No western-style government for Oduduwa Republic, please!
The Yoruba Strategic Alliance (YSA) have recently proposed a constitution for the Oduduwa Republic fashioned upon the Presidential system of government. The YSA proposed constitution comes some 4 or so months after I had published my own draft constitution (‘Proposals for a Constitution by the Yoruba Descendants (Motto: Fun Itẹsiwaju Ilẹwa)’ http://chng.it/XfYqsnVK via @UKChange). These two constitutional proposals are based on completely different outlooks and philosophies. The YSA constitution has had Radio/TV publicity. I hope that in time my own too would be granted similar Radio/TV hearing.
The YSA constitution lacks imagination. It is too formulaic. The YSA constitution learns nothing from the failures of western-style governance. The YSA constitution learns nothing from the successful Yoruba style of governance that existed prior to the advent of the Europeans. The YSA constitution is a prescriptive constitution that attempts to cover all eventualities. It is a political class and elitist constitution, not a constitution for the benefit of the ordinary people. It is a constitution for lawyers, which would give them interminable opportunities for interpretations and court appearances. So many legislatures. So many legislators. Why this over-governance? Turning politics into a job. And then, worse of all, the YSA constitution peripheralises our Oba system of governance that our forefathers perfected over centuries. No, this YSA constitution is a non-starter.
Constitution writers who use western governments as template are seduced by the label of ‘democracy’ attached to western governments. No western country practices democracy in its true form, however. What they practice could be described as ‘government for the people by their political leaders’. The peoples’ participation is periodic (ie elections) and token at best. True democracy means ‘rule by the people’. It does not mean vote for leaders. It does not mean political competition between factions. It does not mean majority rule. The ancient Yoruba practiced true democracy. We must follow their example.
We Yoruba already have a constitution of our own bequeathed to us by our forefathers: the ‘Constitutional Oba’. Indeed, every Yoruba of today is conversant with this constitution. First, the Yoruba know that the Oba was the sovereign and that he appointed chiefs to assist him in that task. Second, the Yoruba know that there were several distinct and separate groups to the Yoruba Nation; Ijesa, Ijebu, Oyo, Ondo, Egba and so on. Third, the Yoruba know that these different groups of the Yoruba Nation were separate and distinguishable, and autonomous in their governance, and that no Yoruba group ruled over another. There is not much more required for a constitution than this; accepted, agreed, conventional, customary, and traditional mode of governance bequeathed by the Yoruba of yore following centuries of practice. There is no need to look elsewhere for the Oduduwa Constitution as the YSA have done.
Self-evidently, our group diversity means that other details of the ‘Constitutional Oba’ would be group specific. One, the procedure and processes for selecting an ILU’s Oba, the procedure and processes for removing the Oba, and the tenure of the Oba, would be detailed in local bye-laws enacted by the ILU’s Oyomesi (Local Council). Two, the extent or limit of the ‘sovereignty’ of the Oba would be determined locally and detailed in the bye-laws.
There must be no politics as usual in the Oduduwa Republic. There must be no political parties or political platforms, and no nationwide elections. Our law makers must be drawn directly from the different cadres of society like the Oyomesi of old. Young and old. Men and women. Drummers, babalawo, farmers, drivers, lawyers, nurses, doctors, engineers and other guilds all must be included. No one must hold office or be legislator for more than 5 years in his lifetime. There are 30 millions of us; we each deserve a chance. There must be no states as presently configured or conceptualised by Nigeria. Rather, each town/city (ILU or Obaland) with a traditional Oba must be self-governing: Ijebu-Ode must self-govern like Eko; Abeokuta must self-govern like Ado-Ekiti; Ondo must self-govern like Ile Ife; Ilesa must self-govern like Ogbomoso, Ibadan must self-govern like Gbongan, Osogbo must self-govern like Ikire and so on.
The Oduduwa Republic constitution must be descriptive, and no more than a dozen or so in paragraphs to enable easy comprehension by the ordinary man in the street. Our forefathers governed an empire with an unwritten constitution, so should we. Our traditions and customs will do the rest. And as to the judiciary, we must have an inquisitorial system as perfected by our forefathers not the British adversarial system where one lawyer accuses, one lawyer defends, and a third lawyer decides! The Yoruba of yore bequeathed to us their laws, we must go back to those laws as I chronicled in my book on ancient Yoruba laws (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087T2Z1CG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_ZVJS586BWD291AB2D023