Only the strong survive

AT the start of summer of 1940 when Adolf Hitler had just secured his victory over France within weeks, he celebrated it at the premises of the Eiffel Towel. He looked to the direction of Great Britain and said “that is the next”. His victory over France was the climax of his quick run-down of the entire western Europe. He was confident that Britain would not be any different.  Boy, how wrong he was! As soon as he started bombing London, he quickly realised that he was dealing with a different and formidable opponent in the person of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was not going to take NO for an answer. The German Luftwaffe met its match with the Britain’s RAF, maximising the destructive power of its Hurricane and Split Firefighter jets. The Germans ran away from Churchill in a hurry and turned eastward to Russia. That is a classic character of a determinedleader.  Churchill was not appealing to Hitler to stop bombing as the present so-called Yoruba political leaders are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the butchering of the innocent Yoruba citizens. Churchill was not expecting a unilateral cease-fire, as the Yorubas are thinking the oppressors would stop at a point.

The “glory of a king is the security of his people”, says Amenhothep IV. The Fulani are operating from the position of strength, and why should they stop? A stranger comes to your house, rapes your wife, maims or kills husband and children, destroys means of livelihood, and instead of charging back like a wounded lion, all the Yoruba are doing is to cry and whine. They are looking up to the oppressors to proffer solution. That is stupidity at its highest! It’s against common logic that a slave master would release his slaves without agitation or revolt from his slaves. Slaves don’t get released by begging; they get their freedom by fighting for it. You have to defend your territory and KILL all invaders without mercy! The Yoruba are behaving like chickens at the mercy of eagles. The appearance of weakness naturally invites predators. Restructuring was requested by the vast majority of the country; it was denied by the Fulani oligarchs. Now, they want to completely wipe out the rest of the country, so that they can roam around freely in the country they claim belongs to them only. Why would the people benefitting from the status quo agree for a change?

Do the southerners expect the Fulani to sign their own death warrant? Mr.& Mrs. Nigerians, that will not happen! They have to be forced to make hard choices. In a typical marital relationship, disagreement is not unusual. When it does happen, couples seek reconciliation, sometimes through marriage counselor. However, where one of the couples says “it’s my way or the highway”, then, the next port of call is the divorce court.  In fact, the misery of the South started way back at the Ibadan conference of 1950, where the head of Yoruba nation, indeed the entire South, was shaved right in their presence, and without anyone raising a finger. The details of that conference are not the subject of this discussion. It is an undisputable fact that since the death of Chief Awolowo, no real leader has emerged to galvanise and lead the Yoruba in any formidable fashion. Everyone is trying to play safe, so as to enable them get crumbs falling from the Fulani table.

Though some are parading themselves as one, in actuality, there is no “Asiwaju” in Yorubaland. The last one we had was Chief Awolowo, others are phony.  “Asiwaju” means leader. You cannot lead a war when you are a puppet of your opponent. By the way, for those who might not know, Awolowo did not install himself the “Asiwaju” of the Yoruba. He was never interested in inconsequential titles. It was the Yoruba people that requested of him to be their leader and he accepted without any material of compensation. Gentlemen and Ladies, it was self-sacrifice! Even his detractors agreed that he delivered beyond expectation. He was a tough cookie. If Chief Awolowo had “played ball”, he wouldn’t have gone to jail. Martin Luther King Jnr, once said that if you have not seen anything worth dying for, you are not worthy to live. I dare to say that if the Chief had not had the courage to speak truth boldly to power, the historical narrative of the Yoruba people, and indeed, the entire south would have been a lot worse today.  At the mention of conflict, the so-called leaders melt. That is precisely what the enemy wants. Sure, I don’t want war. War could be messy, it’s against the law of civilised behaviour. But, if the current oppression of the Yoruba nation persists,  it’s also not unlikely. Right now, a low-level war is actually going on. Mr. and Mrs. Yoruba, you cannot afford to negotiate from the position of weakness. The outcome would be catastrophic. A conflict to protect self-worth is a conflict worth considering.

Chief Awolowo was sent to jail, fighting for a country where the Yoruba and the rest of the country would not be dominated by any group. A country where justice and fair play would flow like rivers Niger and Benue. Is this how his memory is going to be honoured? The “12th of June”is approaching. Everyone would troop out to celebrate the anemic democracy. The Buhari administration has successfully used that to placate the Yoruba nation. All Yoruba governors,including those that have not paid their workers for months, would use public fund to shamelessly celebrate the occasion. Listen to me folks, there is currently no “democracy” to celebrate in Nigeria. It’s time all Yoruba elected officials were held accountable.  They need to openly declare where their interest lies.

In the light of what is going on in this country, while I am not rooting for the dissolution of the amalgamation called Nigeria, the possibility of such outcome is very real. However, the irresponsible politicians should be reminded of what happened to the “French collaborators” after the liberation of France in June of 1944!

• Fasae, PhD, writes in from Atlanta, Georgia.

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