Unity or the state of being one is an obsession of the Yoruba elites and leaders. It can be a paralysing obsession, undermining good things being done, or preventing good things from being done.

There are up to 200 Yoruba self-determination groups. Leaders and members of these groups perceive self-determination as a political goal that they could not achieve without unity. Therefore, they have continually sought ways of coalescing. The first attempt appears to have been made in 2000 when the Coalition of Oodua Self-determination Groups (COSEG) was formed. The Yoruba Self-determination Movement (YSDM) was formed two decades later in 2022. In between there have been other attempts to make coalitions.

Unfortunately, what obsession with coalitions has done is to undervalue what the diversity of Yoruba self-determination groups has achieved, or is capable of achieving. The diversity of the groups has created awareness worldwide. Diversity has done the excellent job of informing and mobilising. Diversity has created the impression, within and outside Nigeria, that the Yoruba people as a whole seek self-determination; that the Yoruba people want to regain the sovereignty that Britain stole from them in the act of Amalgamation of 1914. Consistency of message is the positive side of this diversity. The various Yoruba self-determination groups are saying the exact same thing. This consistency of message has made the self-determination message authentic and workable. Diversity in the circumstances of self-determination has served the Yoruba cause better than coalitions could ever do.

Obsession with unity has concealed from sight something that is very important. It is this: Yoruba self-determination has been fettered by a ‘constitutional imprisonment’, enforced first by Britain in 1914, and thereafter by Nigeria since 1960. The Yoruba, despite the facade of full participation in Nigeria’s politics, are politically weak. They will remain politically weak as long as opportunist Yoruba politicians are beneficiaries of the status quo. The Yoruba therefore need outside support to exit the ‘constitutional imprisonment’ of Nigeria. It took just Germany alone to recognise Croatia and Slovenia for those nations to achieve self-determination. Britain could do the same for the Yorubaland because it was Britain that imprisoned the Yoruba in Nigeria in the first place. But Britain will not do it unless pressurised. 

British politicians will only bow to political strength. Unfortunately, just like the Yoruba in Nigeria, the Yoruba community in the UK is politically weak. Forming a political party is the most direct means of gaining political strength for a minority community like the Yoruba. That was why in February 2024, we formed the Yoruba Party in the UK (the Yoruba Party). The party is registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party just like every other UK political party. The Yoruba Party is not the only ethnic-based political party in the UK. Candidates for the Yoruba Party are standing in the 2024 parliamentary elections. By providing the community with this political presence and political voice, the Yoruba Party will make the UK Yoruba community politically strong. Being politically strong in the UK means being politically strong in Nigeria too. Nothing happens in Nigerian politics without Britain’s tacit approval.

Reliance on the charters of the UN and AU to achieve Yoruba self-determination is proving to be a dead end. An alternative is needed urgently. That alternative is to have a political voice. It is self-evident that the Yoruba self-determination groups could acquire that political voice through the Yoruba Party. Providing the UK Yoruba community with political voice means providing the Yoruba self-determination groups with a political voice. Providing the Yoruba self-determination groups with a political voice means providing the Yoruba people at home with a political voice. What the Yoruba Party achieves in the UK will reverberate in Nigeria. Unity via a political party is not new to the Yoruba. Awolowo’s Action Group did it.

The Yoruba Party was not formed to replace or terminate the self-determination groups. The Yoruba Party was not formed to compete with the self-determination groups. The Yoruba Party was formed to provide direct access to the world of politics. The Yoruba self-determination groups currently have no direct access.

It is in the self-interest of the Yoruba self-determination groups to make sure that the Yoruba Party succeeds. They must publicise the party and encourage their members to join. Politics is a game of numbers. The more members the Yoruba Party has, the louder will be the community’s voice. The Alba Party, an ethnic-based party for Scottish independence, was formed in 2021; just 10,000 members has given the party 2 MPs. The Yoruba self-determination groups must not let the Yoruba Party fail. Failure is not an option; it will reflect very badly on the Yoruba self-determination movement.

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