Restructuring or secession, what does the South-West really need? (I) – Daily Trust

The controversies accompanying the Amotekun regional security arrangements inaugurated recently by the six states of the South-West provides an opportunity to critically examine the narrative of the region, not just on the issue, but also on the political structure of the country.

Just as Nigeria is often referred to as the most populous African country in terms of its triple heritage of the Christian, Islamic and African traditional religious influences, more than any other African country, the Yoruba of the South-West of Nigeria can, without doubt, be considered the most Nigerian ethnic group for the same and other reasons. It is only among the Yoruba ethnic group that the impact of the socio-cultural influences of the three religions are well manifested. Most other Nigerian ethnicities are influenced majorly by both a combination of Islamic and African traditional heritage, or Christian and African ones.

Comparatively, in Nigeria, it is also the Yoruba that have made the best use of their early contacts with the west. Whereas other Nigerian pre-colonial entities tended to restrict their contacts with western agents to the palace, the Yoruba allowed such agents to set missionary stations, which led to the introduction of such game changing social influences as education, trade and commerce.

It is thus little wonder that Yoruba socio-cultural influences are the most visible, dominant and impactful in all the facets of Nigerian life, from education, social life, politics, economics, entertainment, media, arts, music, food, fashion etc. Without doubt also, the Yoruba society is the most open, vibrant, liberal and accommodating, helping to shape the direction of Nigerian political, economic and social life.

Yet, despite all this impactful dominance, the Yoruba of the South-West have continued to bemoan their lot in Nigeria. To hear the intelligentsia and public figures from the area talk, Nigeria is one hell of a country in which the Yoruba are trapped, and from which they cannot wait to get out at the earliest opportunity. Their constant lamentation is about what they term the mistake of 1914 in which the British colonial power forcibly amalgamated northern and southern Nigeria on terms favourable to the North which has been at the root of the existential problems facing the country to date. Thus the Yoruba have been harping on a political restructuring of the country in order to whittle down the powers of the centre, which favours the North by virtue of size and population, in favour of the federating units. Alternatively, if this could not be done, then let the country be dissolved, allowing for component parts to form their own distinct entities.

At every given opportunity, as with the current case on the Amotekun, these calls are fiercely canvassed to a point of saturation.

But how germane are they? As far as mistakes go in Nigerias political history, the amalgamation of 1914 was not the first in chronology and magnitude. The first mistake made by the British was the establishment of the colony of Lagos in 1865. That move set the stage for the current political and economic imbalance in the country, whereby a tiny enclave in a huge country was given undue economic and political privilege over the rest of Nigeria. As far back as that time, Lagos was carved out and given exclusive political and economic powers over and above the rest of Nigeria. And even when the British eventually established control over the whole of Nigeria, that advantage for Lagos was maintained. As at then and now, Lagos is not known to be a centre of agricultural produce, but it was made the exclusive import and export point for all of Nigeria, making the whole of the country its economic vassal.

Significantly, this made the Yoruba elite economically and politically powerful, thus strengthening their hand against the elite from other parts of Nigeria. From 1865 till date, the Yoruba elite have stoutly resisted and worked against the establishment of ports in other parts of Nigeria so as to keep this maritime monopoly firmly and advantageously in their hands.

If we ever come to the point of restricting the country, it should not just be on political grounds, but on economy as well. There should be provision for ports and maritime trade to be diversified to seaward places like Port Harcourt and Calabar and inland ones in Onitsha, Lokoja, Baro and Makurdi.

On the contentious issue of Yoruba-speaking areas annexed to the northern region, history shows that that was settled even before the coming of the British. The British colonialists in drawing up the map of the North, merely followed what they met on ground. The conquest of the Yoruba-speaking Ilorin province of the Oyo empire by the Fulani under Mallam Alimi, automatically ceded the area to the Fulani conquerors. It is these areas that come under the northern region.

And the Yoruba have themselves to blame for this because it was a consequence of the internal power struggles which weakened the Oyo Empire and allowed the Fulani in. Spiritually, it was also a consequence of the curse by Alafin Aole, who proclaimed that for the acts of betrayal meted out to him by his close officials, the Yoruba would be eventually conquered and put to slavery by strangers. Yes, the Fulani were eventually stopped at Oshogbo, but they can claim that all territories north of Oshogbo, including most of present day Oyo and Osun states which had come under their control, belonged to them. It was not only in Yoruba land that this played out. Hadejia, KiriKasamma and Auyo areas of Jigawa State were Kanuri-speaking but now under Fulani domination and control as a result of conquest.

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