Critics of the extant political arrangement in Nigeria appear to have hit the roof tops. They are mostly from the south of the country. Day after day, they appear fiercer and more daring than ever. Most of these writers are gnashing their teeth, they are biting their fingers, they pour invectives on Nigeria’s political leaders; some preach revolution, some preach outright disintegration of the country. But a lot more blame the apparent resistance of the North’s political class to political/structural reforms for Nigeria’s afflictions. Afflictions that are seen by many more today as the blight on the black race.

These days, the Yorubas appear to have taken the lead from the Igbos on the job of disparagement of Nigeria’s political structure and establishment. Reading newspaper columnists, editorialists, on-line writers (some are mere vanity writers) and their follow-up blogers, cynicism gradually takes the place of optimism regarding the Nigerian experiment on unity in diversity, more so, unity between the North and South of the country. Accentuating the North/South political divide is the periodic meetings of the Northern traditional leaders, Northern governors, Northern legislators, Arewa Consultative forum, Northern Youths Forum, etc. Often you are bent to believe Frederick John Lugard is history’s most myopic colonial administrator.

But one common denominator of most of these writers (complainants) is their sit-outside-the-fence-and-expect-others-to-start-the-revolution attitude; you understand they believe that by their preaching they can nurture a nation-wide extreme left-wing group that can eventually rise, take up Nigeria and restructure it to a true and development-bound federation.

But can there ever emerge such extreme left-of-centre group in numbers sufficient enough to carry out, without any social upheaval, the restructuring and subsequent repositioning of Nigeria on the path to development? I shrug. Firstly, Nigeria, a country of diverse ethnic and religious groups has as the biggest stumbling block to her unity the differences in the value systems of the two largest religious groups; differences that tend to broaden the farther you move from the centre of the country in opposite directions towards the North and South.

Secondly, over the last three decades, Nigerians have been so progressively ill-educated that most of the country’s population have come to accept Nigeria for what it is today. No questions to be asked. The tiny rich class that profits from the failed political structure to steal the nation blind cannot ask questions either.

Thirdly, the lumpenproletariat at Ochanja, Oshodi or Tudun Wada, or the average Nigerian university undergraduate who cannot afford newspapers, cannot listen to the radio or watch television, and cannot access the internet may never know the importance of true federalism and may never rise to kick against the present unworkable federal structure.

These factors lean against the likelihood of the emergence of any popular, nation-wide, left-wing group that can confront the ruling cabal and successfully return fiscal federalism to Nigeria.

It is not stated any where that people of diverse ethnic and religious groups cannot leave peacefully together and develop their country. Ask people from the eldorado of Europe - the Swiss federation - whose German, French and Italian founders had to assemble their representatives to first negotiate and agree on the terms of the union. On the contrary, near-by Belgium is facing serious threats of disintegration because of a hazy political arrangement that has left some constituent ethnic groups with a feeling of marginalization. In Nigeria, marginalization of ethnic groups has taken a disturbing turn.

Furthermore, it is not stated anywhere that resources found in one part of a country must be deployed  to develop that part of the country alone. But there has never been this level of exploitation and intimidation elsewhere by one part of a country against the other as we have had them in the oil producing areas of Nigeria over the last four decades; European colonialists could not have been so predatory.

 The most disturbing aspect of the quagmire in Nigeria is the glaring but ominous inability of the Yoruba ethnic group to realise it holds the ace in the gambit at restructuring Nigeria and putting it back on the route to development. Or, if the Yoruba is aware she holds this ace, her hesitation to employ it for the good of Nigeria speaks volumes. The Southwest needs not be reminded it is the bridge between the North and the South of Nigeria. The time has therefore come for the Yoruba elite and her other leaders to jointly come out with an action plan to bring a neutralised North to an unfettered conference the outcome of which shall abolish the present federal structure. The conference must end leaving every federating group in Nigeria pursuing its development based on its priorities, with the ultimate aim of a greater, evenly developed and united Nigeria. 

Any day Yoruba leaders unanimously agree that Nigeria in its present structure has failed not only its people, but also the black race, and subsequently issue a threat that the ethnic group intends to pull out of the federation if the North continues to demonstrate its present disdain for true federalism, those in the North who are holding tenaciously to the present political structure shall come begging for a peace conference aimed at getting the North accommodated in the type of Nigeria the Southerners want. Even if revenues from oil and gas are subsequently controlled in the new Nigeria 100% by the areas they are derived, the North shall still stick to the South for a united Nigeria. For it is not just oil alone that is attracting the North to the South, the North is attracted more to the South by its desire for access to the sea which is paramount to the North’s long term development needs. If a Yoruba threat of secession fails to sway the North to the negotiating table, its (the Yoruba) leadership then enters into a written pact with the leaders of the rest of South of Nigeria stipulating the following:

(1) That the Southwest zone secedes from the rest of Nigeria with a provision that the zone must rejoin the rest of the Southern Union or alliance whatever is the outcome of the Southwest’s act of secession.

(2) That the  Southwest’s secession is aimed at bringing the North to the negotiating table in a humble manner devoid of its militarily acquired political leverages.

(3) That the secession is aimed at watering the grounds for an unfettered sovereign national conference  (SNC) where the terms for a truly federated Nigeria are to be determined, (an SNC under a sitting  government of a sovereign nation must either be manipulated or deadlocked).

(4) That if during this period the Southeast or the Southsouth or any part therein tries to exploit the situation and declares independence unilaterally, the rest of the South shall join the North in forcing back the erring group and the rest of the South to the old, scorching, one Nigeria.

(5) That if the North snubs the Southwest’s secession act and refuses to negotiate, or there comes a deadlock during the negotiations arising from an intransigent North, the South shall have no other option to declaring independence for Southern Nigeria.

(6) That the new independent Southern Nigeria shall be willing to accept the sections at the southern fringes of the North that may opt to join the South in the new federation.

If events reach the fifth clause above, the North, even if not instantly splintered cannot contemplate a war against any part of Southern Nigeria. To achieve this feat (threat of secession or real secession), the Southwest must play down the suspicion and fear that the Southeast may exploit the situation to subsequently declare Biafra. Post-civil war migration trends and the comparative conviviality between the peoples of the three zones currently stand against the idea of the Igbo not willing to coexist with others in a sovereign Southern Nigeria with true federalism in practice. Of course, in a truly federal Southern Nigeria, there shall be little or no more incentives for Biafra for the average Igbo. Those in the Southsouth whose demands have been consistent with returning Nigeria to a true federation may never want to secede from a truly federal Southern Nigeria either. The common value system shared by the three groups in the South is the utmost pre-requisite for nationhood and patriotism. The lesson on shared value system was enunciated at the on-set of the sharia law imbroglio when a BBC female reporter asked the then governor of Zamfara state, Yerima Sani, if he thought that in about a decade from then he could still find Nigeria as a single entity. Sani’s reply was: yes, because people from the predominantly Christian South and the predominantly Muslim North intermarried, and that the cause of the friction between the two groups was the difference in their value systems. This writer hastens to add that this difference in value systems suggests why a Nigeria permanently controlled by a Mecca-focused Northern political machinery can never drive a Detroit or Munich-dreaming South to a prosperous destination. Electoral reforms, Police reforms, committees on this, committees on that, magical vision year 2020, they are like adding maggi cubes to an already soured pot of soup.

 Most Yoruba writers today employ the word - South - in apparent efforts to forge an alliance of the Southwest, Southeast and Southsouth zones, perhaps, to liberate the three zones from what many regard as the colonisation of the South by the North of Nigeria. Good strategy. However, there are cynics who still believe that the drive to have a stake in oil found in greater quantities in the former Southeast region of Nigeria is the major propellent of the Yoruba enthusiasm for this new Southern alliance. On this score, it is therefore necessary that the Yoruba work  harder to wean itself from the distrust it attracts from some people from the other two zones in the South. For instance, during the last National Political Reforms Conference, apart from the Umaru Dikkos of the North, the Bola Ajibolas of the Southwest were among the loudest voices that frustrated the people on the Niger Delta in their quest for a partial control of the resources found in their back-yard. Again, time is the healer of wounds, we must therefore assume that the Igbos must have cast to the dust bin of history the unsavoury role of the Yoruba before, during and immediately after the civil war.

Aside the often disconcerted, but honest and laudable efforts by the Wole Soyinkas , the Gani Fawhinmis, the Gbenga Daniels, the Beko Ransome and Fela Anikulapo Kutis, at challenging the injustices in Nigeria’s system, in the past, many Yoruba politicians would preach this alliance any time they wanted to advance their selfish interests. Nigeria’s history is replete with instances of this. The most recent: Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigeria’s president looking for an unconstitutional third term in office dispatched his right-hand man – Tony Anenih – (supported by many prominent Yoruba politicians) - to Enugu on the thicket of Southern alliance to preach that Nigeria’s development was stunted because revenues ‘from oil’ were not managed by people from the areas the revenues were derived. (Read: the South personified then by Obasanjo must be supported to get a third term to continue the management of oil revenues and leadership of Nigeria). When Obasanjo failed in his third term bid, the Southern alliance collapsed like a pack of cards. Thereafter, the ruling party presidential aspirants from the former Southeast region spent fortunes campaigning around the country only to be rail-roaded from the race at the last minute by President Obasanjo.

There are others that also believe that today’s amplified outcry from the Southwest against the unjust and debilitating political structure in Nigeria gets instantly dimmed any time another Olusegun Obasanjo or Ernest Shonekan (or even a co-opted Oladipo Diya) is foisted upon Nigeria by those who wield political power by virtue of the political machinations of past military leaders. And that it may not matter to the Yoruba that the Obafemi Awolowos, the Moshood Abiolas, the Olu Falaes, must always be denied Nigeria’s apex leadership position if our present forced federal structure is not dismantled. As a teenager this writer noted Ebenezer Babatope as Nigeria’s fiercest critic of military dictators. Yet, it did not take any pre-conditions or any serious prodding to have Babatope serve for so long the worst of those dictators.

The people of the Southeast have been challenging the unjust system, take into account how many young Igbo men and women that have been murdered or are today languishing in various prisons for mere association in a non-violent organisation. The Ijaws, the Ogonis, the Kalabaris, the Itsekiris, etc: they have been challenging the rigged federal structure in Nigeria; theirs have also been either murdered or imprisoned for that. Even the Middle belt men grouped to the North had in their own various ways challenged those that resist changes in this dysfunctional federation. 

But without the deafening silence, or in some cases, tacit approval from the Yoruba who seemingly would want radical changes but not ready to lose a hair for them, these atrocities perpetrated by the core-North against the rest of Nigeria could not have been possible.

The objective of this write-up is to highlight the imperativeness for a Yoruba co-ordinated action in the race to salvage Nigeria. Paper and lap-top tiger-ing aren’t just enough. No blackmail meant.

LIP-SIDE PATRIOTISM

The constant product of Nigeria’s lop-sided federal structure is the constant emergence of political charlatans and lip-side patriots at most of the important positions of political leadership in the country. Perhaps, it is an exaggeration, but not too far from the truth to state that they are gradually leading the rest of the Nigerian population like sheep to the slaughter. Average life expectancy has gone down to 49 years in the country. Military dictators so distorted the nation’s federal structure and subsequently imposed a constitution on it such that any effort to redress the skewed federal structure through the National Assembly shall come to nought. For having unjustifiably amassed nineteen states in the North that on some issues come together, this zone is assured of the overwhelming legislative majority to torpedo any form of restructuring/constitutional amendment that is not in its favour.  

And so long as revenue from fossil fuels from the South keeps flowing in, the North can never give up its political grip on the country. It must strive to retain the existing federal structure even if Nigerians are perishing from want and disease and Nigeria’s development infrastructures regressing to a ridiculous level. The present propaganda for support for a nuclear energy plant which must, of course, be located in the North, and probably, have a Yoruba-appointed facilitator, may be the last straw to break the camel’s back. If a nuclear reactor is built in the North of Nigeria, it may in the not too distant future become another Iran. It is aimed at keeping the South of Nigeria permanently at awe of the North’s military capabilities. It is a long term design to hold on to this forced federal structure. Besides, contemplating an expatriates-engineered nuclear energy plant in a country whose larger portion of science graduates can hardly differentiate between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission amounts to outright desperation of the North not for electric power but for political power. Think of the billions of petro-dollars that must surely go down the drains here and you think of lip-side patriotism.

Robot  # 1 | 22.08.2008 22:53

...Read the full article.

K_Station  # 2 | 23.08.2008 01:53

You might want to stay off big stout or whether na burukutu you dey drink before writing, it might help you focus on writing realistically! No blackmail meant.

Agidimolaja  # 3 | 23.08.2008 03:16

Ernest, You did such an awful job at mixing sands with salt for your readers.It is a pity though that you took so much time to paint Yorubas with such horror paintbrush.To the best of my knowledge,your knowledge of Nigeria's political history is so shallow hence you were running from cover to cover without anything of substance to offer. But if I may ask you,gentleman;what did you and your likes require us Yorubas to do that we've not done as far as Nigeria is concerned? Yorubas have paid their dues to this country both in cash and in kind,therefore the blames that you are trying to place at our doorstep are not ours.Please move your package of blames to the next address and try the delivery there because you already know too well where the blames belong. I admonished you to open your Nigeria's political history book and read from where it is clearly written that a Yorubaman named Herbert Macaulay was in the fore front of the struggle for Nigeria's Independence before he handed over the mantle to Zik hence Zik had a number of eminent Yorubas in NCNC. Read it in history how Obafemi Awolowo,a Yorubaman transformed the then Western Region into a very civilized and prosperous region between 1952 and 1959. Read how he laboured so hard to become the Prime Minister/President of this country so that he can use the same method he used in the West to transform the newly emerged Federation of Nigeria. Read also how his efforts were sabotaged by those who did not and still today do not want Nigeria to be a great country. Three times did he made frantic efforts;1959,1979 and 1983.He was continually disallowed. Had he been allowed to lead the country,trust me, we won't be where we are today. No wonder,Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu rated him so high as "the best President Nigeria did not have". Facts cannot be denied! The worst came upon Obafemi Awolowo in 1962 when he was framed up and was later jailed.Although the enemies,numbering severals stood over him, but they could not break his heart. Obafemi Awolowo was in jail when the 1966 January coup came. On that fateful night Yorubas lost three leaders.Chief S.L. Akintola,the then Premier of the West. Brig. Sam Ademulegun,the second most senior Yoruba Army Officer.His pregnant wife was also murdered. Col.Ralph Shodeinde , the Commandant of Nigerian Defence Academy was also killed same night. We know who murdered our leaders but we said nothing neither did we go out for revenge.And when those who mudered our leaders were attacked by another blood thirsty tribes,we Yorubas gave those who murdered our leaders protection and free passage out to their homeland. Yet,we recieved no thanks but name calling. Seven months later,another Yoruba leader,Col.Fajuyi,the then Military Governor of the West was murdered. After the second coup of July 1966 whereby the then Head of State,Gen.Ironsi was killed,the next person to take up the mantle was a Yorubaman,Brig Ogundipe.He was disallowed.This was the same man who was recommended by the departing British GOC,Gen. Everald to be appointed as the first Nigerian GOC of the Army.Balewa did not appoint him. Col.Shittu Alao,a Yorubman, the then Head of the Air Force died under mysterious circumstances.The Medical Doctor{also a Yorubaman}who vowed to reveal his utopsy as against the instructions of Gowon's regime was also murdered. MKO Abiola,a Yorubaman needed no futher introduction.You should have read about how he won a fair and free Presidential election but was also disallowed to take over.He was later arrested and detained for years before he was eventually beating to death. You should have also read how Abacha wickedly treated Yorubas.He murdered many and jailed many and many managed to escape into exile. The memeory of the mysterious and yet to be solved death of Bola Ige,a Yorubaman should still be very fresh in your memory. Before he was brutally murdered,he almost succeeded at giving the country stable electricity before his efforts were sabotaged by faceless marauders. Today,after more than sixteen billion dollars in the drain,we still have no lights to light our darkness. Tell me then,Ernest,what else do you want Yorubas to do for Nigeria? Which Nigerian tribe lost more leaders than Yorubas in the affairs of this country? Which Nigerian tribe made more efforts for the betterment of Nigeria than Yorubas? Yes,you may be right when you submitted that we hold the ace.No doubt about it.But what can we do when we are continually being prevented from using the ace in our hand?Nothing! Obafemi Awolowo tried his best to get to the driver's seat of this nation and drive the country safely onto economic prosperity and technological advancement but he was never given the chance as known and unknown enemies always ganged up against him. Why are you then blaming us today for things that are not our fault? Yorubas have always been so organized but our enemies have always come in among us like wolves to disorganized us.In 1962 and 1964 we were badly disorganized until we took our destiny into our hands.In 1979 we were again reorganized until Buhari came in 1983/1984 to disorganize us.We again regrouped and got organized again in 1999 but in2003 one of our own, Obj, was again used to disorganized us. Today,we may look as so badly disorganized but Yorubas know too well how to regroup. Trust me. In your own intrest do not attempt to preach secession to us neither should you attempt to teach us how to effect it.If that is what all things boiled down to,we shall cross the bridge when we got there but at our own space. Whatever Obj did to Nigeria is between him and those who criminally installed him.Yorubas did not vote for him and we did not support his failed secret agenda of tenure elongation. Lastly,about the civil war era,Igbos may forget and may not forget,it is none of my business and I don't want to be lured into that arguement here now.But I will remain standing in the same position until my grave recieved me, that Yorubas did not do anything wrong both before, during and after the civil war except if the circumstances surrounding the civil war have fatally misled you.

akuluouno  # 4 | 23.08.2008 04:29

Oh Villagers, I also want to weigh in and comment on this article. While totally against the choice of title by Mr Muorka, I will also like to advice villagers in their comments not to go historical because Nigeria has no documented history:evil::evil:especially post independence. All we had were jaundiced and distorted personal opinions of some elites and journalists of that time to suit their whims:twisted::twisted: This was aided and abetted by the British who wanted to safeguard the kalakuta (confused) legacy they were leaving behind. Regarding the restructure of Nigeria, I do not think that the time have come, if we are to take a comparative approach. Nuclear power or arms cannot save a nation that is bent on restructuring and I am speaking historically:idea:

Tiger  # 5 | 23.08.2008 07:29

This is a very unfortunate write-up. It is a pity that the virulent Igbo's hatred for the Yorubas has failed to subside and has found a dangerous intellectual eloquence in this jaundiced and better forgotten write-up. I fail to see a quick and lasting solution to the numerous problems plaguing this country with this eternal blame culture on the part of the Ibos. This writer obviously sees nothing right in the Yorubas but sees them as holding the ace to the quagmire in which the nation finds itself. Even the efforts of people like Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti are disconcerted. Most Yoruba writers on the internet are vain, etc, etc. Yorubas are apparently interested in the South because of oil. Alarmingly, the spirit of secession still runs deep in the Ibos. In actual fact, the thrust of the solution suggested in this write-up rests solely on the threat of secession and nothing else. The fragmentation of this country politically and otherwise starts with the unfortunate first coup and the Biafran experiment. This is a fact our brothers from across the Niger needs to accept. This spirit of fragmentation continues to this day. The genuine interest of the Ibos in a true and federal Nigeria remains suspect. They have done precious little to dispel this notion. Having failed with the Biafran attempt, it is now their ploy to push the Yorubas to take up the fight for them. Like Agidimolaja said, Yorubas know what to do and will do so at the right time. The Ibos should fight their battle and carry on with their war-mongering agenda. Until they realise the true meaning of brotherhood and learn to bury the culture of blame which seems to be so ingrained in their psyche. It is unfortunate, but the writer of this article has only opened the door to nothing but Ibo-batching. I expect nothing but ferocious condemnation from Ibo activists on this site, but then i have said my own. Over to the hatchet men!

akuluouno  # 6 | 23.08.2008 07:58

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Omo Agu, How many times have I called your name:cool::cool: Na waooh. I have earlier warned villagers to forget anything about Nigeria history because we have none. If you try to go historical wit Nigeria you will fail woefully in your analysis. You made a sweeping statement based on history that Igbos are never trusted by Nigeria:eek::eek::eek: UMYA just finished dotting the lines on Paul Dike as Nigeria's CDS. Dike revers men like Nzeogwu, Okwechime, Nwawo, Achuzie and using the apochryfal Nigerian history as a guide, these are not men that you might describe as lovers of Nigeria. Reminds of when the daughter of Abraham Adesanya, in her moments of hubris made agaffe and called former Biafran soldiers names:D:D:Dforgetting that many of the Igbo ministers seated close to her and attending FEC meetings with her were former Biafran commandoes:eek::eek::eek: So to address the issue at stake oh Villagers, oncemore, let us eschew anything historical, because Nigeria has none. I rest my case sine die:idea::idea::idea: icon showing Aku in an I love Obama pass my Country Mood earlier exhibited by Ndi:cool:

Namio  # 7 | 23.08.2008 08:10

Hogwash. Nonsense and total distortion of history. Bile letting and hatred without any objectivity. A lot of wishful thinking that Yoruba will go on dying for useless causes. It has been said that there is nothing outside Yoruba land worth dying for but everything in Yoruba land worth fighting and dying for. Pity, I have dignified your dishonest paper by replying. I hope others will hold their horses.

denker  # 8 | 23.08.2008 08:30

The most disturbing aspect of the quagmire in Nigeria is the glaring but ominous inability of the Yoruba ethnic group to realise it holds the ace in the gambit at restructuring Nigeria and putting it back on the route to development. ...of course, the quote is relatively correct...and i'm convinced dat any intelligent creature from Oduduwa-nation has no other option as to concur with the quote....! ..i'm denker and i 'approved of' dis comment!

valteena  # 9 | 23.08.2008 09:14

All I read here is one ethnic hate after the other from the original article to the replies. How do you accuse someone of ethnic hate when your own reply is full of same ethnic hate disguised as ethnic pride. It is just beyond me. And we all wonder why Nigeria is in the state it is now. I really weep :cry: for Nigeria because it is obviuos from these write up that even those here now strongly condemning the present state of affair and crop leaders have nothing better to offer if they find themselves in the leadership position today. It will be a continuation of tribal politic and divisive governance. Poor Nigeria :exclaim: You're in such a deep shiit :sad:

NWANZA  # 10 | 23.08.2008 14:27

LIP-SIDE PATRIOTISM The constant product of Nigeria’s lop-sided federal structure is the constant emergence of political charlatans and lip-side patriots at most of the important positions of political leadership in the country. Perhaps, it is an exaggeration, but not too far from the truth to state that they are gradually leading the rest of the Nigerian population like sheep to the slaughter. Average life expectancy has gone down to 49 years in the country. Military dictators so distorted the nation’s federal structure and subsequently imposed a constitution on it such that any effort to redress the skewed federal structure through the National Assembly shall come to nought. For having unjustifiably amassed nineteen states in the North that on some issues come together, this zone is assured of the overwhelming legislative majority to torpedo any form of restructuring/constitutional amendment that is not in its favour. And so long as revenue from fossil fuels from the South keeps flowing in, the North can never give up its political grip on the country. It must strive to retain the existing federal structure even if Nigerians are perishing from want and disease and Nigeria’s development infrastructures regressing to a ridiculous level. The present propaganda for support for a nuclear energy plant which must, of course, be located in the North, and probably, have a Yoruba-appointed facilitator, may be the last straw to break the camel’s back. If a nuclear reactor is built in the North of Nigeria, it may in the not too distant future become another Iran. It is aimed at keeping the South of Nigeria permanently at awe of the North’s military capabilities. It is a long term design to hold on to this forced federal structure. Besides, contemplating an expatriates-engineered nuclear energy plant in a country whose larger portion of science graduates can hardly differentiate between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission amounts to outright desperation of the North not for electric power but for political power. Think of the billions of petro-dollars that must surely go down the drains here and you think of lip-side patriotism. Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! This is a classic write-up that strikes the nerve of those who pay lip service to the problems, but swallow the injustice of the system. Mainly to preserve or guarantee share of oil loot. The truth stands out about the flip-flopping by the Southwest, always mouthing off criticism but disappears when it is time for action. It is trademark of the Yoruba from way back in the Awolowo years, which is purely dirty politics. Same dirty politics was evident during the Obasanjo wasted years, as he preached a southern agenda during 3rd term controversy only to pull out and leave victims after the Enugu southern solidarity meeting. It is also despicable for people like Tiger to say Igbo's hate Yoruba's, and this statement is immature and baseless. K-station cannot absolve a simple truth laid bare in print by leading an attack pack instead of taking a code of silence. This knucklehead attacks just exposes the hypocrisies of the southwest, and cast them as the weakest link to the struggle from emancipation of the south.

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