Yoruba Nation

Reports have indicated that security operatives have successfully apprehended the self-styled Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) and his wife.

SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, has reported that Igboho was nabbed Monday night after fleeing Nigeria to circumvent arrest by the secret police in Nigeria.

A source in the know of the matter told SaharaReporters that, “Sunday Igboho has been arrested in Cotonou. He was arrested about an hour ago.

“He was supposed to travel to Germany through Cotonou this night. He wanted to leave Africa through Cotonou. He was arrested by security operatives in Cotonou.

“They are planning to bring him back to Nigeria.”

Recently, Nigeria’s secret police had declared Sunday Igboho wanted and was advised to turn himself in after a raid on his home in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The self-styled activist is known for his secessionist agenda and his agitation for the creation of a Yoruba nation, a move the federal government warned against.

This is coming weeks after another separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested and repatriated to Nigeria after he jumped bail in 2017 on treason charges.

By Ahmed Zakaria

With the recent agitations for “Yoruba Nation” and “Middlebelt”, it is pertinent for Kwara State indigenes to review their relationships with other groups, narrate their stories by themselves and resist all efforts at manipulations of the narratives.

Some raucous voices have always taken it upon themselves to categorise Kwara State where it suits their tribal, political, religious and sentimental inclinations without considering the choice of the state’s indigenes.

Just because the Yoruba language is the Lingua Franca in Kwara doesn’t separate Kwara from the northern states. But, that does not also mean only Yorubas reside in Kwara, or only they “own” Kwara, as there are many other tribes, like Nupes, Barubas, Kanuri, Fulani,

Some people wrongfully assume the scale to be a Northern State is being above River Niger, which is absurd and wholly superficial and unwarranted.

Others use Hausa or Fulfulde language as a yardstick for grouping northern and southern states, which is also fallacious. A lot of people in northern Nigeria do not speak Hausa or Fulfulde.

Others use religion as a criterion, which is also untrue. For example, many communities in northern Nigeria have large populations of Muslims, Christians, and worshippers of traditional religions. Most recently, agitators of the “Middlebelt” have used religion as a basis for dividing northern Nigeria. 

With the recent agitations in the South West for “Oduduwa Republic”, many people encourage Kwara Yorubas and even Kogi Yorubas to join the struggle. They claim they will regret being part of the North or be oppressed by the “Northerners” or that they won’t gain anything from the North. Many other things they enjoy saying without knowing the repercussions of what they are saying or putting into consideration the emotions of others while saying it.

It is all due to utter historical ignorance. It is highly offensive to assume Kwarans are Northerners by chance or are “Northerners” for the benefit of what they “gain” from the “North”. 

Kwarans are unfortunately projected as “power-hungry” folks, making them seem all their decisions are guided by the love of money, power or recognition, which is wrong, untrue, and humiliating. 

Adding more salt to injury is to assume that other “Northerners” will “oppress” Kwarans or take away their “rights” or “resources”. It is more painful and mischievous. Nothing as such exists in the dictionary of the good people of Kwara State. It is a lack of understanding of the historical relevance of the current nomenclature of Kwara State that leads to all these unfortunate and insincere utterances and views.

No one can take away the “rights” of Kwarans or “resources”. We are focused on what “we” can sincerely offer this nation and region and not what this nation or the North can offer us. We do not discuss our “rights” when we haven’t discharged the “obligations” upon us.

The people in Kwara State have a strong ideological and religious association with  Northern Nigeria, which is stronger than mere tribal and geographical relationships.

Those who wish to project Kwarans as unclear of where they belong or are lost, looking for an identity, or seeking acceptance are deceiving themselves, not Kwarans. They deny the obvious. 

Many Kwarans welcomed the news of the raid on Sunday Igboho’s house and the arrest of his criminal associates for their effrontery towards Kwara State heroes and monuments.

They employed their propaganda machines to tarnish the good image of Kwara as well as to portray them in a negative light. They rubbished our traditional institutions and had the audacity to instruct their foot soldiers to be insulting Our Royal Father, the Emir of Ilorin.  

He thought the hooliganism and thuggish behaviour he exhibited in Oyo State could be condoned and replicated in Kwara State. He does not know the bonds that bind the people of Kwara are more robust than what people like him could ever break. Many sacrifices were made to build, foster, and develop these bonds and brotherhood, but his followers kept praising him till he met his Waterloo.

No true son of Kwara will support the criminal attitudes of Igboho. That is why some people believe that most people causing trouble and tribalism today in Kwara State are not true sons of Kwara. No true son of Kwara will support the disrespect meted on the state by Igboho and his propaganda machines.

It is harrowing and highly disappointing to paint Kwarans as people without an identity, just like it is a blatant lie to assume Kwarans don’t know their identity; that was what Igboho worked extremely hard at achieving.

It is unfortunate to assume Kwarans don’t know where they belong to or are looking for love and affection from any people or group of people. But, on the contrary, Kwarans respect everybody and bear no grudge towards anyone.

The mere thought of what Igboho represents is distasteful, extremely humiliating, and deeply heartbreaking. Kwarans are not troublesome; they are warm-blooded, unlike their counterparts in other parts of the country. 

That is the opportunity Igboho seized and the reason he dared to insult, belittle, humiliate, and threaten Kwarans. Yet, he dared not threaten Kano, Sokoto, or Borno in the same fashion he threatened Kwara.

Those supporting Igboho’s antics, methods, styles, and methodology do not and will never represent Kwarans. The attacks on our Emir and traditional institutions even made us more united behind our Emir despite all our differences.

Igboho consistently portrays hatred for those he terms the “Fulanis”, but we all in Kwara State fall under that category. He has been blinded by deep-seated tribalism and hatred that he views all of us in Kwara State as Fulanis and “Eru Fulanis” to the extent that it is absolutely impossible to convince his myopic mind that not all people in Kwara are Fulani and that Yorubas, Nupes, Barubas, and Fulanis live side by side, peacefully since the time of Shehu Alimi, that’s two centuries ago.

We thank the swift intervention of the DSS in tackling the menace and criminal activities of Igboho and his cohorts, for if the government hadn’t intervened, other non-state actors would definitely spring into action to counter his illegal activities and unguarded utterances against Kwara State. He and tribalists like him are not welcome in Kwara State. 

May ALLAH bless Kwara State and the whole of Nigeria, amin.

Ahmad Zakariyah writes from Kwara State. He can be reached via ahmadzakariyah@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Mahmud

Even as the nation is struggling to bring an end to the Boko Haram crisis, which could’ve been effectively tamed but for the inane and complacent manner the leadership of some Northeastern states treated the issue initially, we could not but gape at the myopic decision of the Southern governors to fly the kite of moral support to their organized thugs who were recently suppressed by the authorities. 

At their meeting on Monday, July 5 2021, the southern governors “resolved that if for any reason security institutions need to undertake an operation in any State, the Chief Security Officer of the State MUST be duly informed.” (Emphasis mine).

It is unmistakable that the governors were referring to the recent success recorded by the nation’s security agencies in arresting many IPOB members, including their “supreme leader” Nnamdi Kanu, and the arrests at the residence of a tribal warlord, Sunday Igboho.

One cannot but wonder how on earth these governors will be so insensitive to the flights of their people. The gory stories emanating from the arrested members of IPOB, where 2000 fresh skulls of innocent southern girls were targeted and how lives of fellow southerners who never aligned themselves to the “cause” were to be wasted, are enough to galvanize the governors into taking stern action against those terrorists. But to the shock of the whole nation, these governors, who never even found it worth their time to give a one minute silence to mourn souls of the ten brutally killed girls, have the temerity to demand that they must be informed whenever the criminals are to be arrested. 

Perhaps the support for IPOB and Igboho militia by the southern governors has everything to do with what Rochas Okorocha said, in an interview with BBC, that it was the fear of what the IPOB boys could do to them that stops Igbo elders from speaking against them. This gives a picture of caged and gagged elders who have no option but to simply watch as the boys took their entire region into uncertainty. This means that Kanu’s group has evolved into a monster that no Igbo could dare criticize even from afar. 

Maybe the southeastern leaders fear that what happened to the four Ogoni chiefs could befall them if they dare oppose IPOB. On May 21 1994, four Ogoni chiefs were beaten to death by angry Ogoni youths. The victims’ names were Edward Kobani, Alfred Badey, Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage. Their crime was that they were suspected to be against the MOSOP. Perhaps the Igbo leaders fear the Ogoni chiefs’ treatment from IPOB; that’s why they are backing them. 

But suppose Igbo elders are so terrified with the IPOB to the extent that they are hypnotized into submission, or they are so emotionally sympathetic to the “cause”. In that case, it is very dumbfounding that the south-southern governors couldn’t see the danger of backing IPOB for the simple fact that they (IPOB) made it categorically clear that any non-Igbo will be, and shall remain, a third-class citizen in the region. Suppose the south-western governors found it strategically right to support IPOB in supporting their tribal warlord, Igboho; what exactly is in it for the south-southern region? Their governors seem to be either coerced/harangued into submission or too foolish to figure this out for their people.  I believe if a south-southerner like Reno Omokri is among the governors, he will object to this. 

It appears as if the southern leaders are no longer in control. They seem to be tele-guided by the prevailing emotions in their regions instead of playing the leadership role of directing towards a better future for their people. 

Notwithstanding some of their failures and the resentments of their people, Northern elders are more in control and seem to be leading. When some northern youths issued a quit notice to the Igbos, in a reaction to the IPOB’s agitation, the leaders of the north rebuffed them. Governor El-Rufa’i even ordered their arrest. When some northern youths initiated “Shege Ka Fasa” as an answer to south-western governors’ backed “Amotekun”, the leaders of the north stopped them, and they complied. Even Boko Haram, with their firepower, did not frighten northern leaders into opposing the federal government to support them!

If the southern leaders are publicly backing their criminals with a kind of moral encouragement by attacking the federal government’s crush on them, they should, rest assured, know that it will boomerang. They should have taken lessons from what happened during the early stage of Boko Haram in the northeast.

During the initial stage of Boko Haram, they enjoyed massive support from their people. This is partly because they appeal to their people’s sentiments. All they need is to list eloquently, in a highly sentimental manner, the ills and backwardness that bedevilled the people in addition to hunger, poverty, diseases etc. and finally quote relatively congruent verses of the Qur’an and sayings of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to drive home their point that “Jihad” is the only way out and they, as the conveyors of that message, are the ones to lead. It was full of promises of a utopian state that will replace the current dystopian state. And that appealed to many, more especially as most of the movement members were children of the elite. What a perfect gulp of toxic will that be on the gullible, the strata of his/her social status notwithstanding.

It was only after the actual road to Sambisa was taken that the people realized, albeit too late, how wrong they were and how naive they behaved.

Now the IPOB and the tribal warlord, Sunday Igboho, are getting the support of the southern governors because they appeal to the sentiments of regionalism and tribalism (or drum up support for their political agenda), only time will reveal the sour fruits that will shower down. I hope some leaders will be blunt enough to put aside political correctness and act appropriately before that happens.

Malam Muhammad writes from Kano. He can be reached via meinagge@gmail.com.