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Tag: Yoruba

  • Don urges Osun to make Yoruba language compulsory in schools

    A senior lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at the Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, Dr. Taiwo Makinde, has made a case for Yoruba language compulsory in primary and secondary schools in Osun State.

    The university don canvassed the option during a lecture she delivered in Osogbo. The lecture was titled: “Yoruba Must Not Die: Our Children Must Not Lose Their Identity.” It was organised by the Awolowo Centre For Philosphy, Ideology and Good Governance, at the St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo, Osun State capital.

    Praising Governor Rauf Aregbe-sola’s policies and programmes in promoting the Yoruba language and culture, Makinde said scholars should be encouraged to work on the lapses confronting the language.

    According to her, doing so would make the Yoruba language be brought to a level that it can be used in teaching of various academic disciplines.

    Mrs Makinde said when the language is made compulsory in schools in Osun State, it would enable more pupils to offer the subject in the Joint Admission Matriculation Board examination, thereby providing opportunities for them to study it at the university level.

    She said: “Teachers of Yoruba Language should be encouraged to improve themselves through the processes of training and re-training. Most importantly, there is need for re-orientation of the people – young and old – to sensitise them to appreciate the beauty of Yoruba as a language we should be proud of.”

    Makinde said there was need for the lecture and sensitisation on why Yoruba language must not die because of the noticeable gradual extinction of the language due to deliberate destructive contribution of the government, the school and parents.

    The Director General of the Awolowo Centre For Philosphy, Ideology and Good Governance, Moses Makinde, a Professor of Philosophy, said it has become urgent that concrete steps were taken to preserve Yoruba language to ensure the people’s continued existence.

    The Principal School 1 of St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo, Mr. Okunola Famoriyo, who was the chairman at the programme, called on the management of the Awolowo Centre For Philosphy, Ideology and Good Governance, the organiser of the event on preserve the Yoruba language and extend it to other schools in the state, especially the private ones.

  • Yoruba leaders raise watchdog panel to monitor delegates at confab

    Yoruba leaders raise watchdog panel to monitor delegates at confab

    The Coalition of Self- Determination Group (COSEG), has set up a watch dog committee that would monitor the activities of the Yoruba delegates at the National Conference starting next month.

    The committee, named “Oodua National Conference Monitoring Bureau”, was the major point of decisions taken at a grand summit of Yoruba self-determination groups held Thursday at the House of Chiefs Secreteriat, Ibadan.

    In a communique issued after the meeting and signed by its chairman, Ifedayo Ogunlana, and Secretary, Rasak Olokooba, the group warned that it would not hesitate to come heavily on any delegate,no matter the status,who colludes with others to betray the race.

    The communique further stated in part,”COSEG in conjunction with other self- determination groups held a meeting to appraise the summit and there and then decided to form an Oodua National conference Monitoring Bureau.

    “The role of the bureau is to do everything humanly and spiritually possible, including frequent visits to AbuJa, the venue of the conference, to monitor Yoruba National Conference delegates’ roles, activities, speeches and voting during the forthcoming national conference.

    “This is being done not only to check Yoruba delegates who may decide to betray the Yoruba agenda, but also put them on their toes always.”

  • Yoruba descendants honour Alaafin

    National Association of Yoruba Descendants in South Africa has appointed the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, as its grand patron. Some months ago, the association also conferred an award of The Most Cultural and Prestigious African Monarch on the paramount ruler.

    In a statement by the association’s spokesperson, Dr.Olsola Agbeniyi said the associations’ members owe their origin as a people and descendants to Oduduwa.

    It stated that there is ardent need to promote their cultural identity, and more than ever before think of sustaining their culture, especially language, and ass well passing them to generations yet unborn.

    The association also commended the Alaafin for opening Nigeria and Africa, as a continent to the world in a way that has never done in the past, adding that through this effort, the world has come to realise that Africa is no longer a dark continent.

    ‘’The paramount ruler’s untiring efforts towards promotion of our culture and sressing need for Africans to re-write their history themselves and begin systematic documentation of what they have in the name of cultural property deserve to be applauded and supported by every right thinking African.’’

    One of the objectives of the association, according to the statement is to have a Yoruba house and school in Pretoria.

    Daughter of the paramount ruler, Princess Folasade Arewa Adeyemi represented his father at the inauguration of the association’s new executive committee held in Johannesburg.

  • Olodumare, these Children of Oduduwa again!!!

    Olodumare, these Children of Oduduwa again!!!

    The Yoruba boast of being the most politically sophisticated people in Black Africa, nay Africa. The bragging and braggadocio are not without some solid merits. Urbanised for over a thousand years, with a cleverly nuanced traditional kingship system which abhors tyranny and despotism and which sets store by civility and courtesy, they have also produced some ancient world class philosophers that would have made the Hellenic civilisation cringe with envy.

    The sad obverse of the coin is that every social and political advancement often comes with and at a stiff price. Urbanity produces its own social pathologies. In folk mythology the city is often demonised as the nearest thing to hell itself while city-dwellers are generally regarded as unreliable, wicked and devious in the extreme. To the urban sophisticates, the rural denizens are regarded as uncouth, ill-bred and dull-witted. This abiding polarization between the city people and the rural folks often plays out with great consequences in Yoruba politics

    Yet it is also very likely that when urbanisation is not accompanied by a corresponding technological development and an increase in the store of scientific knowledge, the human imagination is driven back to mysticism and intellectual sorcery. As Karl Marx famously observed, all mythologies try to dominate nature in and around the imagination. It is the advance of science that dispels such rural idiocies.

    There is no extant record to show that the Yoruba developed great demotic schools and democratic learning institutions to correspond with their great urbanising drive. Or to put things more cautiously, if ever there was such a thing, the colonial conquest killed it off in embryonic formation.

    Consequently and despite the political sophistication, forests of a thousand demons abound. As everybody knows, mastering the Ifa corpus is not for the mentally deficient. It is a steeplechase of mental endurance and spiritual stamina. The privatization of knowledge often leads to the privatization of power which they had tried to avoid in the first instance.

    For if knowledge is also power, the restriction of access to this power breeds a spiritual and intellectual aristocracy which looms large It is the land of a thousand deities and there are more gods to appease than human beings. The result is a “natural” ruling class comprising of savants, spiritualists, royalists and other enforcers of the writ of the realm and a permanent sense of siege and unending civil war which assumes several guises and dimension. Colonial conquest merely destroyed the political and economic basis of this anti-royalist royalism but not its ideological basis. Hence, the new Yoruba aristocrat still comes with a strong sense of personal entitlement.

    Had the Yoruba been an organic nation in their own right, it would not have mattered. The nation-state project is a permanent process of either working out, sublating or supplanting national contradictions. But when a people with highly developed social characteristics and idiosyncrasies are thrown into the same roiling crucible with other people, the principle and process of homogenisation makes them very vulnerable indeed. Enemies without find common cause with bitter enemies within.

    This is not a closet theory of cultural superiority or historical persecution. Every human society or culture has its own way of apprehending reality or dealing with historical exigency. But there are cultures within the Nigerian nation-space that have tried to grapple with the problems of modernity by evolving into empires in their own right. When the imperializing and centralizing motif of all empire builders take hold of their ascendant avatars, they are bound to come into direct collision with other empire builders and hegemonic wannabes cohabiting in the same territory..

    This is the crux of the unresolved Nigerian National Question. It is like boxing the Germans, the French and the British into the same colonial cage and asking them to get on with the job. The human toll is going to be prohibitive. There are some sharply individuated cultures that cannot be easily ground into colonial homogeneity and conformity.

    So is it then that every time the Yoruba seem to be on the verge of arriving at a consensus about their fate in a multi-national nation, vicious internal dissension and dispute arise. Every time there is some progress, the progress is cancelled out by forces within playing hosts to forces without. Every time a successful mobilization of the Yoruba people around a cause occurs, swift demobilization recurs.

    As the hazy outlines of the next civil war in Yoruba land appear in some relief, we must pause and shudder at the implications. In at least three states, loyal dissidents are poised and primed to challenge their political chi to a wrestling match. It is bound to end in tragedy.

    Is there then some ancestral curse working itself out.? Does it mean that this land will not know any peace until the kingdom comes? Or is there some banal sociological explanation at play that continues to elude us? Could there be some sub-ethnic tension still at play which leads to a permanent polarization of elite formations?

    All over Yoruba land despite the stunning advances of the last half a decade, political warlords are preparing for battle. As usual, the loudest noise is coming from the fissures within the new dominant group. As it was the case in the distant and immediate past, progressives are up in arms against progressives and as it has been famously noted by the authors of The Gods that Failed, the final battle is not between socialists and reactionaries but between progressives and former progressives.

    This is what has been happening in Yoruba land in the past fifty years or more with former heroes and sturdy progressives suddenly finding themselves as internally displaced persons, or worse still, as itinerant political hookers and electoral miracle workers.. Snooper once had cause to publicly warn the late Chief Bola Ige against allowing himself to be so internally displaced to the margins of political reaction and irrelevance. It is usually the land of the unreturnable, apologies to Amos Tutuola. In an attempt to get even things often get more uneven.

    How one wishes that the surviving Afenifere grandees could learn from this maxim and the terrible fate that has befallen the internally displaced. Snooper appreciates that these grand old men are fighting for their political life. But there is a fate worse than quiet political death. It is living obloquy and disgrace. When these old heroes begin to plot with a much reviled central government against the dominant political tendency they themselves have spawned it doesn’t get more tragically ironic.

    In fifteen years after the D’Rovan Affair, Afenifere itself seems to have come full circle. The hunter has become the hunted. The brand has lost much steam and stock value. From a post-military global dominance of the Yoruba political horizon, it is now confined to an obscure corner. It has also spawned a younger breakaway faction which is more militant and uncompromisingly regionalist in focus and orientation. The fate it reserved for its old erring members now seem to beckon the surviving titans. Could this be the final working out of the D’Rovan imbroglio?

    As the emergent gladiators in the South West prepare to battle themselves onto death, let them remember the fate of similar gladiators of yore who gravely misread the political signals or miscued the tempestuous dynamics of Yoruba post-colonial politics. Many of these men and women started out as heroes in their own right but ended up as villains.

    Painfully enough, this is not a matter that can be resolved by ordinary morality. You can be morally right and politically wrong. Every political opportunist will eventually get his come-uppance. But there are moments when a political opportunist can be properly aligned and in turn with the aspiration of his people. We leave our readers this morning with a portrait of the two major avatars of our political curfew.

  • Devotees celebrate Yoruba religion

    Devotees celebrate Yoruba religion

    We have a story to tell,” Prof Wande Abimbola, a retired academic and culture exponent, declared during an interactive session with participants at the 10th Orisa World Congress held at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. It was a defining statement about the place of Yoruba religion and culture, also known as Orisa tradition, in a global village of multiple faiths. Earlier, while making a contribution to a discussion during the five-day programme, Abimbola went directly to the nub of the matter, saying, “Ifa is the heart and soul of the culture and philosophy of the Yoruba people. It is not dead, but parts of it are going into oblivion.”

    Ile-Ife, which is regarded as “the source” and cultural capital of the Yoruba race, was an appropriate setting for a focus on the challenges of the Orisa way of life, especially in the context of a diverse globe, and contending faiths, some of which have the advantage of apparent numerical dominance. The variegated gathering, which included participants from the United States of America (USA), Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico, demonstrated the appeal of the religion beyond its local provenance, and brought instructive international perspectives. An all-male family of four from Cuba, a Chinese couple who live in Venezuela and a densely bearded white American were among the alluring sights.

    There is no doubt about the international status of Yoruba religion, which is reinforced by the fact that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2005 added the Ifa Divination system to its list of the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

    Ironically, however, it would appear that the religion is, to a large extent, unrecognized among Nigeria’s Yoruba population in this day and age, majority of them reportedly either Christians or Muslims. This observation was rejected by Dr. Kola Abimbola, an academic, the international coordinator of Orisaworld and son of Prof Abimbola. Both of them are also Ifa priests, Babalawo. “Orisa religion and culture is the largest indigenous culture of the world,” said the younger Abimbola. He argued, “As you know, I went to the London School of Economics and Political Science, so it is very difficult for statistics to be used as wool to cover my eyes. I don’t accept that in Yoruba society, Christianity and Islam are the dominant religions. It is not true.”

    Giving grounds for his rather unusual position, he reasoned, “For example, let’s just use simple arojinle- philosophical analysis. Yoruba/Orisa religion doesn’t have this standard Christian and Muslim approach of having churches and mosques. So, for us, counting Orisa temples is not a good way of determining how many practitioners of Orisa/Yoruba religion there are. Secondly, any honest Yoruba person will tell you that when people run into trouble, almost everyone who claims to be a Christian or a Muslim goes to Babalawo or Iya Onifa, Iyalorisa to divine.”

    According to him, “If you go to church, you also go to a diviner; then, you are practicing the two religions. So how can you count yourself as being a Christian and not as being the other? People are not bold enough to say what they really do. There are those like me who have absolutely no reservations whatsoever practising what we practise. So tell me, are there more Christians and Muslims than practitioners of Yoruba religion? I don’t think there are, we are more. That’s the problem: statistics and figures. There is one book which I use to teach Statistics or Mathematical Logic; How to lie with statistics-that’s the title.”

    A multitude of gods or orisa makes up the Yoruba pantheon, with Ifa as the oracular mouthpiece of Olodumare, the Almighty in Yoruba religion. Who would have imagined that Orisa tradition could prove relevant to the Boston Marathon bombings in USA on April 15, 2013, when two pressure cooker bombs exploded, killing three people and injuring 264 others? One woman who lives in Boston, 47-year-old Clemencia Lee, an American of Columbian origin initiated into the religion 10 years ago, said being a devotee of Yoruba gods saved her and members of her family from the bombings. According to her, “It was definitely the Orisa that watched over us to not be there and right where the bomb was.” She attended the congress with her husband, Tony Van Der Meer, an American academic of Suriname-Dutch origin and Orisa devotee, and her second daughter who is also an initiate with a Yoruba name, Adetutu.

    There was an unmistakable irony in the insistent efforts by many of the foreign participants to speak Yoruba language, especially in the context of exchanging greetings with others. Such cultural projection was food for thought, considering the observed societal trivialisation of the language in favour of English. A panelist in one of the several round-table discussions, Prof Segun Gbadegesin of Howard University, USA, highlighted this absurdity, saying, “Seventy percent of Yoruba elite discourage the use of Yoruba language by their children in domestic settings.” It was also interesting to see foreigners who were devotees prostrate themselves in a customary Yoruba way while greeting others.

    Some of the foreign visitors were simply captivated scholars, and not adherents of the religion. It was William Cullinan’s first visit to Africa and Nigeria. A white American Christian, 64 years old, from Philadelphia, he said, “I came to Orisa World Congress because I’m interested in learning about different religions and cultures, and I had always wanted to come to Nigeria because Ile-Ife is considered to be the centre of civilisation according to the Yoruba.”

    A striking highpoint of the event was the declaration by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, the community’s revered traditional ruler and Grand Patron of the Orisa tradition and religion, that July and August will be celebrated as “Yoruba cultural months” from next year. “I implore all descendants of Oduduwa to return home every year during these to celebrate our culture and religion,” he said, at the opening ceremony of the congress at Oduduwa Hall, OAU, on July 24. Oduduwa, regarded as the progenitor of the Yoruba people, is artistically represented by an imposing wooden sculpture carved by Lamidi Olonade Fakeye, which was unveiled at the front of the university theatre in 1987 by Sijuade himself.

    Speaking on the launch of the cultural months, Sijuade declared, “All my children in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo Republic, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Sudan, invite all lovers of Yoruba culture to the homeland during the months of July and August. Celebrate the values, virtues and treasures of our towns and cities. Hold public events, conventions and activities that showcase the invaluable riches of Yoruba culture and religion. These are the treasures that have made Yoruba culture and religion a global heritage of humanity.”

    Stimulating discussions on various issues of interest in the context of Yoruba religion and culture took place at Oduduwa Hall and Institute of Cultural Studies on the campus, with wide-ranging topics including Ifa, Education and Culture; Youth Rights, Elder Rights: Generational Integration; Poverty Eradication; Youth, Education and Spiritual Development; Globalization and Cultural Identity; and Nollywood versus Hollywood: Images of Orisa in Movies. It was a reflection of the times that the subject of homosexuality came up, and many were curious about the position of the religion on this controversial question. After a lively debate, it was Prof Abimbola who had the last word. According to him, “We cannot say exactly how Ifa views this. There is no need for us to get involved in this controversy.”

    A major aspect of the programme was the first Awo Ifatoogun Lecture delivered by Prof Moses Akinola Makinde, a retired university teacher of Philosophy and DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State. Although not an initiate, he is respected for his work in the area of African Philosophy and Yoruba cultural thought. He revealed to the audience that he had been influenced to rethink the labelling of his scholarly work as African Philosophy, rather than “Yoruba Philosophy” which formed the basis; and he made an argument for “Yoruba Philosophy as a sub-set of African Philosophy.” He attributed his new perspective to his son, Olumide Okunmakinde of the Institute of Cultural Studies, OAU.

    The Awo Ifatoogun Lecture, in honour of an outstanding Ifa priest and university teacher, Prince Babalola Adeboye Ifatoogun, who died in 2009 at age 85, provided a platform for Makinde to explore the concept of Ifa as “a repository of knowledge.” According to him, “Ifa’s many branches encompass the whole of human knowledge.” He coined the term “Ifaology”, which he likened to Epistemology or philosophy of knowledge in Western Philosophy.

    Central to Makinde’s lecture was “Ifa and the concept of Omoluabi,” which considered Yoruba religion and culture in the context of “morality, social and political philosophy.” Ever conscious of intellectual integrity, Makinde also gave credit to his son for helping to further clarify the concept of Omoluabi as captured by Ifa. Omoluabi, according to Makinde, defines “a good, cultured and virtuous person” in relation to “his expected contributions to society” based on “honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability, good governance and other good things concerning the life of a man in a sane society.” This lecture, significantly, projected the inclusiveness of Ifa, showing that it was not only about religion, and should not be seen in ritualistic terms alone.

    When the time came to go to the Ooni’s palace in town, there was a predictable eagerness among the participants. A pleasant surprise awaited them. July 27 was also Prof Abimbola’s 80th birthday, but the news didn’t leak. So, in a large decorated hall with shimmering lights, the Royal Court Band played danceable melodies, and the participants socialised in a setting that reflected monarchical grandeur. Their host, Oba Sijuade, 83, was resplendent in a white flowing robe over purple attire. He wore purple shoes and a glittering white cap. “Eating in the Ooni’s palace is a privilege,” said the MC of the congress, Chief Yemi Ogunyemi. It was a memorable birthday for Prof Abimbola who holds the chieftaincy title, Awise Agbayie, conferred on him by Oba Sijuade in 1981, in recognition of his services to Yoruba religion and culture. It was momentous that three devotees were installed as Cultural Ambassadors at the party. They were: Suriname-Dutch American Tony Van Der Meer, Chinese Chiu Ming Ho, and one of Prof Abimbola’s wives, Michelle, a white American. There was a mystic dimension to their installation as each went briefly into an enclosure formed by powerful traditional chiefs who created a human screen, preventing any view of their encounter with the Oba.

    There was an infectious festivity in the air all through the congress, with displays of the rich resources of the indigenous culture, ranging from fabrics and adornments to music and songs, from poetic performances to vibrant dances. Two foreign musical groups were part of the show: Omo Alagba/Miyaasu/Ibori Records and WolfHawkJaguar. Founded in 1981 by Prof Abimbola, Orisaworld is “an organisation of practitioners and scholars of Orisa tradition, religion and culture.” The group “promotes culture, education and peace in a world where Orisa tradition and culture plays a central role in the day-to-day lives of over 100 million people,” and has “individual and institutional members from over 50 countries.” The tenth edition of Orisa World Congress in Ile-Ife, with the theme “Culture and Global Peace,” was the fourth in the ancient town, starting from the first one 32 years ago, and six others have been held in Brazil, USA, Trinidad and Tobago, and Cuba. While serving as an umbrella to all other Orisa and Yoruba cultural organisations, the group’s overriding aim is “to revitalise and rejuvenate the Orisa culture and all its traditions.” Prof Abimbola announced that future congresses would be held in Nigeria, and that the next one would take place in 2016 in Ile-Ife.

    At the opening ceremony of the 10th congress, Oba Sijuade declared with poetic overtones, “I hereby make the following proclamation: the religion of Yoruba land; the religion of Oduduwa who descended from Heaven on a chain of iron; the religion of Oranfe who lives in a house of perpetual fire in Heaven; the religion of Ifa, witness of destiny; the religion of Sango, the great warrior and giant, child of Oranmiyan; the religion of Oya nicknamed oriirii, eater of she-goats, the female warrior who wears a sword as part of her outfit; the religion of Osun nicknamed ewuji the greatest mother of all; the religion of Obatala, owner of ancient Iranje; will never perish.”

  • ‘Blame politicians for disunity among FCT Yoruba’

    His Royal Highness, Oba Olusegun Salau has said that some politicians who feed fat on crisis were responsible for the current controversy in the Federal Capital Territory chapter of the Yoruba community council.

    The traditional ruler disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja, saying the Yoruba community has witnessed unprecedented peace and unity in the territory under his leadership until politicians started making use of some ‘unscrupulous element’ to cause crisis among the Yoruba race in the city.

    Oba Salau, who clocked 60 years this month, debunked a report making around that there was no Oba in FCT.

    He said; “it is not true but I don’t want to talk much about it because the father of Abuja, the owner of Abaji, Adamu Baba Yunisa is handling the matter. It is not the Oba Yoruba they want to disgrace but him because he was the one who turbaned the Oba, the indigenous chiefs are the one who turban Obas, even we Yoruba can not take somebody to them and whoever they turban we Yoruba must accept the person whether you like it or not, or else you have to live their place and go to another place”

    The monarch who said the problem has been going on for decades therefore reminded the people being used to remember that politicians will come and go but traditional rulers will remain.

    He also advised politicians in FCT and the country in general to be mindful of comments they make as the 2015 general election is approach.

    “I advise is simple, we all see what is going on in Egypt not, we have to give peace a chance so that our country will not turn to that, so we all have to be law abiding citizens” he stated.

  • Igbo Presidency and the Yoruba example

    Igbo Presidency and the Yoruba example

    Censured and dispraised for their tragic attempt to bifurcate the country, the igbos, forty three years after the civil war, remain the only major ethnic group to be invested with the nation’s presidency. Between 1970 and now, the two major ethnic nationalities-Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba, and even the minority Niger Delta-have shared that exalted position at different times. In a manner of ex-cathedra, the North and the evolving aggressive minority in power have started fresh portentous political carapace for the re-possession of the presidency in 2015. Confined to the humiliation of their partial incorporation into the nation’s political system despite having shown some remorse for the inglorious civil war, the Igbos now resorted to “neither-here-nor-there” politics. They have tried “centre politics”, “mainstream politics”, “Ihu Oma politics”, “Chukwu ga eme ya politics”, “concoction politics”, “general politics”, “and so on and so forth politics”. The only one they have not tried is “opposition politics”. This political fickleness potentiated them with the number two position-Vice President-in the Second Republic.

    Nettled by the impotence and opportunism of this manoeuvering that earned them only four years of vice presidency in 43 years (this is without any prejudice to Ebitu Ukiwe’s short stay in office), I believe the Igbos need a radical overhauling of their political philosophy by rebranding and articulating it just like the Yorubas have settled for progressive politics. Let the Igbos come up with a dominant political ideology as different from the extant ragtag idiocies which cast them as a group without political discipline. This perception is what is responsible for the derisive treatment they receive from other ethnic groups. No nation is willing to concede its presidency to a group with a perceived image of un-seriousness and political indiscipline.

    I read Godwin Alabi-Isama’s interview with The Nation on Sunday (July 14) and his only contribution to the Igbo presidency jujitsu was this consolatory prophesy: “…the Igbo will rule this country in the near future only if they stop trading and start manufacturing what they are selling.” I need to know what the respected General meant by the phrase “the Igbo will rule the country…” Did he mean “economic domination” or “political control”? If he meant the former, I agree with some reservations because of the Igbo business sagacity. But if he meant the latter, I respectfully disagree with his weak linkage between mercantilism and political control. Economic power not properly deployed for political expediency cannot confer automatic political control on any group. The Igbos are responsible for whatever humiliation they are suffering today within the Nigerian state, not because of the civil war, but because they are deluded by the misconception that their economic power alone can make them relevant. They must understand that their economic power needs to be complemented by a corresponding political power feasible only through a political revolution that they need to undertake with dispatch.

    One thing that may stymie the execution of this revolution is lack of a central figure to play the toughie. Since the death of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Igbos, with profound apologies to few of them with outstanding profiles, have not had another political leader with the clout, credibility, charisma, personality, intellect and national acceptability that the Zik phenomenon epitomized. What we have is the emergence of individual Igbo leaders with antecedents that question their credentials to pursue and promote the kind of political revolution one is canvassing for. Besides, most Igbo businessmen that could be counted upon to undertake this revolutionary agenda are government contractors who may not be ready to sacrifice their economic interests and political influence for an Igbo national cause. They are likely to succumb and kowtow to a vindictive government that may find the pursuit of their political agenda too antagonistic. With this kind of attitude and ennui to the Igbo cause, it is doubtful if the Igbos can come out of this political gridlock.

    In lieu of a credible personage, prosecuting the political revolution through a socio-cultural organization like Ohaneze Ndigbo may not be a bad idea. My only fear, one that has been confirmed by the flighty fragmentation of Afenifere, a similar organization by the Yorubas and the castration of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), is that the organization may be weakened and become polarized by the pursuit of self interests and multiple agendas by individual members of the organization who, under such circumstance, may be pressured into abandoning the collective interest of the nationality for their own political and economic goals. Consequently, the Igbo unity which is required for the reinforcement of the protestation against their privations is kibbled by the shenanigans of loose cannons who prefer the lure of filthy lucre to the collective good of their people.

    The Igbos need to learn one or two things from the Yoruba on matters relating to political revolution. After the demise of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the undisputable progenitor of Yorubas’ progressive politics, another Yoruba national figure, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, emerged. He single-handedly promoted the Yoruba political agenda and also ensured that he committed his resources to the cause until he became the elected President of the country. But he was prevented from enjoying the fruits of his victory through an annulment that threw the entire nation into a political turmoil that led us to where we are today. After his death, the Yoruba came up with the Afenifere revival with the objective of promoting and protecting the Yoruba political interest in a nation where a particular ethnic nationality had a rabid tendency for dominating the political space through deft manipulations. Despite the traditional hatred that the Yoruba progressives have for the conservative reactionaries of the PDP, they still came together in 2003 to give massive support to one of their own, Olusegun Obasanjo who leveraged on the Yoruba factor to cajole his kinsmen into supporting him for the presidency. The Yoruba sentiments, which in a way, facilitated his victory, later came to be the albatross for the fragmentation of the Afenifere. This was when (or should I say this was why?) Bola Tinubu decided to pick up the mantle of the Yoruba leadership

    Emboldened by the conviction that the Awolowo legacy must be preserved, rather than withdrawing and insulating himself from politics after the electoral waterloo of 2003, where all the South West states except Lagos, went to the PDP, Tinubu fought Obasanjo, PDP and even some Afenifere “Iscariots” to a standstill until he recovered all the “conquered” states except one that he lost through treachery. But his ACN party was compensated with the victory of Adams Oshiomole in Edo State.

    Another radical dimension of the Yoruba political revolution was the institutionalization of the Awolowo political ideology and philosophy. Through this process, they have stimulated the propagation and intellectualization of the revolution which was aimed at the socio- political transformation of the Yoruba people, their culture, history, politics, literature and their mentality, instructively, relating to their status, pedigree, role and significance in a polarized polity that is full of power intrigues. Bola Tinubu, the symbol of the revolution, established the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy and appointed Professor Adigun Agbaje, a renowned political scientist, as its pioneer Director-General. In a similar fashion, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the governor of the state of Osun also established the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance with Professor Moses Akinola Makinde as its Chief Executive Officer. In addition, the Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi also came up with a Graduate summer school concept packaged by Drs Wale Adebanwi and Ebenezer Obadare with Professor Niyi Osundare as the first guest lecturer.

    The objective of these various institutional initiatives is to ensure that the Awolowo vision for the Yoruba and his political philosophy remain relevant within a complex polity. Awolowo may be dead but through these various intellectual channels and mechanisms, his philosophy and ideology are kept alive and active. But this is not the case with the Igbos who seem to have abandoned the Zikist political philosophy and ideology. And this explains why the Igbos’ political relevance and value within the larger polity are under threat because the Zik vision and political philosophy which should be the theoretical guide for their political participation had long been jettisoned. Any political agenda, either of an individual or of a group, that is not vision-driven is flawed conceptually for lacking a fundamental inspiration that is germane to its attainment.

    Until the Igbo academics, politicians, businessmen, statesmen, bureaucrats, traders and the rest of the citizens come together as a people and as a nation to agree on a common Igbo political agenda and pursue it with focused cohesion, the presidency will remain elusive to them. And more important, is the fact that they need more than Ohaneze Ndigbo to realize this goal. They need to review their “centre politics” or what they call “mainstream relevance” if the revolution was to achieve its political objective. The justification for the Igbos’ undignified embrace of mainstream politics baffles me. I wonder why they have to enslave themselves to an exploitative centre when they have the capability to liberate themselves and their tribe from the oppression of the “amorphous centre”.

    Their argument is that their region will suffer if they play opposition politics. I am convinced that the Yoruba as a people, and as a nation, never had problem financing their infrastructure development and social programs for playing opposition politics. All elected representatives; the governors, members of the National Assembly and all the members of the State Houses of Assembly under the ACN, have keyed into the Awolowo vision of development. Being genuine Awo disciplines, and having imbibed his principle and discipline on governance, all the governors of the ACN in the South West are making judicious use of their internally generated revenue for their infrastructure development and social programs same way Obafemi Awolowo executed his projects and programs when he was the premier of the Western Region. None of the governors in the South West is waiting for federal “handout” for the execution or funding of their infrastructure development and social programs. If the Igbos now claim that opposition politics will cause them development deficit, it only illustrates the fact that their leaders lack the discipline to utilize their resources for the good of their people in a judicious manner.

    While not trying to prick any conscience on the tragedy of the civil war, it is a worthwhile reminder for all ethnic groups in the country to know that war remains a senseless and irresponsible means of achieving one’s political objective. It is lack of strategy and wisdom that makes a marginalized and neglected people to adopt war as a means of achieving their political goal. Modern politics, especially in a democracy like ours, has sufficient mechanisms that can be explored and exploited to compel relevance and participation in the nation’s power sharing at all levels.

    It is in the interest of the Igbos to put their house in order and coordinate their political operations to avoid a situation where the other ethnic groups will just be using them to “count scores” – a derogatory phrase invented by the youth for exploitation.

  • NGF crisis: Stop embarrassing Yoruba, Ondo ACN chieftain tells Mimiko

    A Chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Dr. Paul Akintelure, yesterday said the ongoing crisis in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) is a sign that the 2015 general elections may not be free and fair.

    Akintelure, who was the running mate of the ACN’s candidate in last October’s governorship election, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said the recent actions of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders proved that the party “is trying to make the election a do-or-die affair”.

    He said despite the fact that the PDP has the majority of governors in the NGF, the emergence of two chairmen indicates that the party may “force itself on the people in 2015, if its fails to win the election”.

    Akintelure, a doctor, warned Governor Olusegun Mimiko to “stop heating up the forum”.

    He said Mimiko’s activities have caused a lot of embarrassment to the Yoruba, who are known for integrity and loyalty.

    Mimiko is the vice-chairman of Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang’s faction of the NGF. He denied participating in the election that brought about two factions.

    Akintelure said Mimiko’s denial of his involvement in an election that was attended by 35 governors has “shown how desperate he is for power”.

    He urged Mimiko to remember that he was once a beneficiary of “true democracy”.

    Akintelure said: “When Mimiko felt that the former PDP administration of Dr. Olusegun Agagu cheated him during the 2007 election, he approached the court to seek redress and got the support of real democrats, who stood solidly behind him to ensure that the people’s votes count.

    “Today, Mimiko is in a position of power and he believes the best way to pay back the masses, who fought for him to regain his mandate, is by toying with the democracy they fought for.

    “The Jang faction, for which Mimiko is the spokesman, is only embarrassing itself by claiming that ‘16 is higher than 19 and that there is no second term for NGF chairman’. I believe members were notified a few weeks before the election and all these issues should have been sorted out before going to the poll.

    “For Jang’s faction to have voted in the poll proves that the 35 governors agreed that the new NGF leadership should emerge through voting. Politics is like a football competition, where a winner must emerge.

    “The video we saw on the internet showed that 35 votes were counted and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi had 19 while Jang scored 16. Another thing is that since Jang’s group has been claiming to have the majority, only 16 governors have been attending its functions. For instance, at the opening of its secretariat, only 16 governors were in attendance.

    “It is unfortunate that President Goodluck Jonathan could recognise the 16 governors’ faction as the authentic NGF, despite claims by his aides that he has no hand in the forum’s crisis.”

  • Who are the Yoruba people? (2)

    In his 2000 page book titled ‘’Ile-Ife-The Source of Yoruba Civilisation’’, Prince Adelegan Adegbola wrote the following about the Yoruba people of South-western Nigeria- ’’the Yoruba are the progeny of great kingship, efficient kingdom-builders and astute rulers. They have been enjoying for centuries a well-organized pattern of society, a pattern which persists, in spite of all the changes resulting from modern contacts with the western world. Their kings have, from very long past, worn costly beaded crowns and wielded royal scepters. No one remembers the time when the Yoruba people have not worn clothes. Their character of dignity and integrity is an ancient one. In reality, the Yoruba claim to be descendants of a great ancestor. There is no doubt at all that they have been a great race. They are, and they appear in some ways to be detrimentally over-conscious of their great ancestry and long, noble traditions…..the Yoruba are one of the most researched races in the world. According to Professor S.O. Arifalo, by 1976 the available literature on the Yoruba, despite many omissions, numbered 3,488 items. These vast amounts of works are quite substantial and unrivalled in sub-Saharan Africa. Also the artefacts showed that the Yoruba were intelligent, complex and wealthy people whose art and technological skills were unsurpassed in pre-historic Africa. Almost everything we know about the Yoruba people comes from Ile-Ife.’’

    Professor Adegbola’s research is as fascinating as it is outstanding. It is a ‘’must read’’ for all those that are interested in finding out who the yoruba are, where thy come from, what they stand for and what their contribution to religion,culture, the arts and civilisation really is. Adegbola’a research into the history of the Yoruba and the various Yoruba kingdoms is second to none. His findings certainly put a lie to the controversial assertion made by Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the best-known and most respected historians that ever lived, who once said that ‘’the history of Africa is darkness, nothing but darkness’’. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is clear to me that this englishman, despite his outstanding credentials, knew next to nothing about our rich history, heritage and culture which, in my view, was far more advanced and goes back for thousands of years more than even his own. In this essay I will make my own contributions to the debate and I will concentrate primarily on the pre-historic era of the Yoruba before the coming of Oduduwa to Ile-Ife and before the establishment of the great kingdoms and princely states. I will focus on their origins as a people and their migratorary patterns.

    The Yoruba are ancestors of the black Cushite migrants and settlers that did not go to Africa with the other descendants of Cush but that rather chose to settle in the areas and environs that were to later become the ancient cities of Mecca and Medina in what is presently known as Saudi Arabia.

    They were not Arabs but they were there as settlers for thousands of years and they constituted an industrious, prosperous, powerful, large and respected minority within the larger Middle Eastern community. However they were eventually driven out of those Arab towns and communities and forced to leave them for refusing to give up their religious faith, their deep mysticism and paganism and their idol worship after Islam was introduced to those places by the Prophet Mohammed in 600 AD. They migrated to the banks of the great River Nile in Egypt where they intermingled and inter-married with the Egyptians, the Nubians and the Sudanese of the Nile. The Egyptian roots and connections of the yoruba are deep and irrefutable and the third and final part of this essay is dedicated solely to exploring and explaining those roots. For thousands of years many of the yoruba remained on the banks of the Nile but the bulk of them eventually migrated to what was to later become known as north-eastern Nigeria and once again they settled, mingled and inter-bred with the Shuwa Arabs and the Kanuris of Borno.

    From there they eventually swept across the whole of the north and migrated down south to the forests and farm lands of what is now known as south-western Nigeria making their primary place and location of settlement and pagan worship Ile-Ife. Ile-Ife is to the Yoruba traditional worshippers what Mecca is to the Muslims and what Jerusalem is to the Jews and the Christians. The establishment of Ile-Ife as the centre and source of all that is Yoruba was confirmed by Oduduwa himself when he sent his sons out from Ile-Ife to other parts of Yorubaland to establish their own independent kingdoms, including Bini Kingdom. It was after that that we broke up into various kingdoms and communities within what later became known as the old Western Region of Nigeria. Some of those kingdoms and empires were sophisticated, powerful, large and great (like the Oyo Empire) and some were not so great and large.

    Yet each was fiercely independent and established it’s own sophisticated system of government, customs, legal codes and conventions.

    Sadly these Yoruba kingdoms spent one hundred years fighting one another in totally unnecessary civil wars before the arrival of the British but it is a historical fact that they were never defeated in any war or conquered by any foreign army. Yet the only things that they had in common amongst themselves was their language (which broke into different dialects), their historical heritage, their affinity and respect for Ile-Ife and their acknowledgement of that town as being their spiritual home and finally their acceptance of the Oonirissa of Ife as ‘’the living manifestation of Oduduwa, the quintessential icon of royalty and splendour and God’s chief representative on earth’’. This collection of different kingdom states with a common ancient root were collectively known as the ‘’Yoruba’’. Yet the fact of the matter is that the word ’’Yoruba’’ has NO meaning in our language or any other language that is known to man.

    No-one has been able to tell us with certainty the meaning of the word ‘’Yoruba’’ or indeed where it really came from. This really is very strange and is indeed a deep and unsettling mystery. For all we know it could even be a deep and ancient insult. That is why I have always preferred to be referred to as an ‘’ife’’ rather than a ‘’Yoruba’’. Another question that is often asked is why did our forefathers indulge in all the mass migrations from first Mecca and Medina, then to Egypt, then to Borno, across the vast plains and desert lands of northern Nigeria and then finally settled in the forests of the western region? Historians have ventured a number of reasons for this but the truth is that no-one knows with much certainty. My own personal theory is that the reason that our forefathers kept having to migrate until we found somewhere of our own was either because of war or because we refused to give up our pagan beliefs and practices. I believe that when Islam was eventually introduced into the areas that we once settled our forefathers suffered all manner of persecution for their tenacity to their ancient pagan faith and their refusal to convert and consequently they had to move on. I may be wrong and many historians have offered one or two other explanations for these mass migrations yet whatever the reasons for them may have been, whether they were due to war, famine or religious persecution, it is clear that the influence of the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Nubians, the Sudanese, the Kanuris, the Nupes and all the other nations that we once lived with, mingled with and mixed our blood with through breeding and marriage is very strong amongst the Yoruba people, their music, their language and their culture till today. We shall return to this theme in part three of this essay.

    For thousands of years the yoruba were pagans and ifa was their cornerstone. Their faith was polytheic in nature and they believed, like the Ancient Egyptians, not in one Supreme Deity, but in a pantheon of gods each of which had it’s own place and served it’s own purpose. As a matter of fact most of the ancient gods that the Egyptians worshipped were introduced to them by yoruba diviners, sorcerers and pagan priests. Such was the level of our influence on Egyptian culture, religion and history. The  monotheic faiths of Islam and Christianity were both espoused by the yoruba thousands of years later and were both established primarily by the strong trade links that existed between them and the Hausa/Fulani from the north, the Turkish traders of the Ottoman empire from the southern Atlantic coast, the Portuguese and European traders who plied that same southern Atlantic coast and the Christian missionaries who vigorously evangelised the whole territory. Both christianity and islam eventually took full root in the land and in the hearts and minds of the Yoruba people whilst paganism, ‘’ifa’’ and the practice of their more traditional faith was eventually pushed to the back seat. This was quite an achievement because for thousands of years both christianity and islam were fiercely resisted by the Yoruba and even till today many yoruba people still tenaciously hold on to their traditional faith. That is why it is very difficult to find a Yoruba family that does not have christians, muslims and adherents of the more traditional and ancient tribal faiths in their ranks.

    The slow and massive migration of the yoruba from Arabia, Egypt, Borno, through northern Nigeria and to their own homelands in the south-west are why they, together with the other numerous tribes in ‘’mid-western’’ (the Bini, the Ishan, the Urhobo, the Itsekiri, the Isoko and all the other tribes that were once part of the old Western Region of Nigeria) and ’’northern’’ Nigeria are generally known as the ‘’Sudanese Nigerians’’. This is because they all migrated from north Africa and the Sudan to their present locations. By way of contrast the various tribes from the rest of southern Nigeria who migrated from eastern and southern Africa to their present locations comprise of the Igbo and the people of the eastern Niger-Delta area (including the ijaws, the ikweres, the kalabaris, the efiks, the ibibios, the ika igbos and all other tribes that were part of the old Eastern Region of Nigeria). These people are known as the ‘’Bantu Nigerians’’ and they are very different to the Sudanese in terms of their outlook to life and their culture and history. Permit me to explain this assertion. The history of the people that are known as the ’’Sudanese Nigerians’’ is well-docuemented, well-entrenched and well-acquainted with strong and respected hierachial structures and the administration of extreemely large and powerful, culturally-diverse, cosmopolitan and sophisticated empires that once stretched across thousands of miles of different territories and civilisations. These great empires, which were headed by powerful kings and emperors, such as the Oyo, Habe, Nok, Nupe, Tiv, Borgu and Sokoto Empires, conquered many lesser peoples in centuries past and administered many territiories when compared to the Bantus.

    The Bantu’s only experience and knowledge of ancient empire and kingship is limited to a few relatively small yet notable kingdoms and coastal states in what is presently known as Nigeria’s eastern Niger-Delta area. Examples of this are the Kalabaris who have their Amayanabo, the Efiks who have their Obong and a few others. The most populous tribe amongst the Bantu are the Igbo. They are originally of Jewish stock and they have absolutely no history of kingship, empire and organised hierarchical structures at all. They were essentially republican in nature and they were a collection of village and forest communities that were bound together only by their common language and their ancient heritage. That is why the igbo often take pleasure in saying ‘’igbo enwe eze’’, meaning ‘’the igbo have no king’’. Outside of the royal kings of Onitsha and Asaba to have kings and chiefs amongst the Igbo was a relatively new phenomenon which certainly does not pre-date the last 150 years. As a matter of fact the kngs of those two towns and communities were not even originally of igbo stock but were offshoots of the Royal House of Bini in what is presently known as Edo state. The Obi of Onitsha and the Asagba of Asaba and indeed most of their subjects were descendants of the Oba of Benin and the the people of edo respectively. The igbo did not even have chiefs up until 150 years ago. It was when the British colonialists arrived in the east that they appointed ‘’warrant chiefs’’ for them. This explains why the igbo particularly finds it exceptionally difficult to understand the complexities and subtleties of people that do not share their republican heritage or beliefs.

    Yet the truth about the Nigerian situation is that everybody and every tribe and nationality, no matter how big or small, brings something to the table. That is what makes us so special and unique as a people and that is what makes our country so great. There is indeed unity in diversity and whether you are a yoruba, an igbo, a fulani, a hausa, a tiv, an idoma, a nupe, an urhobo, an ishan, an itsekiri, an isoko, a kalabari, a kataf, a shuwa Arab, a kanuri, a berom, an igbira, a bini, an ikwere, an efik, an ibibio, a jukun, an ijaw or any other tribe or nationality it is in the greater collective and the beautiful racial and cultural melting pot that Nigeria has become that we can find our true power and greatness. The yoruba, no matter how rich our history, are only a part of a much greater family of peoples each with their own noble heritage and proud history. In the third and final part of this essay we will explore the Egyptian roots of the yoruba and we will consider the remarkable similarities between ancient Egyptian culture, religion and language and that of the yoruba people.

  • Yoruba hold the ace in 2015, says Fasehun

    Yoruba hold the ace in 2015, says Fasehun

    •Asari: It’s a do-or-die affair

    The founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has said the Yoruba could decide the fate of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

    But the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVL), Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, said the 2015 election would be a do-or-die affair.

    He said all ethnic groups in the Niger Delta should be prepared for war.

    Fasehun, who spoke alongside Asari-Dokubo in Effurun-Warri, Delta State, during the Isaac Adaka Boro remembrance, advised Niger Delta leaders to see the Yoruba as their most reliable ally in 2015.

    He said: “If you look at the political configuration, you will find that the most reliable friend the Southsouth can lean on for 2015 is the Southwest.

    “This is because it is the only zone that will not be vying for the presidency.”

    To this end, he urged Southsouth leaders to reach out to their counterparts in the Southwest and other zones to garner support for the president.

    Speaking on Isaac Adaka Boro, the OPC founder challenged Niger Delta leaders to be motivated by the spirit of selflessness of their heroes, such as the Boros and the Saro-Wiwas.

    Asari-Dokubo said: “The 2015 election is going to challenge our survival as a nation and as a people because the war that is going on is because Jonathan is the president.

    “The day Jonathan comes to say he is longer president, this insecurity in parts of Nigeria will cease.”

    The NDPVL leader said his kinsmen were prepared to defend themselves.

    “When they come with their guns, they will not come for the Ijaw alone; they will not distinguish who is Ijaw, Urhobo, Ibibio, Itsekiri and others. They are coming for all of us.

    “They want to continue to marginalise, humiliate and degrade us and we should collectively resist this,” he said.

    Asari-Dokubo denied that he is heating up the polity and fanning the embers of war, stressing that “the Northerners are beating the drums of war by their actions.”

    “When some people threatened to make the country ungovernable because President Jonathan won, the result is what we are seeing today?

    “They are the ones beating the drums of war and we are prepared for them now. I am not afraid of war. We are prepared,” he said.

    Asked why he made a u-turn after criticising the president, Asari-Dokubo said his criticism was to draw attention to the deplorable state of the East-West Road.

    “I have never criticised anybody based on personal issues.

    “ I criticised the president because of the East-West Road and the magic is happening.

    “The work on the road has improved, unlike before. Do you call that criticism?”