A Needless Debate (1)
Nigeria was a British colony, up
to October 1960. Because of this
relationship, Nigerians have a good knowledge of and information on the political processes and system in Britain.
Most Nigerians know that Britain consists of ethnic-nationalities like English, Scot, Welsh and Irish. These ethnic-nations are so strong that they have their own parliaments, with limited powers. Each ethnic-nation is represented by its own team in the World Cup or European Cup of Nations.
It can, therefore, be said that ethnic-nationalism flourishes in Britain. In spite of this rising tide of ethnic-nationalism, nobody talks or writes about the need for a leader for the English, or the Scots, or the Welsh or Irish as ethnic-nations. All you can hear about are leaders of some ethnic-based party like the Scottish National Party. The very intelligent people of these ethnic nationalities realize that their socio-economic salvation lies in operating within established constitutional provisions.
That is why I find the new debate initiated by a great political scientist, for whom I have personal admiration, Professor Femi Otubanjo, on the leader of the Yoruba absolutely unnecessary and unproductive. I do not believe such a divisive issue is our priority now. Do the Yoruba really need a leader?
Where is the leader of the Hausas, the Fulanis, the Kanuris? Has anybody been privileged to be turbaned into such positions? My limited knowledge of these great northern ethnic-nations has not indicated any such leader. Although there has been no leader of Hausa-Fulani, that has not stopped the Hausa-Fulani from establishing a strong hold on the Nigerian political-power. The absence of such a leader did not stop the North from making Chief Segun Obasanjo the President, even when the Yoruba preferred someone else.
All we used to have is a faceless Kaduna Mafia. For decades the fear of Kaduna Mafia was the beginning of political wisdom in Nigeria. Yet we never knew who constituted the Kaduna Mafia. There was never any dance of the naked in the market place in the quest for a leader of the North or the Hausa/ Fulani.
Even in Yorubaland, before 1967, was there a leader of Yoruba in history? Apart from the acknowledged progenitor, Oduduwa, there was no appointed or elected leader of Yoruba in pre-British Nigeria. In any case, there was no one united, integrated Yoruba nation under one central leadership. What we had was a number of Yoruba kingdoms, varying in size, structure and organization. Even at its dizzying height the OYO Empire did not cover all or encompass all the Yoruba Kingdoms.
Neither Alaafin, nor the Are Onakakanfo could claim to be the leader of the Yoruba. Even when the British came calling, and was annexing Lagos Colony, or Western Protectorate, there was no central leader of the Yoruba.
The first Nigerian constitution came in 1914. Between 1914 and 1950, there was no leader of the Yoruba. The great Obafemi Awolowo emerged on the political scene as Secretary-General of Egbe Omo Oduduwa and President of the Action Group. When his party emerged as the majority party, having received the support of A.M.A. Akinloye’s Ibadan People’s Party, Chief Awolowo became the Leader of Government Business, and subsequently Premier of Western Region.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo was Premier up till 1959, when he became leader of opposition in the Federal House of Representatives. The period of rapid socio-economic transformation, indeed the era of glory which we all recall with nostalgia, coincided with the premiership of great Obafemi Awolowo. He was not the leader of the Yoruba. Even the 1959 Federal Elections indicated that Awolowo’s Action Group was only a majority party, not the dominant party.
All through this period, Chief Awolowo never clamoured for or organized to be the leader of the Yorubas. The Yorubas knew that whatever they wanted could only be achieved within the context of the Nigerian Constitution. And Chief Awolowo did not need the title “Leader of Yoruba” to excel, to deliver service, and to move the Western Region forward.
Then came 1967. You will recall that the years between 1962 and 1967 was a period of total discord, bitterness, and agony for the Yoruba.
There had been a state of emergency, Coker Commission of Enquiry, the Treasonable Felony trials, the electoral frauds, and the people’s “operation wet e” revolt. To climax this was the coup-detat of Jan 1966, and there was the return-match military coup of July 1966.
All these left the Yoruba an endangered people. Some of them were victims in the military coups of January and July 1966. Many of them died in the civilian uprising in the North. To compound matters the Yorubas were not adequately or equitably represented in the military.
(To be continued)
