in pursuance

"In Pursuance of the Yoruba Agenda"

“When the wicked flourish, they imagine that their prayers are answered…but the holy books, the Bible and the Q’uran, tell us that they flourish for a while only to perish totally in the end.” ----- Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Recently, when President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the United States and held a “town meeting” in Atlanta with a cross-section of Nigerians from all works of life, he stated as follows in response to a question from a member of the audience, “ I am a Nigerian who happens to be a Yoruba man.” Really! While that remark may have seemed rather “insignificant” at the time, it does however speak to the very essence of Obasanjo’s character and psyche.

In Yoruba land, it is no secret that staunch Awoists as well as enlightened Yoruba nationals and patriots alike hold Obasanjo forever liable for the humiliation meted out to the great Yoruba sage, erudite scholar and visionary, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. There are those who in reading this particular article would choose to label me a tribalist. That is their choice.

The pursuance of a Yoruba agenda has never and will never be to the detriment of other nationalities within the Nigerian theatre of operation. Conversely, the pursuance of a Nigerian agenda must never be to the detriment of the Yoruba Kingdom and its people either! The Yoruba as a people have always, perhaps more than any other group in Africa had a progressive and forward thinking disposition to events and people around them. After all, the most diverse State in the whole of Nigeria is a Yoruba State, Lagos.

However, this penchant of the Yorubas for being both adaptable and affable has never been to the detriment of their culture. A colleague of mine, a highly placed individual in a renowned technology company in Seattle, remarked to me about his recent visit to Nigeria, the South-West to be precise; “I must say that I was in total admiration of the mixture of western and traditional culture among the Yorubas. They are so highly abreast of world issues and extremely well educated, but at the same time, the basic foundation of the people, the Yoruba culture and tradition are so obvious in their mannerisms and disposition.”

It is no secret that the Yoruba had the “first” of just about everything in Nigeria and probably Africa. The first television station, the first institution of higher learning (along with a first-rate teaching hospital), the first truly viable economy in Nigeria and Africa with a sophisticated structure of businesses, investments and banking institutions (remember the Industrial Investment Credit Corporation or I.I.C.C.); the list goes on. The first winner of any Nobel Prize was a Nigerian of Yoruba nationality, Wole Soyinka. Also, if one takes a look at reputable International Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations among others, Yorubas occupy positions requiring high levels of political and technical sophistication.

In both the United States of America and United Kingdom, Nigerians in terms of their population, are the most educated immigrants (also ahead of the East Indians and other Asians such as the Chinese etc). What is however glaring about this statistical information is that while you find an appreciable concentration of other Nigerian nationalities such as the Igbo , South-South minorities and the Middle-Belt, with few if any of the Hausa-Fulani, by and large, the greatest concentration of scholars belongs to the Yoruba…why? Because, the Yoruba, more than any other group in Nigeria have always embraced education, even though they may at the same time be involved in business ventures. Education, amongst the Yoruba, is what gives you honour and respect among your peers and family. It is therefore imperative that the Yoruba leaders, Chief Bola Ige (whom I respect dearly, to the point of reverence) and others rather than line up again behind a group of people (such as Abdulkadir and his ilk) who do not even have it in them to see ahead, should be more concerned about seeing to it that the gains made by the Yorubas over the years, through hardwork, dogged determination and perseverance are not lost in some obfuscated national agenda.

One therefore wonders what has happened to the agenda the esteemed Chief Adesanya and others supposedly set in motion following the august gathering of eminent Yoruba luminaries on June 21, 2000, at the Fourth Pan-Yoruba Congress held in Ibadan. I would like to impress upon our elders, Chief Akinloye, Chief Falae and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, among others, the importance of ensuring that the over all well being of our people is placed at an un-negotiable premium, above all personal interests.

The divergent philosophies and principles amongst our people, more than anything else, is evidence of our political sophistication. Rather than let it be a source of division, we must draw nothing but strength, pride and courage from this plurality of ideas and opinions. After all, this is what has gotten us this far. Our detractors and enemies would like the world to see this as evidence of a deep chasm within our political landscape, but what they fail to understand is that when the chips are down, the Yoruba always know the way home...the late Aare Moshood Abiola, was proof of that! We must also exercise restraint in our daily activities, not out of fear but strictly for strategic reasons.

I am using this medium to appeal to Dr. Fasehun and members of the OPC and other Yoruba liberation movements to eschew "senseless and unnecessary" violence. We must be careful so as not to let a group of people, whose very existence and way of life is predicated on a culture of violence, now project us as vandals and marauders in the eyes of the world. I implore you all to please exercise the utmost in “emotional intelligence”. Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the civilized world expects nothing less from us!

As the Yoruba adage goes, “The mother knows in our heart what name she will give to her child.” We may be going at a snail-speed, but we know exactly where we are headed. While the detractors of the Yoruba race (along with their Southwestern, and other cohorts) are busy trying to discredit this proud and glorious race, they should consider the repercussions of such an adventure.

Please note that I call it an adventure as such clandestine and wicked undertakings against a people who have always put the prosperity and progress of the Nigerian nation at the top of their agenda, will surely fail. After all, if God be for us (which he is), who can be against us?

Soboyejo A. Awosika-Coker, U.S.A.