₦airaland Forum

Where Is the Tiger?

This is an alert against the growing habit of responding to existential threats in Yorubaland, and Nigeria generally, with knee-jerk reactions rather than strategic resolution.

What we need is not another round of reactive security initiatives, but a deliberate political framework capable of securing our future.

For our non-Yoruba audience: Ekun means “Tiger”; Amotekun means “Leopard.” Both are predators, but they symbolize different things.

The Leopard is stealthy and watchful. The Tiger represents overwhelming force and unmistakable presence.

Iru Ekun translates as “Tiger’s tail.” And as the saying goes, it is suicidal to hold a Tiger by the tail.

That is where the metaphor ends.

Because in practical terms, we are increasingly being presented with the tail of power without the body of power itself.

We recall the struggle that led to the establishment of Amotekun.

The Ibadan rally of Yoruba groups created the momentum, but the process immediately ran into resistance from the Nigerian state.

Then Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had to confront the Attorney-General of the Federation, who threatened fire and brimstone should Amotekun proceed.

The first lesson was clear: the security of Yorubaland remains tied to Nigeria’s centralized power structure.

Amotekun eventually emerged, but in a heavily restricted form.

It was effectively defanged because it lacked juridical authority-a direct consequence of the absence of constitutional power at the regional or ethno-national level.

Now comes another initiative: Iru Ekun-the Tiger’s tail.

But without a Tiger, what exactly is the tail attached to?

Again, the proposed structure depends on “approval,” “registration,” and supervision by central and state authorities.

From the Amotekun experience, it is obvious where this road leads: another security arrangement operating within constitutional limits
designed by the same centralized structure that created the insecurity crisis in the first place.

In short, another tail without the Tiger.

The history of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) offers another important lesson.

The OPC emerged during military rule as a Yoruba self-determination movement aimed at defending Yorubaland against Fulani hegemonic expansion and preserving Yoruba autonomy.

But over time, it became vulnerable to manipulation by central and state authorities. Internal crises followed. Eventually, its political essence weakened and it drifted toward survival, including seeking pipeline security contracts.

Just as Niger Delta militancy was absorbed into the state through patronage, the OPC was neutralized through incorporation into the same political structure it originally sought to confront.

The result is obvious.

The OPC neither secured Yorubaland nor achieved Yoruba self-determination.

Why?

Because there was no Tiger.

That is, there was no direct confrontation with the fundamental Nigerian power equation itself.

And it is that power equation that sustains the operational environment for terrorism, banditry, and organized insecurity.

We see this clearly in the endless rationalizations by government officials, in the rehabilitation of so-called “repentant terrorists,” and in the abandonment of victims in internally displaced persons camps across Northern Nigeria.

In Yorubaland, there are hardly any formal IDP camps. People flee quietly and survive however they can.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian state continues to reinvent itself through constitutional alterations while the rest of us merely adjust ourselves around the edges of the same centralized structure.

The latest example is “State Police.”

What is being proposed is not genuine federal policing, but a version anchored firmly within the existing Nigeria Police architecture.

In effect, it is another mechanism for managing insecurity without surrendering real constitutional power to the people most affected by it.
Again: another defanged arrangement.

The Tiger is Self-Government.
The Tiger is the recognition of the Yoruba as a Federating Unit.

And that recognition can only emerge through the instrumentality of a Yoruba Referendum [/b]capable of confronting the false constitutional narrative that “states” are the federating units of Nigeria.

That is the real issue.

[b]The Bill for a Yoruba Referendum already contains provisions for regional security, including juridical authority.

Such a framework would establish a legitimate constitutional basis for securing Yorubaland without perpetual dependence on Abuja or the whims of any governor temporarily occupying office.

That is how real security architecture is created.

Naturally, the Nigerian state will resist.

The National Assembly will continue its serial constitutional alterations.

But every alteration still requires ratification by State Assemblies.

And that is where the Referendum becomes decisive.

In practical terms, let Abuja secure its twenty-four states if it wishes.

The real question is whether those states can permanently override the democratic will of at least six contiguous states united by common nationality, language, culture, and historical identity.

That is not merely a judicial question.

It is a political question.

The so-called requirement of twenty-four states exists only because all thirty-six states silently accepted being labeled “federating units,” even though none of them was ever asked whether they desired such a status.

That contradiction alone calls the legitimacy of the entire constitutional arrangement into question.

Which means the struggle ahead is fundamentally political.

And while that political struggle unfolds, Yorubaland cannot continue outsourcing its security to distant constitutional arrangements that neither reflect its realities nor protect its people.

The task before us is therefore clear:
To create the Tiger.

Nothing less will suffice.

Editorial Board
Yoruba Referendum Committee

For someone on a so-called editorial board of something called Yoruba Referendum Committee, your knowledge of Yoruba is questionable.

Ekun is not tiger. There are no Tigers on this side of the world so those who name things could have had any encounter with one to warrant giving it a name.

Ekun is Leopard.
While Amotekun: which is smaller but similar to leopard is cheetah

Mynd44:
For someone on a so-called editorial board of something called Yoruba Referendum Committee, your knowledge of Yoruba is questionable.

Ekun is not tiger. There are no Tigers on this side of the world so those who name things could have had any encounter with one to warrant giving it a name.

Ekun is Leopard.
While Amotekun: which is smaller but similar to leopard is cheetah

So, a tiger does not exist in these parts but a descriptive differentiation was made between the Tiger and the Leopard--hence a tiger is described as "Ekun Abila" precisely in reconition of its distinct stripes? If they had no experieince with it, how come they were able to make the distinction?

ooduapathfinder:
So, is "Ekun" a Yoruba word or not?

Ekun is the Yoruba word for Leopard not Tiger.

Mynd44:
Ekun is the Yoruba word for Leopard not Tiger.

So, a tiger does not exist in these parts but a descriptive differentiation was made between the Tiger and the Leopard--hence a tiger is described as "Ekun Abila" precisely in reconition of its distinct stripes? If they had no experieince with it, how come they were able to make the distinction?

ooduapathfinder:
So, a tiger does not exist in these parts but a descriptive differentiation was made between the Tiger and the Leopard--hence a tiger is described as "Ekun Abila" precisely in reconition of its distinct stripes? If they had no experieince with it, how come they were able to make the distinction?

Who described tiger as Ekun Abila to you?

These term is a derived term meaning (Stripped Leopard) and it was recently named.

See attached image

Mynd44:
Who described tiger as Ekun Abila to you?

These term is a derived term meaning (Stripped Leopard) and it was recently named.

See attached image

The last sentence in your attachment says "Ekun Abila is a perfect name for Tiger in Yoruba".

"Ekun" refers to a group of carnivores/predators with similar yet distinct characteristics, hence the "Abila" differentiates between the "spots"( Leopard) and the "stripes"( Tiger).

Bottom lime: there would be no reason to ascribe "stripes" to an unseen/unknown creature.

ooduapathfinder:
The last sentence in your attachment says "Ekun Abila is a perfect name for Tiger in Yoruba".

"Ekun" refers to a group of carnivores/predators with similar yet distinct characteristics, hence the "Abila" differentiates between the "spots"( Leopard) and the "stripes"( Tiger).

Bottom lime: there would be no reason to ascribe "stripes" to an unseen/unknown creature.

Besides, the issue is not about the nativity but existence.
So, even if the Tiger is not native, it doesn't nullify its usage in native discourse.

ooduapathfinder:
Besides, the issue is not about the nativity but existence.
So, even if the Tiger is not native, it doesn't nullify its usage in native discourse.

It doesn't until the same is done to you.

You in your stubbornness, have mixed it all up.

When you call Tiger "Ekun", you are then moved to call Leopard "Amotekun" and then what will you call a Cheetah?

Get it? the misnaming of the Tiger is the begining of your errors

Now if you had used the descriptive adaptation of Tiger, you will have correctly named Leopards and the Cheetah can also be named correctly but in your arrogant defence of your ignornace, you have displayed the lack of research and correctional chances.

Now why should any sensblie person take your article seriously when you dont even know your basics?

Chinko Ekun loading...

Igboho has ulterior motives, none of which is in the interest of the Yoruba nation.

The greatest Deception deployed by tyrants and evil leaders is dressing personal selfish goals as national interest.

Amotekun should rather be strengthened and made to work.

SUPPORTED ONE HUNDRED PERCENT.

RETURN FAPRES TO OUR 36 CONSTITUTIONAL STATES AND A CERTIFIED TITHE CONTRIBUTION SYSTEM TO RUN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Mynd44:
For someone on a so-called editorial board of something called Yoruba Referendum Committee, your knowledge of Yoruba is questionable.

Ekun is not tiger. There are no Tigers on this side of the world so those who name things could have had any encounter with one to warrant giving it a name.

Ekun is Leopard.
While Amotekun: which is smaller but similar to leopard is cheetah

Iru Ekun is private initiative by Igboho. I think it is private company like Tompolo private security company in the riverine oversee the oil theft issue.

See as this Sunday igboho thread is free from

IGBOs insulting Yoruba.

Change it to ESN, IPOB or Nnamdi Kanu and see their evil lies and propaganda against the SE.

IGBOs are alpha numero, Tinubu should release Nnamdi Kanu, as Sunday igboho is doing exactly what Nnamdi Kanu did effectively without igboho propaganda.


Nuff Said

Mynd44:
It doesn't until the same is done to you.

You in your stubbornness, have mixed it all up.

When you call Tiger "Ekun", you are then moved to call Leopard "Amotekun" and then what will you call a Cheetah?

Get it? the misnaming of the Tiger is the begining of your errors

Now if you had used the descriptive adaptation of Tiger, you will have correctly named Leopards and the Cheetah can also be named correctly but in your arrogant defence of your ignornace, you have displayed the lack of research and correctional chances.

Now why should any sensblie person take your article seriously when you dont even know your basics?

"It's a free world"-- you don't have to take the article seriously. It's your call.
You refuse to recognize the fact as stated in what you attached. And I am the arrogant one?

The word "Ekun Abila" exists. And it is not "Leopard". They all belong to the same "Cat" specie.

Here you are now saying it is not so.

Anyway-- whether it is Tiger or Leopard or Cheetah-- the point still is: where is the body? There is now the tail-- where is the body.

Any serious person will ask such a question and not "major in minor" as they say.

Thank you