Yoruba self-determination activists generally express two emotions:

1.        Disillusion

2.        Panic

I share neither of these emotions. I am confident that the Yoruba will get their self-determination because it is a right to which we are entitled. We can claim this right. We have not done so yet. There are two peaceful ways of making the claim:

1.        Apply for it.

2.        Litigate for it.

The African Union (AU) and the United Nation (UN) are the two bodies that have provided guarantee for self-determination. They are the two bodies to which we direct our self-determination application.

The relevant rules for application to the AU are set out at Article 29 of the AU Charter:

‘1. Any African State may, at any time after the entry into force of this Act, notify the Chairman of the Commission of its intention to accede to this Act and to be admitted as a member of the Union.

2. The Chairman of the Commission shall, upon receipt of such notification, transmit copies thereof to all Member States. Admission shall be decided by a simple majority of the Member States. The decision of each Member State shall be transmitted to the Chairman of the Commission who shall, upon receipt of the required number of votes, communicate the decision to the State concerned.’

The only requirement for admission to AU membership is that any application ‘shall be decided by a simple majority of the Member States’.

The relevant rules for application to the UN are set out in Article 4 of the UN Charter:

‘1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.

2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.’

The ‘judgement of the Organisation’ is the only requirement for deciding the UN Membership. An applicant would be admitted if it persuaded the Security Council and the General Assembly that it ought to be admitted (see Advisory Opinion on Conditions of Admission of a State to the membership of the United Nations (Article 4 of Charter) ICJ Rep. 28 May 1948). 

Neither the AU Charter nor the UN Charter defined the word ‘State’, but each identified ‘election’ as the sole requirement for admission to membership. A successful application confers the status of a State since only States can become members. Both Article 29 of the AU Charter and Article 4 of the UN Charter have an exhaustive character. No other conditions could be imported into them. Election amounts to collective recognition by those states that voted in favour of Membership. By electing you, they make you a ‘State’. It is that simple.

The way this works in politics is this: you apply for election; you ask for votes. It is a fact of life that no one elects someone they do not know or someone who had not canvassed for their vote. Nobody knows who the Yoruba are or why they seek to exit the Nigeria that they know. We need to do two things as a matter of urgency:

1.     Submit applications for membership to the AU and to the UN.

2.     Employ a permanent lobbyist in Adis Ababa for the AU and another in New York for the UN to put our case. 

We at the Yoruba Party in the UK (info@yorubapartyuk.org) here volunteer to do these things on behalf of the Yoruba people, but we cannot do it alone. We need support. If you believe in our approach, join the party, donate to the party. Ilana currently has a mothballed membership of the UNPO; they should turn it over to the Yoruba Party in the UK to utilise, and we shall.

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, a non-self-governing territory, got itself elected to membership of the AU despite Morocco’s objection. Palestine persuaded 75% of the UN membership to recognise it as a State despite strong Israeli opposition. We Yoruba too can do it.