…Say it’s a plot to negotiate 2023 presidency
…They can’t create problem and run away from its consequence
…Actualizing self determination must follow due process
…Whoever thinks Nigeria will disintegrate is dreaming
…We need restructuring, not secession…It’s time to renegotiate our union
…We can’t ignore Yoruba agenda of self determination
Yoruba activist and promoter of self determination for Yoruba ethnic group, Mr Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho declared last week Wednesday that Yoruba were no longer part of Nigeria and announced the birth of a new nation, Oodua Republic.
He cited grave injustice done to the South West region by the central government and wondered if Yoruba have now become slaves in Nigeria.
He dared Yoruba politicians to campaign publicly for any elective post under the present arrangement. The new leader of Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo had stated in an interview that the elders in the region were finding it difficult to restrain their youths from expressing their frustrations in the way they were being governed while restating his stand on restructuring of the country.
Other stakeholders in the Nigerian project from the South South and the South East regions however welcomed the birth of Oodua Republic with mixed reactions. While some described it as a joke carried too far, others argued that it should serve as a wakeup call for the political leaders at the centre to do the needful and restructure the country.
It’s sponsored smokescreen to negotiate 2023 Presidency -NDRA Darlington Nwauju, Spokesman, Niger Delta Rights Advocates said, “Igboho’s declaration crystallizes the greed of the Yoruba political elite who are creating a smokescreen situation in order to negotiate the 2023 Presidency. This was nearly same method applied pre-1999, although it came via different circumstances that drew national and international sympathy. For me, Igboho is serving the interest of some Yoruba elites who are simply engaging in a power game. How come this Igboho suddenly became a Yoruba champion after the End-SARS protests and has gained so much media prominence? Whose interest is he actually serving? The Yoruba are going nowhere. Igboho is a creation by the Yoruba elite to negotiate for power.”
Oodua Republic: Plot to bargain for 2023 presidency
In his own reaction, the National President of Ignoring National Council, INC, Chilos Godsent, described the declaration of Oodua Republic by Sunday Igboho, as a plot by the Yoruba to negotiate themselves into power. The INC president said that there was nothing to show the seriousness in the declaration as it was not possible to declare a nation without forming a government.
According to Godsent, “The position of Sunday Igboho in the declaration of Oodua Republic, from our own perspective, looking at the historic antecedents of the Yoruba, we see it as a political bargain for 2023 presidency. One, there are formalities for the declaration of a sovereign nation, but those formalities have not been followed.
You don’t declare a nation just by coming to the news media to announce it. He has declared a new nation but still using the currency of the old nation and living in that same nation, he is still obeying the laws of that nation. Why has he not constituted his own government. No president, no cabinet members. This is just a child’s play, these are some of the antics some of these self determination groups deploy to negotiate themselves into the mainstream politics.”
It’s time to renegotiate our union
Iniruo Wills, President, Ijaw Professionals Association (Homeland Chapter) said: “Nigeria as it is, is the creation and hand-down of a colonial force. It is in the urgent interest of all parts of this colonially contrived entity to start a process of negotiating freely amongst themselves on the basis of their continued coexistence or interrelations.
Nigeria is currently a failed project. It is time to renegotiate the country into a successful and prosperous nation. Sadly, only the leaders and political authorities of the South South and South East regions are sleeping on this looming reality, as they have failed till date to instigate internal consultations that can throw up a strategy for positively reinventing Nigeria. If you are sleeping, you can’t blame your neighbour for being awake.”
We should ignore all these anti-democratic forces
Joseph Ambakederemo, Convener, South South Reawakening Group, said: “We should ignore all these people whom I will refer to as self seekers. This has become a recurring decimal in our body polity because they rear their ugly head whenever we approach a critical election year.. We should remind these anti democratic forces for what they are.
Sunday Adeyemo is another scam just like Nnamdi Kanu and Asari Dokubo who are out to scam the gullible amongst us. We shouldn’t dignify them with any response. Sunday Igboho is not the one to speak for the Yoruba nation as we know it neither is the like of Kanu or Dokubo to speak for their respective ethnic races. We, in the South South region have passed through this path before and what did we achieve even when our own son in the person of Goodluck Jonathan became President? What did he do differently to benefit the region? We can recall that Goodluck said then that he would not be the one to balkanize Nigeria in the heat of the same agitation that has reared its ugly head again. Nigerians should not be hoodwinked by the actions of these alarmists.
The Ekiti State Governor while reacting to the quest for the creation of the so called Oduduwa Republic asked rhetorically if the Ekiti man would cohabit with the Egba man and same for others in the South East and other regions. If one may ask how much of accountability have these proponents of breakaway held their various governors to account. Our position in the South South Reawakening Group is for a peaceful coexistence and oneness. Respect for each other, love for one another. One indivisible Nigeria is what we must promote at all times.”
People are suffocating in different areas of national life
Eric Omare, immediate past President, (IYC) worldwide, in his reaction said: “I think what the declaration or whatever it is called translates into is that all is not well with Nigeria and Nigerians. People are suffocating in different areas of our national life from security to economy, social interactions etc, but the authorities have not provided the opportunity to express the frustrations; hence the declaration by different groups.
The frustration is not limited to the Yoruba people alone but all over Nigeria including northern part of the country. So my view is that it is a clarion call on the present Federal Government to take the appropriate steps to engage Nigerians with a view to addressing the issues that have given rise to the declarations. But I have serious doubts if this government would listen because they seem not to care about public opinion.”
Actualizing self determination must follow due process of laws
A constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Dr Akpor Mudiaga-Odje, said: “Indeed, our constitution provides for freedom of expression which includes the right to self determination and which also is in sync with resolutions of the United Nations. A declaration by Igboho in principle is acceptable within that context. However, taking steps to actualize that self determination and declaration must follow the due process of our laws.
To that extent, I condemn any violent move to enthrone such a declaration. What is expected of the regions seeking such, is to sensitize their people and constructively engage the Federal Government within the context of our Constitution to realize their aspirations. I am an unrepentant advocate and proponent of restructuring and/or regionalism. Niger Delta has been in the front burner of this justified agitation. So I am in support of the legal agitation for regionalism or ethnic self determination of the different peoples of the Nigerian State.
“The inequalities and inequities in Nigeria is too much and too much. We the microscopic minorities who produce the resources of this nation are being oppressed ceaselessly by the mammoth majority who produce nothing to our coffers. In that light, I strongly support the struggle for resource control and management, including regionalism and fiscal federalism within the four walls of our Constitution”.
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