Only political integration can foil Fulani’s enslavement of Yoruba —Oladipo

National coordinator of the South-West Patriotic Movement (SPM), Chief Oladosu Oladipo, in this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, speaks on skewed appointments by the Federal Government, among other issues. Excerpts:

People are demanding devolution of powers from the Federal Government to states?

That’s the right thing to do.

If it doesn’t come, what will be the next thing…

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has made Otunba Gani Adams the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land. So, you think you can get your freedom easily? Chief Bola Ige told us that every freedom fighter is a hooligan. If you want to go back to the 1963 Constitution—we are not seceding-we have the same commonwealth. But if they feel that anyone that feels he wants to go, the Yoruba have all the nitty gritty to be prosperous and that is what we are now promoting. Chief Afe Babalola told us when we visited him that to kill a nation, is to first of all kill the education of that society or community. That race will fizzle out in a no distant future. Now, with all these philosophical statements, it is not to make Gani Adams the generalissimo of Yoruba land for the fun of it. It means that as you are preparing for peace, you should also prepare for war. As you are talking peace, have a fallback position, a plan B.

President Muhammadu Buhari says the National Assembly (NASS) is there to entertain all genuine complaints about constitutional matters?

I totally disagree with him. All the appointments he has made are skewed in favour of the Fulani. And there is a story that when he was Head of State,  an Igbo man wanted to become the secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU). Buhari was said to have favoured a candidate from Niger Republic. So, how can I now believe Buhari will protect my interest in his capacity as Nigerian president?We are not slaves in Nigeria.  We are a very proud race. How did they get to such population; to be having that edge. Let me tell you why they are opposed to restructuring. It is because of the oil wealth they get from the south to distribute to their local governments. Kano, before it was split into Kano and Jigawa states, had 44 local government councils and after Jigawa was carved out of it, it still retains 44 councils and Jigawa, 23 making a total of 67 councils. Lagos, with a greater population, has 20 councils. When it comes to federal constituency, they would have 44 representatives; Jigawa 39 and Lagos just 22. Yoruba can longer tolerate such an unjust system. If they like, they should allow us to go back to the 1963 arrangement. What the southern governors did on October 24 is in line with the issue of integration, that is, pooling resources together for rapid systematic and sustainable development and at our own pace. Our strategy is to sustain the tempo of the summit for years to come.  All stakeholders in the South-West believe in it. Anything other than that,we are just killing ourselves. Don’t let me deceive you; to export violence is not difficult. These boys that are being deprived education because of quota system are raw materials.

Isn’t the summit coming at the wrong time, as the focus of most Nigerians now is on the need to restructure the country? Does your summit not amount to another form of distraction?

It is neither late nor a distraction. It is not late because the world is not going to end tomorrow. Before you embark on any project, it has to be properly planned. Initially, we had slated it for May 25, this year. Everything has its own time. Why now? It is because things have actually degenerated to the zero level. For example, the Jihadists said they would conquer the Nigerian state from the Sahara Desert to the Sea, and in 1804, at the Jalumi War in Odo-otin, the Yoruba checkmated the Fulani jihadists and this political integration will limit their inordinate ambition to enslave the Yoruba. But the insurgence is becoming too much. Apart from Boko Haram, if some Fulani herdsmen could go to Chief Olu Falae, one of the great leaders of Yorubaland had his farm ravaged; he went to the police, taking the normal course, due process, rule of law; the next thing that happened was that they came again, kidnapped the old man and he paid a lot of ransom. When such a thing was not happening, we felt we could tolerate it, when it has got to the point it is now, they have broken the extent of our toleration; they have broken our elastic limit. When we visited him recently, he said he could say that the Yoruba now have hope after he saw our aim and objectives. By so doing, we felt the time for action has come. Now, it is an idea whose time has come. An idea would not come when there is no ripple effect. They are the provocateur. They injured us; it is an injury for Fulani herdsmen to come to the farm of our leader and say that they could do anything with impunity. People like me will not agree. And that is what ignited this round of ideas and patriotism. The Yoruba are not limited to the South-West; they are in Kwara and Kogi states, Delta, Edo, Benin Republic, and so on. Our fight will be to incorporate everyone and that is why anywhere the Yoruba are we will ensure that they are protected and have a plan for them. We are prepared.

Dawn and your group have a lot of similarities? What do you intend to achieve through the summit that might be sharply different from the goal of DAWN?

DAWN has been in place since 2011 and they have a crop of highly intelligent technocrats. But they have a limitation; advocacy is lacking. Before you can achieve, you must have a blueprint or roadmap. If you have a roadmap or a blueprint and put it on the shelf, it is as good as not having or doing anything at all. Chief Bisi Akande is not only our patron, he is our pathfinder; facilitator in everything we do. So, when we did a colloquium in January, he presided at the event, and it attracted over 2,500 people. Fasehun, and other eminent Yoruba sons and daughters and it was there that we would mount an economic summit, because if there is restructuring, if the North decides to stop the supply of some food items, what is our production function in place to make sure that we have food security? So, we need to plan ahead to guaranteed food security. When we met Pa Akin Mabogunje, he tutored us for two and half hours and he is the chairman of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGP), of which Professor TunjiOlaopa is the executive director. Now, when Chief Akande told us how he translated the virtually moribund DAWN into action-packed institution, which will assist the Yoruba race, he mentored, he galvanised all the governors to a meeting; he sold the idea to them. You need to see these young and brilliant people. We have met several times, they showed their strength and weakness and they said there was a time they wrote about 1000 letters but the response was from five people. And the five were still doubting their ability, even up till, some people are perceiving them that they are planning a wing of a political party. So, all this perception must be removed through advocacy.  Ours is we have all political line of thinking. But there is a common denominator; the least common factor is the interest of the Yoruba.

What is the guarantee that the outcome will be implemented since you do not control the political lever of the land?

We are a movement and the mistake people are making you have to look at the person actually leading a movement. It is not a forum. This concept is being powered by a movement, and a movement doesn’t die. It will outlive everybody in that body. It is akin to a chain, a connecting chain. So, immediately after the summit, we will mount policy dialogue on a monthly basis; not just that, we are permeated because we are linking with the Oodua Chamber of Commerce and Industry; market women, farmers, artisans generally in the South-West part and parcel of the movement and we are going to access the soft loan to empower those who want to do clean/good with a micro credit of N50,000 without collateral and interest, which is repayable within six months. From there, you can migrate to the macro level, which will involve security; having a feasibility study. The managing director of BoI will be at the platform

 Are you not concerned that politicians could frustrate the effort of your group as we are almost at the dawn of another general election when the culture of stomach infrastructure is usually the order of the day?

No politician can frustrate us if you journalists cannot. That is why I said our group is a political movement, not just socio-cultural. Why is it that a politician wants to do that I don’t know? I know the antics, the good things they can do; the bad ones they can do and if they bring the bad thing, I will counter it; I will say it to their face that what they are doing is wrong. If they are doing the right thing, we would do everything to assist them.   So, the question of any politician hijacking the idea is not possible. We are not competing with them. This group is not a political party otherwise, politicians could think of bringing down the movement. I relate with everybody freely. Pa Olusegun Obasanjo is aware of the summit and indeed he is going to be the father of the day.