present administration that appears grossly insensitive to the cries of maginalisation from all parts of this country. Whatever the hidden agenda it is, the agenda is bound to fail,” he said.

“But we are still part of this federal government that we are so much against because of the way it is being run. The vice-president is a Yoruba man, we have ministers and governors so I don’t think anybody can ignore those Yoruba leaders and go ahead to make a pronouncement that is not in the interest of Yoruba nation and Nigeria in general.”

Olajide urged Igboho “and some of those who believe in him to exercise patience”.

‘IGBOHO CAN’T SPEAK FOR YORUBA’

Igboho had also said Yoruba monarchs and elders were behind him in his quest for secession.

But the YCE secretary-general said there was no platform where the traditional rulers met with Igboho.

Olajide maintained that while Igboho has a right to pursue whatever objective he desires as a “full grown adult”, he cannot speak for the entire Yoruba people.

“Igboho is a full grown adult, he is not a teenager so it will be wrong to believe that he does not know the country he is in,” he said.

“I have spoken to him once or twice on the telephone but he is completely free to make his decision. But to make it on behalf of the entire Yoruba is what I seriously fault, it is not in order.

“I read his stories in the media and saw him on the television and social media but I am not aware that any such meeting has been held.”

I have invited you to attend this caucus because I would like you to make clear our stand on the issue of secession. As a party, we would have preferred Nigeria to remain intact, but lest there be doubt as to our willingness to concede to any shade of political opinion the right to determine its policy, I am obliged to issue a solemn warning to those who are goading the North towards secession. If you agree with my views, then I hope that in course of our deliberations tonight, you will endorse them, to enable me to publicize them in the Press.

In my opinion, the Northerners are perfectly entitled to consider whether or not they should secede from the indissoluble union which nature has formed between it and the South, but it would be calamitous to the corporate existence of the North should the clamour for secession prevail. I, therefore, counsel Northern leaders to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of secession before embarking upon this dangerous course.

As one who was born in the North, I have a deep spiritual attachment to that part of the country, but it would be a capital political blunder if the North should break away from the South. The latter is in a better position to make rapid constitutional advance, so that if the North should become truncated from the South, it would benefit both Southerners and Northerners who are domiciled in the South more than their kith and kin who are domiciled in the North.

There are seven reasons for my holding to this view. Secession by the North may lead to internal political convulsion there when it is realized that militant nationalists and their organizations, like the NLPU, the Askianist Movement, and the Middle Zone League, have aspirations for self-government in 1956 identical with those of their Southern compatriots. It may lead to justifiable demands for the right of self-determination by non-Muslims, who form the majority of the population in the so-called ‘Pagan’ provinces, like Benue, Ilorin, Kabba, Niger and Plateau, not to mention the claims of non-Muslims who are domiciled in Adamawa and Bauchi Provinces.

It may lead to economic nationalism in the Eastern Region, which can pursue a policy of blockade of the North, by refusing it access to the sea, over and under the River Niger, except upon payment of tolls. It may lead to economic warfare between the North on the one hand, and the Eastern or Western regions on the other, should they decide to fix protective tariffs which will make the use of the ports of the Last and West uneconomic for the North.

The North may be rich in mineral resources and certain cash crops, but that is no guarantee that it would be capable of growing sufficient food crops to enable it to feed its teeming millions, unlike the East and the West. Secession may create hardship for Easterners and Westerners who are domiciled in the North, since the price of food crops to be imported into the North from the South is bound to be very high and to cause an increase in the cost of living. Lastly, it will endanger the relations with their neighbours of millions of Northerners who are domiciled in the East and West and Easterners and Westerners who reside in the North.

You may ask me whether there would be a prospect of civil war, if the North decided to secede? My answer would be that it is a hypothetical question which only time can answer. In any case, the plausible cause of a civil war might be a dispute as to the right of passage on the River Niger, or the right of flight over the territory of the Eastern or Western Region; but such disputes can be settled diplomatically, instead of by force.

Nevertheless, if civil war should become inevitable at this stage of our progress as a nation, then security considerations must be borne in mind by those who are charged with the responsibility of government of the North and the South. Military forces and installations are fairly distributed in all the three regions; if that is not the case, any of the regions can obtain military aid from certain interested Powers. It means that we cannot preclude the possibility of alliance with certain countries.

You may ask me to agree that if the British left Nigeria to its fate, the Northerners would continue their uninterrupted march to the sea, as was prophesied six years ago? My reply is that such an empty threat is devoid of historical substance and that so far as I know, the Eastern Region has never been subjugated by any indigenous African invader. At the price of being accused of overconfidence, I will risk a prophecy and say that, other things being equal, the Easterners will defend themselves gallantly, if and when they are invaded.

Let me take this opportunity to warn those who are making a mountain out of the molehill of the constitutional crisis to be more restrained and constructive. The dissemination of lies abroad; the publishing of flamboyant headlines about secessionist plans, and the goading of empty-headed careerists with gaseous ideas about their own importance in tile scheme of things in the North is being overdone in certain quarters. I feel that these quarters must be held responsible for any breach between the North and South, which nature had indissolubly united in a political, social and economic marriage of convenience. In my personal opinion, there is no sense in the North breaking away or the East or the West breaking away; it would be better if all the regions would address themselves to the task of crystallizing common nationality, irrespective of the extraneous influences at work. What history has joined together let no man put asunder. But history is a strange mistress which can cause strange things to happen!

Omoluabi1stborn:
Remove South West and South South from Nigeria and see another Pakistan

2mch:
These ones are fighting for their pocket not Yorubas. A group of 100 cannot decide for a nation of millions. They are a clear minority in this and can choose to live in Nigeria.

NIGHTMAREOO7:


Hahahahaha I can't bliv Yorubas are the ones now saying things like this.
Karma indeed a shameless bitch , she comes to u totally naked in public to twerk

2mch:

What are you talking about? Yorubas have always wanted regional government or constitution amendement. Igbo’s are one Nigeria and should stay there.

AtikuNetwork:


https://www.thecable.ng/weve-invested-so-much-in-nigeria-yoruba-elders-disown-igboho-over-secession-bid

AtikuNetwork:


https://www.thecable.ng/weve-invested-so-much-in-nigeria-yoruba-elders-disown-igboho-over-secession-bid

Omoluabi1stborn:
Remove South West and South South from Nigeria and see another Pakistan