Renowned emeritus Professor of History and chairman of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), Professor Banji Akintoye, doubles as the leader of Ilana Omo Oodua. He speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on why the agitation for Yoruba nation will continue, despite Senator Bola Tinubu being president-elect.
The view of some is that now that we have a Yoruba president-elect, agitation for Yoruba nation will naturally go down…
We who are fighting for Yoruba self-determination, separation from Nigeria with our own sovereignty are doing so not because some Yoruba politician is not ruling Nigeria as president. That is not the reason. The reason is that the general atmosphere and make-up of the Nigerian system is very hostile to the Yoruba nation and we cannot continue to live like that. The Yoruba nation is going down because of its membership of Nigeria and we cannot continue to let that happen. We have lost everything that we used to be proud of, that we used to be the master in and we are retrogressing very rapidly. We cannot let that continue. At the peak of it, the Fulani now are gathering all the Fulani in all of Africa together to come and make Nigeria their homeland and they said they will conquer all of the indigenous people in Nigeria, including the Yoruba, the Igbo and all. The answer of the Yoruba nation through those of us who are fighting for self-determination is that they will not conquer the Yoruba nation. The Yoruba people will not be one of the peoples the Fulani will conquer and subjugate and turn to their slaves. It will not happen.
So, whether a Yoruba man is president does not have anything to do with all those realities. Don’t forget that a Yoruba man was president for eight years before and the realities are still with us. We were going down and then a Yoruba man became president for eight and we were still going down. The situation is worse today than when Chief OlusegunObasanjo ceased being president. Even Obasanjo himself is now saying war is imminent and inevitable because the Fulani want to conquer all the peoples of Nigeria and take their homeland and that is the truth. We Yoruba are not going to wait around and let the Fulani come and overrun our country. They even said any nation that is stubborn and will not give up its land will be totally exterminated. It will be an impossible task to exterminate the Yoruba people. But if we don’t do anything about it, they can do it. So, my message to the Yoruba people is to stand up and let us fight for our nation, even in spite of the fact that a Yoruba man may become president. That is it. In fact, in all honesty, there are many of our people now who are saying that if God gives us a Yoruba president, we will be free to pursue our cause because he will not give orders that the security agents should be killing our people. He is not likely to give such an order.
We wrote a carefully and respectfully worded, but factual, letter to President MuhammaduBuhari and we asked that he should take steps because we Yoruba are fighting this struggle in peaceful and law-abiding manner. What we expect him to do is to put in motion, a process of negotiation between us and the authorities of Nigeria. He got that letter in August and has not even acknowledged receipt of it. Our own son in the position of president will never treat us with that kind of disrespect and disdain. Yes, it will be good to have our man as president, but we must be ready to continue this fight until we extricate the Yoruba people from the bondage in Nigeria.
About three years ago, you and others worked so hard to get the Yoruba and the Igbo nations admitted into UNPO. What is the latest on that?
Of course, we are still members of UNPO and the organisation is helping in a way it can. We cannot hoist our flag within the Nigerian federation. It will be unlawful, but we can get to the point at which it becomes safe for us to proclaim our own countries and then go forward to hoist our flags. That is why I requested that President Buhari should let us negotiate so that we can work out the modalities because we are going to leave Nigeria, no matter how it happens. So, if we do it peacefully the way we have been urging Nigeria to let us do, we will friendly neighbours all around in the North, East, friends whom we have been close to as citizens of the same country for over a century, that we can be friendly with and help one another and so on and forth. That will be the ideal thing. But Buhari does not care. What he cares about is that the Fulani nation should conquer and subjugate us and if we are stubborn, exterminate us.
The domination of the Fulani, some have been saying, will be less visibly under the incoming administration…
Actually, I will say ‘no’. I don’t see any prospect for a change. They have set in motion a very powerful movement that it will be difficult and almost impossible for them to stop. They have sold to all Fulani in all parts of West Africa and Central Africa the message, the doctrine and the propaganda that Allah has at last chosen to give the Fulani nation a home because they have never had a homeland and that the homeland He has given to them is Nigeria and that they should get ready and come to Nigeria. Buhari himself spoke about it publicly that anybody can come to Nigeria from any part of Africa into Nigeria without passport or visa or anything. So, that is an open invitation to the Fulani to start coming and they are coming in their hundreds of thousands. All the border gates have been thrown open for the Fulani to come and as soon as they arrive, they get Nigerian citizenship identification and in so many cases voting cards and so on. They are here with us.
The Fulani themselves cannot stop that now and they are spreading out all over Nigeria. Their mission is to go out and subdue the people who are there and make the place their home. That is the message. Does the Fulani leadership command enough energy to stop that kind momentum? The answer is ‘no.’ Whether Tinubu is president or not, the momentum is on and it will continue.
Buhari will be leaving office in May and a lot of people have been talking about the ills of his administration. Do you see any positives in his eight years rule?
With all charity and love, I would say I don’t see anything positive in eight years of Buhari’s government. He has made it impossible for Nigeria as a country to continue. After this Buhari thing, there is no way can continue. For instance, another person will hopefully takeover in May. Meanwhile, the Fulani have put themselves in all imaginable positions in the federal establishment and the security services. How is the new president going to handle that? How is he going to handle it in such a way that there will be little equity in the distribution of persons and appointees in federal position and security services? Is he going to wage a war against them? It is not a question of domination or that they are more than the rest. They are not more than the rest of us. The rest of us are no longer part of it. So, how is a new president going to change that? How is the new president going to stop the influx of the Fulani from other parts of Africa? These people been told to relocate to Nigeria and they are doing so. Who is going to stop and how? So, Buhari has essentially dissolved Nigeria
The Federal Government is planning a national housing and population census. It was initially slated for March, but has now been moved to May. Do you think the outgoing government should oversee the exercise or it should be left for the incoming administration?
Buhari wants to do census because he wants to validate certain things that favour the Fulani. That is why he wants to do it at all costs. He wants to validate census statistics that will favour the Fulani.
Some people are even saying census exercises don’t enjoy credibility because they are not done right and that the United Nations should be invited to do any serious census for the country…
Even if the United Nations comes to do it, they will still hand over the results to the rulers of the country. And if the rulers of the country distort the outcome, who is going to do anything about that? Nigeria has become impossible and the best thing is to sit down and let us work out the way we can dissolve the mess peacefully.
You don’t believe anything from those in government can redeem the situation, even if the incoming government decides to restructure the country…?
The realities in the country today make national healing impossible. The Fulani, who have been propagandised from all parts of West and Central Africa to start coming to Nigeria and are coming, what are you going to do in order to heal Nigeria? We have gone past healing Nigeria. We have reached the point at which the sensible thing is to admit that we cannot do this thing. Different people have done their best. Buhari has done his best. It is just that his best is totally destructive. The reality facing all us now has shown that it is not all things that men can do. There are things that men cannot do. Nigeria is an entity now that man cannot mend together anymore. That is all.
What would you want the incoming government to do as a priority?
Well, it is difficult to tell because as I told you, he will be coming into a government whose establishment is entirely Fulanised with a commander-in-chief of military establishment that is totally Fulanised. What advice do I give to him as a priority? I don’t know what his priority can be.
Some people have suggested national healing as a priority because of the level of division in the country with the fault lines very visible…
The realities in the country today make national healing impossible. The Fulani, who have been propagandised from all parts of West and Central Africa to start coming to Nigeria and are coming, what are you going to do in order to heal Nigeria? We have gone past healing Nigeria. We have reached the point at which the sensible thing is to admit that we cannot do this thing. Different people have done their best. Buhari has done his best. It is just that his best is totally destructive. The reality facing all us now has shown that it is not all things that men can do. There are things that men cannot do. Nigeria is an entity now that man cannot mend together anymore. That is all.
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