Are the Yoruba really monolithic? By Bola Bolawole

Those who have accused Tinubu, though unjustifiably, of favouring his ethnic Yoruba stock in some of his appointments will wonder what is the matter with the Yoruba. I have shown in my piece titled “Have Tinubu’s appointments been equitable and fair?” published on November 3rd this year that the truth of the matter is that the Yoruba have been mindlessly victimized and viciously marginalized for decades in appointments and the allotment of the so-called dividends of democracy but without a whimper from them, unlike some other groups who wear allegations of marginalization like a badge, crying wolf all the time. So, the little that Tinubu has done for the Yoruba is like a drop of water in an ocean.

Only restructuring that will release the bountiful energies of the Yoruba to pursue their own development at their own pace will do. Not only the Yoruba but Nigerians as a whole will benefit from the unbundling of the country that we advocate.

I once counselled that we need a Minister to help the government keep track of ideas peddled at seminars, symposia, workshops, lectures and the likes (“Wanted: Minister of seminars, symposia, workshops, inaugurals lectures…” 20 August, 2023) and also that our leaders need to find time to read (“Does the President read?”, October 3, 2023). President Tinubu has proven to be one leader who acts on public opinion – and speedily, too. He has reversed a countless number of appointments and decisions in deference to public opinion. The recent one being the decision to snatch 40 percent of IGR from our cash-strapped universities, which he has rescinded.

Does this mean he does not think through his decisions before making them? Even if that is what it seems to some, it is still better to quickly rescind a bad decision than remain headstrong moving in the wrong direction.

 Another decision I want to see the president take another hard look at is the list of Court of Appeal judges penciled down for promotion to the Supreme Court. Tongues are wagging over the list. Allegations of undue favouritism to some and injustice to others are making waves. If this is not resolved, we shall be doing incalculable damage to the honour and integrity of the justices of the apex court.

Tinubu should reach out and read Lasisi Olagunju’s “Monday Lines” in the Nigerian Tribune titled “Powerful Lagos, powerless Osun state” Interestingly, Tinubu straddles both Lagos and Osun, if you know what I mean!

The rumblings over the spread of Tinubu’s appointments in the South-west are getting louder and more worrisome. I alluded to this in “Have Tinubu’s appointments been equitable and fair?” A stitch in time saves nine.

Recall that the shortage of hands at the apex court was one of the issues a retiring justice of the court flogged in the open at his valedictory recently. Now, is it the castigation of the CJN by the retiring justice that spurred the apex court into action so quickly? Another way of looking at the matter is the one that says it was the one making the allegation that was also responsible for the tardiness or delay in filling the vacancies in question. Some big men can sit on files and cause nothing to move forward. So, some retirement can be good riddance to bad rubbish, serving as the catalyst needed to move things forward.

 Everywhere these days, and not only at the apex court, there is shortage of hands. Is it deliberate? At the banks, you find four, five empty cubicles with only one or two tellers belabouring themselves to attend to hordes of customers. Each quarter, the same banks declare billions in profits and no one asks them questions. Millions of our youths pound the streets in search of jobs which the banks lock up so that billions of Naira in profits can go into the pockets of a few heartless shylocks. It is not only doctors and nurses that are leaving the country in droves; teachers have also joined the “japa” train.

In many schools in Lagos state, where I live and work, there is an acute shortage of teachers. There are schools without a single Mathematics and English teacher, two compulsory subjects in WAEC and NECO examinations! There are schools without a single teacher in six, seven, eight subjects! Are we ok!

In the last presidential election, Ondo state, of all the states in the South-west, gave Tinubu the highest percentage of votes (67%), followed by Ekiti (65%), Ogun (59%), Oyo and Kwara tied at 56%, Kogi (53%), Osun (47%) and Lagos (45%). Now, some of the states that gave the most are receiving the least and they are wondering why. Ondo, Ogun and Oyo were the three states in the zone that denied PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi the mandatory 25% of votes cast. Tinubu met that constitutional threshold by scoring at least 25% of votes cast in 30 states, Atiku did in 21 states and Obi in 16 states. One reason why Atiku’s petition could not fly was because he had at least 25% in only 21 and not up to the 24 states required by law. Had he met that requirement, maybe the outcome of his petition would have been different.

What is politics? It is as simple as Harold Lasswell has defined it: “Who gets what, when, how” Why must you work for others to eat? The biblical “Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour (John 4: 38) will breed resentment with politicians.  More tact, and care, is needed as leaders make appointments, even among members of the same family. If Prebendal politics is what we operate, then, apply it with equity and fairness.

 I have it on good authority that the Supreme Colurt list of to-be justices robs Peter to pay Paul in two significant respects. It robs Osun State to unjustifiably load an already highly-favoured Lagos with more favours. Why? A senior professional colleague of mine from the South-west once complained bitterly that Tinubu has shortchanged the Muslims and that they are waiting for him! The Supreme Court list is said to be an effort to assuage this feeling. But should it be with this?

I used to naively think that the Yoruba are monolithic; that we are one and the same people; that we all subscribe to the same Omoluwabi ethos; that we are all merit-driven! How mistaken! Years back, a respected Yoruba legal luminary, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, gave me a lecture that opened my eyes to the undercurrents of Yoruba politics that will make Nigeria’s a child’s play. He told me that the Yoruba are divided sharply into two sub-groups: The Oyo-speaking Yoruba and non-Oyo-speaking Yoruba. He said the former makes up 70 percent of the Yoruba and that they must be taken into consideration in Yoruba politics. He was speaking particularly about what he called the “insensitivity” of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Prof. Banji Akintoye in choosing Prof. Wale Adeniran as (then) deputy to Akintoye. Akintoye is from Ado-Ekiti (non-Oyo-speaking Yoruba) while Adeniran is from Ile-Ife (also non-Oyo-speaking Yoruba).

It is fear of the challenges that the actualization of Yoruba Nation will throw up that makes some develop cold feet about it. They say it is the problems that confront the Yoruba in Nigeria that bind them together as one entity but that once Yoruba Nation is actualized, it shall be “To your tents, O Israel”! That the Yoruba shall begin to speak and act and see things from the prisms of their being Ijebu, Egba, Awori, Egun, Ijesha, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogho, Okun, Oyo, Igbomina, etc. All appointments and actions of government shall begin to be seen from this prism. But even right now that the Yoruba are still in Nigeria, the ugly spectre of “we”, “you”, “us”, “they” have begun to rear its ugly head.

But is it a surprise? Bourgeois politics everywhere pushes sentiments to the fore and obscures the real issues that determine an individual’s place in the production process which, in turn, determines the benefits derivable from the system. That someone from your state or tribe is in power usually should not translate into unmerited benefits at personal or group level. So also should its absence not mean denial of benefits that normally should accrue at personal or group level. We must adopt a more equitable and fair reward system than Richard Joseph’s prebendal political system where favours are dispensed arbitrarily, thus promoting cut-throat competition for political power. A system based on merit, equity and fair play is easier and more sure-footed to administer than one based on the labyrinth of tribe, tongue, religion and such other base and acrimonious sentiments.