OYINLOLA AND THE YORUBA QUESTION
By: Kayode Oladeji

In the immutable words of Dwight. D. Eisenhower, “what counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog” while to the maverick Friedrick Nietzsche, “At times one remains faithful to a cause only because it’s opponents do not cease to be insipid”.

World over, great leaders have never shied away from the propelling force of chauvinism and irredentism. Wherever and whenever, they choose to stand their ground in fighting for their kith and kin, they do so without being pretentious.

Any wonder then that the likes of Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikwe though canvassed a national interest, however fought tooth and nail for their tribesmen, first and foremost.

Even when opportunity offered itself, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the author of Because I Am Involved and arrowhead of the Biafran War, availed himself, and took up arms in tandem with the philosophy of Frantz Fanon. All these for his kinsmen-Igbos. Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the Abia State Governor, too, has taken up the gauntlet in extricating his people, the Igbos from what he termed the subsisting marginalisation in the union of Nigeria Nation. This he has chosen to do with mouth and not with gun.

Though there are over 250 tribes in the country, they have been narrowed down to three major ethnic groups- viz: Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. As typified under Awolowo, Balewa and Azikwe, there is a resurgence of compression of these into three major groupings; Afenifere, Arewa Congress and Ohaneze 

To this effect, it is an unassailable and incontrovertible fact that Yoruba is one of the three major ethnic groups reckoned with before and after the contraption of the entity called Nigeria. The other two ethnic groups – The Hausas and the Igbos, can never for whatever reason, wish away or treat the Yoruba with a kid glove in the scheme of things.

This particularly becomes instructive if one considers the fact the Yoruba speaking people have the largest population in the country, a position that should have naturally placed them over and above other ethnic groups in the country. Besides, such an advantage should have been explored as a tool for bargaining power, economically, socially and politically.

But unfortunately, reverse is the case. The reason for this is not farfetched; the House of Oduduwa which serves as an abode for the entire Yoruba Nation is in trouble and this is multifaceted and it is for real too. This thus seems to be making mincemeat of and at same time eroding the whatever vestige of potency the race has.

However, the problem which essentially could be blamed on political cleavages, could be traced to Awolowo/Akintola’s stand off of the 1960’s which saw the Western Region becoming the melting point of the country’s First Republic occasioned by the belligerent activities of Awolowo’s Action Group and Akintola’s NNDP.

By 1979 even though chief S.L. Akintola was no more, a defining line of the cleft, resurfaced with AG transforming into UPN and NNDP becoming NPN. Equally, the structural sworn enmity in the South West, in this regard, became even more pronounced.

Again, with the advent of democracy in 1999, even though the late sage had passed on long before, there was near resurrection of his UPN in the AD, capturing the South West based on this sentiment. The PDP which was largely viewed as being an offshoot of NNDP/NPN and the likes, was given a leper treatment. Its supporters were viewed as lackeys of the feudal lords /northern oligarchists.

More importantly, the emergence of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, appears to have further caused bifurcation among the Yoruba, leading to the springing up of other splinter groups such as Yoruba Council of Elders, (YCE), The Oduduwa Assembly (TAOS), Kaaro Ojire and Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) among others.

With rhapsody of reality however, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a Prince of Okuku and the Executive Governor of Osun State, believes the falling house of Oduduwa could be rescued to take its pride of place in the nation’s scheme of things. To him, failure to do this and on time too, could permanently render the Yoruba race a toothless bulldog which could bark and not bite, a Lion with fang but could not bare it, a king without a kingdom, a ruler that could only reign and not rule and worse of all, becoming refugees in its own camp.

Oyinlola is of the opinion that the Yoruba race being a sophisticated one, largely due to its high literacy level, makes it easy to be governed but difficult to enslave or quietened by any repressive voice. And as such to him, the panacea for the rising problem in the Oduduwa House, has to do with the convocation of conference of Yoruba stakeholders where a common agenda could be fashioned out for the race. To maximally achieve this, he feels all shades of opinions among Kaaro Ojire (Yoruba Speaking) must be involved, regardless of their sex, creed, beliefs, religion, status or political affiliations.

Particularly, the governor noted for his high regards for the traditional institution and culture of the race, has continually asserted that conscious efforts must be made to galvanise the interest of all Yoruba speaking people wherever they may be. This, he insisted, would help a great deal in enhancing the status of the race among other ethnic groups in the country.

To Oyinlola with such summit in place, all grey areas bedeviling the Yoruba people all this while, would be tackled, thus helping to achieve the much desired oneness which in turn could help catapult the race to the highest pedestal-forefront. The albatross and the undoing of the Yoruba race in the opinion of the Okuku born Prince, has to do with the style of leadership of the present crop of its leaders which he described as being that of “Excision, Exclusion and Deceit”.

Majorly, the state heemsman is of the view that this accounted for the near turpsy-turvy situation the South-West has found itself. Readily, he can not fathom why Afenifere recognizes only those of AD stock as it own while it gives those of the PDP, leper treatment, despite being of the same Yoruba extraction.

Pointedly, when leaders of Afenifere led by Pa Reuben Fasoranti called on him, Oyinlola was very purl and plain to them. He even warned that war of greatness could only be fought and won through unity noting “airin po ejo, ni koya jewon” (the solo efforts of snakes have always made them fall prey).

And so like Mark Twain, the Prince of Okuku’s challenge to Afenifere is that; there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. And such, Afenifere should be all-embracing. To him, the Yoruba has all it takes to always be at the forefront in this country. The task may look very invidious but definitely is worth the trouble. It will in the long-run, etch one’s name in the positive pages of history.

Again, Oyinlola has never stopped to wonder why those of the AD fold have refused to be sportsmanly on political issues, particularly the 2003 Elections that swept them away. Having gone imperial shortly after gaining power in 1999, the Yoruba endured their fangs till 2003 when they were shown the way out. 

The AD Governors still sulking over their defeat, have always hidden under the cloak of rigging as a tool that saw them out. But to Oyinlola, such talk is nothing but a bunkum and balderdash. To him, nobody tries such a thing in Yoruba land and goes scot-free. But because the 2003 election represented the collective verdict of the people of the South West, not a single finger was raised as a form of protest from any of the states won by the PDP in the South West. Rather, he philosophically captured the scenario of their defeat this thus: The electorate who are like referee in a given match, decided to give them red card for running fowl of the confidence reposed in them (the AD). The referee (the people) have pocketed their cards and will show it again to whoever they feel do not measure up to their expectations at the coming elections.

In retrospect, the governor is wont to note that some people tried to rig themselves into power but could not realize their ambition because the people were not on their side.

According to him, what is now required of the top notchers of the race, is to have a rethink and stir a rebirth so as to buoy up the weakening clamouring voice of the race in the Nigeria Nation. Besides, he maintained that unless the present leaders of the race put off the garb of arrogance and divisive tendencies, the race’s quest at remaining relevant would continue to be a mirage.

Towards this end, particularly, the Okuku born Prince advised that all hands must be on deck to get all Yoruba involved in the project of the moving the race to the highest pedestal of the nation’s body polity.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the fear being entertained in some quarters as regards the fate of the Yoruba after 2007, he believes that the race would continue to be relevant in the country. In particular, the governor is of the opinion that with the much sought unity among the race in place, nobody would rule Nigeria without the backing of the Yoruba people.

Kayode Oladeji, Is the Press Secretary to the Osun State Governor