Eminent scholar and President of Yoruba World
Congress, Prof. Banji Akintoye has declared that agitation for
self-determination is a legitimate struggle, and not an act of treasonable
felony as the federal government wants Nigerians to believe. As such, he vowed
that there will be no going back on the renewed push for an Oduduwa Republic
for the Yoruba nation, even as he advised against using force or taking any
action that may cause harm to those calling for Nigeria’s breakup. He spoke
further on this in this interview with TUNDE THOMAS.
On this agitation for Oduduwa Republic, some
Nigerians are saying that it is a fluke, and another attempt ……
Cuts in…Those saying that should wait until October
1st to know whether it is real or not. But I want to declare here that nobody
should harbour any doubt about the determination of Yoruba for
self-determination. There is no going back, and come October 1st, we are going
to make a formal declaration about it, and nobody including federal government
can stop us. The whole world is already aware of our mission, and there is
nothing federal government can do about it because what we are doing is not in
any way illegal. It is within our legitimate right to determine whether we want
to stay or not in the union called Nigeria. There is no way we can be held
against our will if our people have already made up their mind to leave
Nigeria. Nigeria is living on borrowed time, and it is just a matter of time
before we all go our separate ways. There is no going back, Oduduwa Republic
has come to stay. It has become a reality.
There is so much injustice in Nigeria, and it is
only here you have this kind of injustice, and oppression. There has been so
much Fulani domination, and oppression of other groups in the country, and we
can’t continue this way and this is why we feel that the best option for Yoruba
is to exercise their right to self-determination. A country where one group is
always aspiring to conquer other sections can no longer be called a country.
The situation in the country today is so bad that it has gone beyond
restructuring, which some people are even calling for. The Fulani people have a
hidden agenda, and unfortunately President Muhammadu Buhari is helping the
Fulani to actualise their agenda of dominating other Nigerians through his
political appointments and general ways he has been running his government, and
other Nigerians can no longer fold their hands and continue watching things
going on this way. Another annoying thing is that the Fulani in Nigeria are
even bringing Fulani from outside Nigeria to participate in the conquest of
other Nigerians. This is no longer acceptable. Countries fight wars but when
they do so, it is against outsiders, and not against their own people like the
Fulani are doing to others in Nigeria. A country where a section is aspiring to
conquer other sections can no longer be referred to as a country. The Fulani
say Nigeria belongs to them, and that they are going to take lands that belong
to other ethnic nationalities, and this is why you have all these invasions
taking place in the Middle-Belt, Southern Kaduna, and other parts of the
country. The reality of the situation is that we the Yoruba can’t continue to
live with another group that believes in the subjugation, and conquest of
others.
Will you say this is part of the reasons why the
clamour for Biafra, and North-Central Republic has been growing louder?
The Fulani invasion of other parts of the country
has destroyed Nigeria, and majority of Nigerians no longer have faith in this
country again. This is no longer the Nigeria of the dream of the founding
fathers. Since majority of Nigerians no longer have faith in being together
again, the best solution is for people to go their different ways but we don’t
have to do it in a chaotic manner. The best way to go about it is to generate a
process of negotiation, whereby we would sit around the table, and discuss in
frank manners so that we won’t be enemies of one another for ever like the
situation you have between Israel, and some Arab nations. It must be done in
such a way that there will be no bloodshed or loss of lives. Other countries
especially in Europe have done it that way, and so there is no reason we can’t
do it also. There is nothing strange about Nigeria breaking up, and not only
that, I believe the break-up can be done peacefully.
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo recently convened a
dialogue with leaders of five socio-cultural groups across the country where he
raised the alarm that Nigeria was drifting fast to a failed state. Do you agree
with him?
Nigeria is already a failed state, a country in
which some citizens of the country are invading other sections, and the federal
government couldn’t stop it. If this is happening, and those who are supposed
to stop it are not doing so, then in what other way do you refer to Nigeria
other than being a failed state?
All the indices point to the fact that Nigeria has not only failed but it is
disintegrating, fast. Although I don’t know the time-line but definitely
breakup is imminent, and there is nothing anybody can do to stop it. I also
want to state categorically here that any attempt to stop agitating for breakup
will fail. Already the United Nations, and other members of the international
community are aware of what is happening in the country. Any attempt to
suppress people expressing their interests to self-determination will fail.
Obviously, the former President is pushing for
restructuring, and a new constitution rather than the amendment the National
Assembly is working on, is that the way to go?
The National Assembly is not working on any
amendment. They are just deceiving Nigerians. This is what they claim to be
doing every year, and it has been discovered that this is nothing but deceit.
Almost every year the National Assembly claims to be doing this but Nigerians
have discovered that they are not being honest so there is nothing to talk
about on that. And like I said earlier, Nigeria has even gone beyond
restructuring. What we should be talking about now is negotiated break up. That
is the only solution to Nigeria’s problems.
For those saying that Obasanjo is a hypocrite for calling for restructuring
when he failed to carry it out when he was in power, I will just say that
Nigerians should remember that Obasanjo is just a human being, and to err is
human. Moreover, what is not clear to him that time may have been clearer to
him now. For him to even have the courage to call for restructuring now shows
that he is a patriot, and a man of honour. But for me, and some other
Nigerians, the situation in the country today has gone beyond restructuring, it
is only breakup that is the answer. Obasanjo is a citizen of the world whose
opinions and views are taken seriously, so whatever he is saying I will advise
those in authority to take him seriously.
Nigerians asked for deregulation of power, and fuel
supplies, and now the government is doing that, it seems to be coming out with
periodic hike in prices, what do you say about this?
It is very unfortunate. The aim and objective of
governance should be to make life comfortable for citizens but in this clime,
it seems to be the other way round. It is unfortunate that Nigerians are being
overburdened. This is part of the reason why many are already fed up with the
country. It’s sad that most of the policies of the government are making
Nigerians to be frustrated, and when you add insecurity to all these, then you
can imagine the pains Nigerians are going through.
Opposition and labour leaders are angling for
protest over this, do you support their plan?
Although I would have preferred talking about the
agitation for Yoruba self-determination, I believe it is within the democratic
rights of those wishing to go on strike to do so. They have the constitutional
rights to embark on that course of action. More so when you have a government
that appears not to be sensitive to the plight of the citizens, then the labour
leaders, and members of the civil societies can rise up to the occasion to be
advocates for the masses, especially the poor Nigerians.
There have been recent concerns that Boko Haram is
moving gradually towards South with the military confirming their presence
around Kogi, and Abuja. How do you see that development, and how do you think
Yoruba can protect themselves?
It is a shocking development. But in all this the
question you ask is how prepared is government for such an ugly development? To
make matters worse, it is not only Boko Haram that we have to contend with now
as other terrorist groups from Syria and Libya have infiltrated Nigeria. You
also have the Al-Queda from Iraq in the country now. All these terrorist groups
have one aim, and their objective is to use resources of Nigeria to conquer other
parts of West Africa. The situation in Nigeria today is dire and we should not
deceive ourselves, and Yoruba, and other ethnic nationalities should be
prepared to defend their homelands. Anybody or group waiting for government is
deceiving himself. You will remember that there was a time General TY Danjuma
warned that Nigerians should be prepared to defend themselves, that anybody
waiting for government is doing so at his own peril. The federal government is
not showing any inclination to defend anybody.
Why has it been difficult for the Armed Forces to
defeat Boko Haram?
We should ask those in authority. Every time they
keep on boasting that they have defeated Boko Haram, but we keep on seeing Boko
Harm getting more ferocious, and deadlier. What we are seeing is the
unfortunate situation where Boko Haram is getting stronger and stronger. To
checkmate the ugly situation something drastic has to be done. What is the
problem with our military? Is it that they are not getting the right equipment,
and the logistics? Another factor we also have to consider is the issue of
corruption being raised in the military, because we hear of massive corruption
taking place within the military which many are saying is affecting not only
the performance of the troops but also lowering their morale. Nigerians are
tired of excuses, and propaganda but what they want is concrete action being
taken to neutralize Boko Haram, and other terrorists who have infiltrated the
country.
How effective can you say Operation Amotekun has been?
So far, those in charge across the states have been
trying their best to protect the Yoruba homeland from terrorists, and other
infiltrators. Although they are taking off slowly, they are demonstrating their
resolve to live up to the task of protecting Yoruba from external aggressors.
The South-West state governors are in charge, and my appeal to them is that
they should do everything possible to give the outfit the support required to
make it an effective tool in demonstrating to any external aggressors that the
Yoruba have what it takes to defend themselves from external attack without
waiting for the federal government.
So much fraud in billions is daily reported from
probes into NDDC, Amnesty programme, and the EFCC, what do you make out of all
these?
Corruption is the culture of governance, and
leadership in Nigeria. It has become part and parcel of our culture. In 2014,
when Buhari was campaigning to be elected, he made so much promise to tackle
corruption, but today has anything changed? No. Corruption appears to be more
thriving, and the situation is not helped by the fact that Buhari himself is
not running a transparent government. He appears to be running a government
with hidden agenda to promote the interests of one section of the country over
others.
Although they’ve set up probe panels on some of
these cases but what is going to be the outcome? Nigerians no longer have
confidence in the government again. But Nigerians can’t continue this way. My
fear for this country is that if we continue this way, Buhari may be Nigeria’s
last President. There is a lot of bottled emotions, and anger across the
country, and this is why the agitations for self-determination have become
stronger today than ever before.
But agitations for self-determination, some have
declared, amount to act of treasonable felony, what do you say to that?
It doesn’t, and I don’t agree with those saying so.
Even the constitution guarantees freedom of association. It was the
amalgamation of 1914 that forcefully brought different nations together.
Nigeria is made up of so many nations. Moreover, this is not the first time
that people have been calling for breakup of Nigeria if that will bring the
desired peace. Notable Nigerians including late Chief Anthony Enahoro, and
Prof. Ango Abdullali, the leader of the Northern Elders Forum have publicly
done so, without anybody harassing them, and this agitation will continue as
long as oppression and injustice continue to pervade the country.
• Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/no-going-back-on-oduduwa-republic/
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