By Ologeh Joseph Chibu and Omotayo Alabi
call for return to regional government
Any military coup in Nigeria may lead to mass armed revolt and raise the prospect of a violent break-up of Nigeria, representatives of 130 Pan Yoruba and community based groups warned on Wednesday in Lagos.
The groups under the Alliance for Yoruba Democratic Movements, (AYDM) said any plot to return Nigeria to military rule is an invitation to anarchy.
The group said the lasting solution to Nigeria is ethnic self determination since a ‘particular class of people want Nigeria as their private fiefdom and insist in defining Nigeria in their own savage images.’
Over 1300 delegates representing different groups of artisans, farmers, Pan Yoruba self-determination groups from the six South West states, plus Kogi, Kwara, Akoko Edo and Itsekiri Delta attended the event.
The group said since 1914 forceful amalgamation of Nigeria, the potentials of the Yoruba people have been stunted and it was time for the Yoruba people to leave Nigeria as a viable alternative to ceaseless violence, killings and coups.
‘We are alarmed that some people in their desperation are calling for military rule. Let those who plan a return to dictatorship know that there will be no military rule in the entire Oduduwa territories. Our people will resist with all our strength even if it means armed resistance’ the group said.
‘Nigeria life in Nigeria is short, nasty and brutish.
The essentials of life are beyond the reach of the common person.There is massive corruption in the midst of plenty, there is hunger and brutal deprivation of access to opportunities. Nigerians have been pushed to the wall.But the solution is not to add salt to the injury by bringing back the same class that created the conditions for the rot we find ourselves today’ the group said in its communiques signed by the General Secretary Mr Popoola Ajayi and 135 leaders of other organisations including the O’odua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC), Yoruba Traders and Artisans Association, (YATA), Yoruba Community in Northern Nigeria, (YOCON), South West Vigilante, Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association,(NATA-South West), Amalgamated Union of Mechanics and Artisans in Nigeria,South West; O’odua Peoples Congress, (New Era), Agbekoya Solidarity, South West Farmers Union, (SWFU), Oodua Hunters Union, (OHUN), Yoruba Communities in West African Coast,(YOCWC) O’odua Peoples Congress, (Reformed) among many others.
Addressing the gathering, the Guest Speaker and Chairman of the occasion, Mr Adewale Adeoye said there was the need to address sources of conflict and factors that raise the prospect of violence in Nigeria.
He said ‘The mains cause of conflict in Nigeria is inequality, distribution and ownership of wealth and the means of production and the lack of the will to address the National Question.’
He said Nigeria has become a commodity constantly exploited for the gains of a few people warning that the country also faces deficit of credible and honest leaders.
Another Guest Speaker Director General Development Agenda, (DAWN) Mr Seye Oyeleye urged Nigerians to be prepared to resist any military intervention adding that for the past 10 years, Nigeria faced difficult problems without anyone calling for military coup.
He said the country has recorded some gains in the last one year and that what is needed is that democracy should be allowed to thrive instead of calling for military coup.
The group in a communique said it is aware of the historic challenges faced by the country, but appalled by calls for a military coup coming from a section of the coutnry. ‘Those calling for military intervention are the same people solely responsible for the rot, the systemic decay, the persecution of ethnic groups and the laying of the very foundation responsible for the current challenges that confront Nigeria.’
It regretted that the people calling for military intervention kept quiet for eight years when their own candidate was the President of Nigeria with his parochial and self-serving policies which partly created the woes that currently face the country today; But in less than one year, they want the country to burn. ‘There is a plot by some martial forces to stage a military coup and stage a come-back of the same forces that laid the foundation for the ruin of the country.’
The coalition said the advocates of military rule are from a particular sector of the country doing so for parochial interests. ‘These are ethnic far right elements who want to control the country by all means. In their archaic tradition, they detest the fact that people have the right to vote and power has to shift from them. This is the only reason they are plotting to overthrow the minimum gains of democracy.’
The groups said it is aware of human misery that beseech Nigeria but that at the root of the problems was the introduction of martial rule through decree 34 of 1966, the domination and control of the political-economy by a cabal and the lack of the will to resolve the lingering National Question which threatens the tear the country apart.
Speaking at the event, Senior Special Assistant, (SSA) to the President on Media, Mr Tunde Rahman said Tinubu has recorded achievement sin the area of oil production, the students loans and the drop in inflation in the past two weeks.he hinted that the President has been visiting foreign countries to attract investment and that he would soon be visiting China to seek partnership on a variety of socio-economic ties with Nigeria.
In the communique the group said Nigeria came together as a country in 1914 by the wish of the British without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples.
‘We are aware that for centuries, before 1914, Oduduwaland had a flourishing political, social and economic enterprise with a system of government that met the needs of the people in time of peace and war; we lived and died on our own terms. That in ancient Oduduwaland, commerce, art, science, trade, maritime economy and checks and balances in governance thrived for over 2000 years before contact with the Europeans whose influence disrupted our heritage.’
The group said that carbon dating in Igbo-Elewu dates back to 35,000 years indicating the long-standing civilisation and heritage of Oduduwaland people and that before 1966, Oduduwaland had a Regional Government designed to meet the fears and aspirations of the people in the old Western Region, the region emerging as the most prosperous in Sub-Saharan Africa;
‘We are concerned that since the 1960 independence, Nigeria has been eluded by sustainable peace and development and life and living have been characterised by the lack of a National Consensus which was largely responsible for the unfortunate civil war that lasted for 30 months with close to a million souls lost;
‘That ahead of Nigerian independence in 1960, at the 1957 Lancaster House Conference, the Yoruba leaders had proposed a 1960 constitution with a secessionist clause to preserve the civilisation of Oduduwaland and prevent avoidable atomic strive with other ethnic groups;
‘That from 1952 to 1959, the Western Region distinguished itself as the most prosperous, most stable, most developed region in Africa with global economic, social and political standards under Chief Obafemi Awolowo.’
It noted that the right to sovereignty was thwarted by the military coup of 1966, via Decree 34, which suspended the 1960 constitution and imposed a unitary system on Oduduwaland, an initiative that led to the counter-coup of July 1966 which eventually led to the civil war;
‘That the military coups subverted and destroyed the fabric of trust and the foundation of mutual cooperation and development built by Nigeria’s founding fathers. That military rule was not orchestrated by Yoruba people, being a people that have always subscribed to democratic principles, however, the 27 years of military rule squandered political and economic fortunes in Oduduwaland, stunted our growth through by a series of treacherous political and economic plots that constantly treat the Yoruba people as end users of policies that lack their input.’
The group said that that since 1960, Nigeria has been an atomic society in perpetual conflict with itself; the past 10 years have seen the full blown of terrorism and invasion of Oduduwaland by armed insurgents who not only occupy Yoruba, Itsekiri indigenous territories but also kill, rape our people, destroyed sacred forests, even kill prominent figures, four Yoruba Obas were killed by armed Fulani men;
‘That Oduduwa territories continue to witness incessant attacks and kidnapping led by armed elements of Fulani extraction coupled with armed Boko Haram elements who in 2023 bombed the sacred house of God in Owo, an ancient Yoruba town;
‘That calls by some South West State Governors and the people for the expulsion of these armed groups saw fierce opposition from former President Mohammadu Buhari indicating a very strong suspicion of state-sponsorship;
The group said that the invasion of Oduduwaland by armed insurgents has diminished the forest reserves, destroyed the environment with perilous impact on climate change, caused food insecurity, impose an atmosphere of fear and trembling and shrink the night economy of our people;
‘That today, the armed insurgents remain entrenched in our indigenous territories posing great danger to our livelihood and survival as a people; We see this as armed occupation of Odualand and could not imagine armed Yoruba groups invading Kano, Sokoto,Yoruba and even killing their Emirs.’
The group said Oduduland is unhappy with Nigeria and for years have suffered various forms of deprivation including the mass killings of Yoruba leaders in 1966, the declaration of state of emergency in the Western Region, the destruction of growth and development of the Yoruba Nation by the Nigerian state including the forceful movement of the capital from Lagos without compensation and the seizure of Yoruba properties including what is now known as the Nigerian Television Authority,(NTA) formerly Western Nigerian TV and the Nigerian House in London formerly Western Nigeria House;
It said the reactionary ethnic lords either directly or through their reactionary cronies have been responsible for the despicable political and economic situation in Nigeria which impoverishes Nigeria;
It said that until 2023, the cabal was responsible for producing the Presidents of Nigeria at its beckon designed to preserve its interests and privileges;
‘In 2023 a Yoruba man, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu cont`ested and won the Presidential election in spite of the opposition from within, led by the same forces. It is the first time a President had emerged out of the grip of the Cabal;
‘We observe the corrupt electoral process in Nigeria, and the difficulty in the process producing credible candidates, this odd is not associated with the 2023 elections alone but rather a systemic put in place by the cabal itself over the years which began during military rule when progressive forces were banned from participating in the democratic process and sustained until 1999 when the military constitution was imposed on Nigeria which produced a pro-military President in 1999;
‘We assert that the if the imperfections of the 2023 election was visible in all the candidates and in all the major political parties that took part in the elections and such imperfections were not enough to alter the final outcome of the election.’
The groups said efforts were made by far right ethnic fanatics who believe Nigeria is their property, to stop his emergence through the party primary and even to prevent his swearing in through a military coup;
‘That ab initio, the agenda of the cabal was to set many landmines for the current President through the naira swap policies, the invasion of indigenous territories by armed groups and the removal of oil subsidy with subsidy deliberately having no provision in the 2023 budget and the decades-long mortgage of Nigerian crude oil for funds and loans that largely ended up in private pockets. We assert that though the 2023 election was not perfect, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu clearly won by election by defeating others.’