Before February last year almost all Yoruba man or woman I came in contact with was for self-determination. Output from nearly all Yoruba media outlet was about self-determination. Some 200 different organisations were formed by the Yoruba Diaspora to fight for self-determination. Other organisations banded together to form a Yoruba self-determination movement. We went on demonstrations at Downing Street in London. We went on demonstrations in Washington DC and other western capitals. With noises of the Yoruba self-determination, we set WhatsApp alight; we set Twitter alight; we set other social media alight. Invitations for me as a campaigner to speak, to write, to appear at this or other function was overwhelming. 

Then Tinubu happened. Then silence. Deafening silence. In February 2023, Tinubu was elected president of Nigeria. In other words, all the bruhaha, all the noise, was really about ‘awa lokan’; it was our turn. Once achieved, that was it. Many of us obviously did not believe in self-determination for our Yorubaland. So what exactly has changed for the Yoruba since Tinubu, a Yoruba man, became the president of Nigeria?

Nothing. Fulani herders are still destroying Yoruba farms. Fulani herders are still preventing Yoruba farmers from tilling the land. Fulani jihadists are still killing Yoruba Christians in their churches. Yoruba people are still being kidnapped. Yoruba people are still hungry. Yoruba youths are still unemployed. Nigeria’s politicians are still stealing Yoruba money and treating Yoruba people with disdain. The Yoruba people are still prisoners in Nigeria. The Yoruba people are still subjected to the 1999 Fulani constitution.

I am here today to make it clear to all, that some of us have not given up. We may be small in number but we shall prevail. We shall amplify our voices with megaphone diplomacy. We shall amplify our strength with our pen. We shall convince the world of the right of the Yoruba people to self-determination. 

Personally speaking, I have never given up; I shall never give up. How can I? I am a Yoruba Nationalist; I am a Yoruba Monarchist; I am a Yoruba Traditionalist. Tinubu’s election has not changed anything for me whatsoever.

I was born when the Western Region, ie the Yorubaland, was semi-autonomous within Nigeria, and moving forwards in leaps and bounds on its own – way ahead of Singapore; way ahead of South Korea. I was in the first set of Awolowo’s free education. I was there at the beginning of Africa’s television age. At the Ibadan Liberty Stadium, I watched ice skating, Sheffield Wednesday play football, Dick Tiger fight Gene Fulmer for a world title,

I too previously believed in Nigeria. 

·      In 1969, I went to Biafra to feed refugees. I was a UI student. I volunteered for the Christian Council of Nigeria and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

·      Between 1970 and 1974, I represented Nigeria all over the world under the auspices of the UN World University Service attending youth discussion groups on development and maternal-child health, from Bucharest to Katmandu, from New Delhi to Nairobi, from Accra to Islamabad etc.

·      In 1973, as the first job after graduation, Wole and I borrowed a friend’s car and drove to all the Gowon state capitals. We travelled over 5,000km.

Everything changed for me on 20 October 2020. That was the day that Nigerian soldiers shot and killed several unarmed ENDSARs demonstrators at the Lekki Tollgate.

As I watched the TV footage, I asked myself: What would make a military commander, a professional, to instruct his soldiers to shoot at unarmed youths? The answer was absolutely clear to me: Hatred. It could not be anything else. If they hated us so much, why should we remain in the same country with them? Nigeria on this evidence simply did not deserve to exist.

Almost immediately, I sent by post a petition to the Secretary-General of the UN demanding self-determination for the Yoruba people. I published the petition online and asked likeminded people to sign. Signatures have exceeded 10,000. I had promised that if signatures exceeded 10,000, I would write a full application to the UN for independence for the Yorubaland. To this end, I have spent the last 6 months researching and writing.

The UN application was intended to describe who we are as Yoruba people, where we are coming from, and to where we should be going. The application is not ready yet but should be soon.

Some have asked: what gave me the right to make application on behalf of the Yoruba People? The first thing I say is that the concept of representation under Yoruba culture is not based on the European culture of political parties or elections. In the European culture, a man who less that 10% of the people voted for has mandate to be president. This is no mandate in the ancient Yoruba culture. The ancient Yoruba acclaimed (Iyin), they did not elect.

I have the acclamation:

1.     I am a Yoruba man; born and bred in Ibadan of Yoruba parentage. 

2.     I am a Yoruba chief – Baasegunalabe Alabe; in possession of a cultural mandate – the chief was part of the ancient Yoruba governance system and; a traditional mandate – the chief was Oloye, a nobleman, a leader.

3.     I am a Moremi mandate - in the olden days, when a problem affected the whole of the Yorubaland, the Yoruba spontaneously conferred leadership on any one amongst them who had the most logical solution. Awolowo was a Moremi mandate. More recently, Igboho was a Moremi mandate. I became a Moremi mandate when I convinced more than 10,000 people to join my campaign.

The UN petition is not closed. You are welcome to add your signature. Go online to Change.Org; under the ‘search’ option type in Olusola Oni.