In a ‎WhatsApp posting, Dave Lafiaji acknowledged that Professor Akintoye, leader of the Yoruba Self-determination Movement (YSDM), writing letters to Nigeria’s presidents has not produced the desired result. Mr Lafiaji then went on to advise YSDM members to rate the performance of the organisation as a means of getting the organisation to ‘scale up their game’. This score sheet approach is not likely to help.

Dialogue with the government of Nigeria has been a noble strategy pursued by YSDM regarding self-determination for the Yoruba nation. But the government of Nigeria is not at all interested. A dialogue nevertheless could have been forced upon the government had the Yoruba elites, particularly politicians and Oba, been on board. They are not on board because, firstly, they are contemptuous of their own people, and secondly, they are cowards when called upon to resist the Fulani hegemony. There is therefore no way forward for YSDM in terms of securing dialogue with Nigeria on the matter of Yoruba self-determination.

YSDM also has pursued a strategy of inviting intervention from the UN and from Britain, a member of the security council, and the country that unlawfully incorporated Yorubaland into Nigeria in 1914. The problem here is that although the UN charter guaranteed self-determination for any peoples that wanted it, the UN provides no certain or clear pathway for achieving this. The guarantee of self-determination by the UN is nothing but a Mirage, ask the peoples of Saharawi, Somaliland, and  Southern Sudan. YSDM thus is not likely to achieve Yoruba self-determination by pursuing UN intervention.

The Yoruba Party in the UK (YPUK) offers a different strategy, aimed specifically at establishing the sovereignty of Yorubaland as a matter of law. In the case of ‘The King (on the application of Yoruba Party in the UK) -v- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’ (Case reference Number: AC-2025–LON—002641), filed in August 2025, YPUK has asked the Administrative Court in London to compel the UK government to act consistent with the terms of the non-session treaty of friendship and preferential trade that Britain signed with Yorubaland on 23 July 1888, and ratified on 16 June 1890. That 1888 Britain-Yorubaland Treaty recognised Yorubaland as an independent sovereign state as well as guaranteed its borders from interference by Britain.

YSDM, and its members, could achieve their objective of Yoruba Self-determination by supporting this court case 1) donating money to the legal expenses fund at www.yorubapartyuk.org and 2) submitting an amicus brief to the court.

Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni

Leader, YPUK