Public statement by the Yoruba Party in the UK (1 October 2024)
The Fulani/Hausa, the Igbo and the Yoruba are the largest ethnic nations constituting Nigeria. The Fulani hate the Yoruba. The Igbo hate the Yoruba. The two have always hated the Yoruba. The reason(s) for their hatred of the Yoruba are immaterial. What is relevant is that the Fulani and the Igbo passionately hate the Yoruba.
The Fulani and the Igbo publicly demonstrated this hatred on the eve of Nigeria’s independence of 1 October 1960. The Fulani and the Igbo excluded the Yoruba from the first government of Nigeria. The Fulani took the positions of Prime Minister (Tafawa Balewa) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Ibrahim Jalo Waziri). The Igbo took the positions of President and Head of State (Nnamdi Azikiwe) and President of the Senate (Nwafor Orisu). The hold on political power by the Fulani and the Igbo meant that 2 of the 3 regions constituting Nigeria (Northern Region and Easter Region) abrogated to themselves the power to decide the fate of the third third (Western Region). And they exploited that political power.
The Fulani and the Igbo, on the international stage, demonstrated their hatred of the Yoruba on Nigeria’s Independence Day celebrations on 1 October 1960. Azikiwe, as Nigeria’s Head of State, was the host. He did not invite Obafemi Awolowo, official Leader of the Opposition, to the independence celebrations. Awolowo was the man who led the Yoruba Western Region at the independence negotiations with the British. Indeed, Awolowo was host to independence conferences held at Ibadan, the capital of the Western Region. Awolowo was instrumental in Nigeria getting independence on the regional formula.
The Fulani and the Igbo, merely 2 years into independence, demonstrated their hatred of the Yoruba by their assault on the leadership and the integrity of the Western Region. In 1962, Balewa declared a state of emergency in the Western Region on the grounds that a grave situation existed in the region. The ‘grave situation’ was an altercation between opposing legislators in the chambers of the Western House of Assembly, altercation that had been encouraged by the premiers of the Eastern and Northern regions. In 1963, Awolowo, the man who brought about much of the progressive social legislation that made Nigeria a modern country, was arrested and jailed for 10 years on fabricated charges of treason. Also in 1963, Benin and Delta provinces were carved out of the Western Region as Midwest Region, not because of impending ethnic conflict as was claimed, but because of the bitter rivalry that existed between Azikiwe and Awolowo.
Ladoke Akintola, who became premier of the Western Region after Awolowo, was the first Yoruba leader to publicly acknowledge the fact that the Igbo hated the Yoruba. To this end, he sought alliance with the Fulani. This potential alliance triggered the military coup of 1966 in which Igbo army officers murdered Akintola (Yoruba), and Balewa and Ahmadu Bello (Fulani), who was the premier of the Northern Region. The coup plotters did not murder Azikiwe (Igbo) or Michael Okpara (Igbo), who was the premise of the Eastern Region. In the absence of Azikiwe, who was conveniently out of the country at the time, Orisu (Igbo), the Senate President, became de facto Head of State and Commander-in-Chief. Orisu had constitutional authority to appoint a new Prime Minister from the Council of Ministers. He did not do so. Orisu had the power to order the arrest the coup plotters in accordance with the Nigeria Penal Code. He did not do so. Instead Orisu handed power to Aguiyi Ironsi, the Igbo head of the army.
The question for the Yoruba Nigerianistas is this: why would you want to share a country with people who hate you as much as the Fulani and the \Igbo do?