1999 Constitution Not Workable For Nigeria, Says Yoruba Leaders, Elders

Leaders, elders among others in Yorubaland under the aegis of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) have agreed that the 1999 constitution being operated in the country can no longer sustain the desired togetherness of the people.

This is as the stakeholders recommended self determination or a peaceful dissolution of the country as a panacea for the refusal of the country to give the desired restructuring many groups have been clamouring for for almost two decades.

The stakeholders spoke in different remarks at the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) Summit on Yoruba nation question.

The summit themed “Rekindling Yoruba Nationalism: Whither Yoruba Nation?” held at Otunba Subomi Balogun Conference Centre Mini Hall, UI Hotel, Ibadan on Thursday.

At the summit, stakeholders expressed divergent views on the issues of secession, restructuring, federalism, constitutionalism amidst the various agitations for self determination, advising that the Yorubas should repackage their clamour by bringing together eggheads and experts to brainstorm on the way forward.

The event was attended by various groups, scholars, leaders, elder statesmen, market leaders, representative of social cultural groups, youths among other stakeholders.

Speaking on the rationale for the summit, Chairman, ARG, Hon. Wale Oshun said the country is at a cross-road and the Yorubas need to consult with relevant stakeholders before taking a position.

He said, “Nigeria is at a cross-road and we the Yoruba people have always bear the brunt and burden of nationhood. And we are paying a disproportionate price for keeping the country united and we thought that there is a need now to start introspecting, listening to the voices of the ordinary Yoruba persons on what they ordinarily want in Nigeria, is it being part of the country or not? What would they like to see as changes because the present constitution cannot sustain any development mode.

“So, is it restructuring? but you also realise that people have also been advocating for restructuring since 1992. So, people are now saying 29 years down the line, what is the sense in keeping and asking for the same thing that nobody is listening to?

“So, we want to find out amongst ourselves, what is the way forward. And as you can see from the interactions that we are actually at a crossroad. But something will emerge and an idea will evolve.”

On the clamour between restructuring and secession, Oshun said “why make is suicide. You look at great countries where you have multi nationalities, what you see is that unless the issue of federation is settled and settled equitably, where it is not settled equitably, a price has to be paid.

“I don’t think anybody in his right sense will say what we need to continue to do is to continue in perpetuity to be paying a price of inequality and underdevelopment. So, if you need to pay one single price to solve a problem, you might as well do so, but the point is this, there can still be an opportunity to talk to one another.

“Why are people running away from having a constitutional dialogue with their fellow Nigerians? Why is the north insisting that it does not need to talk to anybody anymore? This is Nigeria and at independent, all the parties sat down for a conference in U.K. to form the 1959 constitution.

“They sat down and all agreed on a federal constitution, so why is it that we can not longer practice that federal constitution that we must now toy and accept the unitary constitution which we carry in our hands, that is what the Yoruba people are crying against.”

He assured that the group will soon come up with what their demand is adding that “but one thing is clear, Yorubas as a people, as a race has always being fair minded people, tolerant and willing to co-exist.

“If we can go back to the pre-independence constitution of 1959, wherein what we had was a true federation, in which it is not a question of devolution of power but a question of the federation units donating parts of their powers to the centre, federating units exploiting resources in their backyards and paying taxes to the centre.

“There was a time when regions make money and pay royalty to the centre and nobody was complaining about that, but if we have got to a situation that the centre makes all money, takes all the money and then allocate to the federation units, it is inequitable.”

He assured that the summit is a fact find effort and process of consultation, noting that a position would be taken very soon and the ARG will be proud to do so at the appropriate time.

One of the guest speakers who is a former National Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Professor of Sociology at the University of Lagos, Lai Olurode said the way the idea and message of restructuring is being presented is not good enough.

He faulted the agitation and clamour in that it presented the idea as a winner take all plan even though it holds the potential for a win-win situation for all the parties, geo-political zones in the country.

He said, “My main argument is that Nigeria is a far better country without being balkanized because Nigeria has the advantage of population, diversity and anybody who’s able to harness the diversity of people and resources of Nigeria will be a better manager of the country.

“In management of plurality; Nigeria is a plural country, is never easy. So we need to be careful because what Yoruba Nation are we talking about.

“We must not forget the history of Yorubas. The Yoruba history is still littered with wars. Look at the Oyo empire, the war between Oyo and Ekiti. So as I talk to you, community crisis and communal clashed are still not peculiar to us.

“So what I’m saying is that it is good that we want to have a Yoruba Nation but let us understand clearly what kind of society will it be. It is not going to be a heaven on earth.

“Problem of governance will still be there, all those challenges will be there. So it is better for us, because some of the subtle differences in Yoruba land are not so manifest today because we exist within a larger entity. By the time that we are on our own, how are we going to manage pluralism again. It is then we would now see the difference between the Ijebus and the Egbas, between Oyo and Ekiti, between Osun and others.

“There’s no guarantee that the Yoruba Nation we are craving for will be a heaven on earth, there’s no guarantee that it is going to be a peaceful country, there’s no guarantee that the existential realities will be far different from what we have today.

“So I would prefer that, looking at the historical antecedents and what we’ve done to make Nigeria what it is today, it is not going to be easy for the Yoruba people to take their exit. So I would say let us create and package restructuring in a way that will be acceptable to all. We can’t do it alone.

“We need other people to agree to the position. If you present it as a zero-some game, nobody will want to touch it, but if you present it as a win-win situation, since we cannot do it alone, other people and other region will buy into it. We are not the only region that will benefit, others will also benefit.

“I agree that the present structure needs to be retouched, we cannot leave it as it is. There is no section of the country that is not complaining, virtually all the geopolitical zones are complaining. It means no group is completely satisfied with what we have on ground, but we must anticipate what kind of nation, what kind of country will be where we are going.

“It is not as if we know all the fact, no one can say this is the way, we do not know if it is going to be a better country or we are going to be worse. So let us see what we can do to make Nigeria work.

In his remark, the Secretary-General, Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr. Kunle Olajide said the elders will not look away while the youths are being misled on what he described as mass suicide all in the name of agitation.

“For me, I believe this country can still be salvaged. Yorubas as an ethnic group has made the largest investment in the Nigerian nation. Largest investment both in human and material resources. Therefore, we must not allow anybody to allow our youths to commit mass suicide.

“All ammunition have been moved over to the north, and the constitution has virtually rendered the federating units powerless.

“Then where are the boundaries of the Yoruba nation? Where did we sit to have a Yoruba nation? For example, the Awujale of Ijebuland will tell you that he is not a descendant of Oduduwa.

“Then, Lagos too has made publication that they are not part of Oduduwa. Then where is the boundary of this Oduduwa nation?

“There Yorubas who have been in the north for over a hundred years, with the state of the economy, their people who wake up in the morning without having even N1000 in their pockets, how do you want to bring them back to Yoruba land? how do you want to resettle them, what plans do you have for them, where are the resources?

“So I think we are endowed with human capacity and mental resources to take rational decisions. In other words, we have to examine all options and see the one with least damage and now that we know that the case of discontent is all over Nigeria, even in Katsina. In fact the north are the most challenged in terms of security than we are. So let us hasten slowly not just irrationally.

“We feel for our children and we know that the future appear bleak for them but it is better to have a fairly bleak future because one can always have other hope in the future rather than to be crushed with bombs and so on. Then life doesn’t have a duplicate.

“If we consider all the options and virtually all Nigerians say they want to separate, and since we have six zone now, if four or five agrees, then let us go our ways. Then we will come and start examining other options in Yoruba land.”

In his presentation, the guest lecturer, the Head, Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, Professor Derin Ologbenla speaking on the topic “Federalism, Restructuring or Self determination for Yorubas in Nigeria”, gave a detailed background into how the nations constitution gradually moved from what it was to what is it.

He said every society on earth are always looking for how to live together peacefully and how they can work with their government to achieve peace and oneness but that certain things have led to a change in the Nigerian example.

He said the elites have harnessed the power of their unity to achieve more for themselves than for the people over the years.

He identified some peculiar issues in the 1999 constitution to include; making local government creation problematic, scheming national resources and wealth in the favour of the centre or federal government among others issues.

Noting that the problems of insecurity, banditry, terrorism amongst others going on in the country has overwhelm the government, the guest lecturer said unless there is massive recruitment into the security agencies including the police, army, etc, a lasting solution might be elusive.

He also identified large availability of unemployed youths as one of the major problems festering the insecurity challenges in the country.

High points of the event was a panel discussion where the people all expressed their dissatisfaction against the continuous existence of the Nigerian nation. They harped on what they described as injustice and unfair treatment of other regions in favour of the Northern region.

The leader, Ilana Omo Oodua, Professor Banji Akintoye who was expected to speak at the event could not join online due to poor network while the summit lasted.