Op-ed: Why Yoruba Nation agitators must be resisted before the southwest becomes another UGM haven
The southeastern part of Nigeria is fast becoming a shadow of its old self except that it is a self-inflicted injury. Some people planted the wind and everyone is reaping the whirlwind. A once peaceful region that welcomed everyone back home during the December period has become an alien town where kinsmen are too scared to stay, no thanks to Unknown Gunmen, a name given to perpetrators of evil whom many believe are affiliated to the Eastern Security Network, the military arm of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB).
Although the arrest, release and rearrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, is being blamed for the explosion of the activities of UGM in the south east, in truth it all began with his rhetorics. In multiple videos shared online, Kanu through his online broadcasting medium – Radio Biafra which he used to broadcast messages to his followers, condemned Hausa-Fulani referring to them as leeches and cursing any Igbo person attending a church that had a Yoruba pastor. Saying they (Yoruba people) are worse than Boko Haram.
He said: “If you are attending a Yoruba church, you should be ashamed of yourself. Anyone who attends a church headed by a Yoruba pastor is an idiot. A complete fool. An imbecile. I have no time for them. They are worse than Boko Haram. They are very, very foolish. If your pastor is Yoruba, you are not fit to be a human being.”
He asked his followers to go after security operatives and attack them while also referring to Igbos who do not agree with his message as ‘sabo’ or ‘saboteurs’, a derogatory word that translates to infidel or non-believer. These messages have had an impact on them as seen from the multiple attacks on police stations in the region.
In 2021, a video went viral on social media where masked men entered a market in the south east and were hailed and applauded by the people who applauded them. It was a sign of acceptance and support and perhaps fuelled the growth of these masked men.
Things have however gotten out of hand. The cub that the people handfed has grown into a monster they can longer tame. Weekly, we read about attacks in the region on innocent people. From the burning of offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission to the kidnapping and killing of politicians.
The same narrative is slowly playing out in the south west, a relatively peaceful region, where secessionists are calling for the creation of a Yoruba nation. In April 2022, Adeyinka Grandson, a Yoruba secessionist was jailed by a UK court due to his rhetorics where he encouraged violence against non-Yorubas in Nigeria.
But Grandson is the not the last of them. In 2021, Sunday Adeyemo commonly known by the name of the town where he was born, Igboho, gained notoriety when he ordered the eviction of Fulani herdsmen out of the Yorubaland, a call which put the lives of northerners in the region at risk. Until his arrest in the Benin Republic, Igboho had amassed a cult following as he championed the creation of an Oduduwa country. Left to continue, it would have sparked massive unrest in the south west as seen in the south east.
The successors of Grandson and Igboho are crawling back as a new breed of Yoruba secessionists is emerging online and offline. While every individual and group has the right to have conversations about the divisibility of Nigeria and the desire for secession, it has to be done through the National Assembly, the only body constitutionally allowed to push for such. If not, the system will degenerate into anarchy and the lives of innocent people, whom ironically the secessionists are vowing to better, will be lost.
In December, I joined a discussion on ClubHouse, a social media platform where people engage in different conversations. There, proponents and supporters of the establishment of a Yoruba Nation gathered. There would have been nothing wrong with their agitation except that the major ingredient of their method of achieving their desire was violence. They talked about scuttling the coming 2023 elections so as to accelerate their quest for an independent state. According to them, if the 2023 election fails, the agitation for succession will increase. There was no humour in what they said; they were firm and assertive about achieving a Yoruba nation with violence.
The seeds they were planting are beginning to germinate. In January 2023, they staged a violent protest in the Ojota area of Lagos which sparked unrest as people fled to avoid being attacked. According to the police, one officer was injured in the attack and members of the group also allegedly set fire to vehicles.
The earlier violent extremist groups are tackled, the better. Otherwise, the relative peace being enjoyed in the southwest, which has made the region attractive to businesses, will be jeopardised. It is up to the people there to tame this beast.
