At some point, whether in 2027 or in 2031, the Yoruba will face a future without President Bola Tinubu in power. Following January’s presidential election, Tinubu will either retain the presidency for four more years or lose it and leave office in May next year! Whichever way, either sooner, in 2027, or four years later, in 2031, the Yoruba will face a future without Tinubu as president. But what kind of future awaits them, and how would they handle it? To answer the question, we must examine two things that have happened to the Yoruba under Tinubu’s presidency and consider their long-term implications vis-à-vis the Yoruba’s age-old political tradition and temperament.
The first defining issue is that President Tinubu has run a decidedly Yoruba-centric government, putting Nigeria’s core governance almost exclusively in Yoruba hands. The second is that the Yoruba are complicit in Tinubu’s handling of Nigeria’s affairs through their acquiescence. Since Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, the Yoruba have been viscerally critical of every government. Even the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba, did not escape their harsh opprobrium because his government wasn’t Yoruba-centric enough. But with Tinubu, they’ve been utterly quiescent. The mainstream thinking in the South-West, notably among the elite, is that Tinubu is “transforming” Nigeria, a view not shared across the country. The only plausible explanation for the fealty is Tinubu’s Yoruba-centrism.
In truth, Tinubu never hid the fact that he ran for president, first, for himself; then, for the Yoruba. His two memorable slogans were “emi-lokan” and “Yoruba-lokan”. During the campaign in 2023, Tinubu told the Yoruba: “This election is yours. You will use it to liberate yourselves. They want to turn us into slaves. We are not slaves.” The “they” were elements in the North that he believed wanted to deny him and, by extension, the Yoruba the presidency. Of course, Tinubu’s presidency has not liberated ordinary Yoruba from poverty and misery, but he has left the Yoruba in no doubt that he’s safeguarding the South-West’s vital interests. One manifestation of the Yoruba-centrism is Tinubu’s lopsided political appointments. At least 80 per cent of key economic, security and justice positions at the federal level are held by people with Yoruba-sounding names. Some prominent Yorubas have defended such lopsided appointments by saying Tinubu needed the best people to work for him, as if the best were only from Yorubaland! Another manifestation is what some have termed Tinubu’s quiet restructuring of Nigeria through a regionalisation agenda that aligns with the longstanding aspirations of the South-West. But Tinubu cannot unilaterally or quietly restructure Nigeria. He must build genuine national consensus for change.
In a recent interview, Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, accused President Tinubu of “balkanising Nigeria, splitting the country into regions, without a referendum, without inputs from the people,” adding: “How can he do that simply because that is what Yoruba people want?” The view that Tinubu is “restructuring” Nigeria to please the Yoruba is strong in the North, with some fearing how far he might go in his second term, if re-elected. Of course, restructuring is an article of faith for the South-West, Tinubu’s political base. Yet, I repeat, no president can restructure Nigeria without actively engaging the people and building a consensus for change. Unfortunately, while Tinubu can shrewdly build a political coalition for his re-election bid, he lacks the capacity or the willingness to forge a national consensus for Nigeria’s transformation.
But beyond their excessive preferential treatment under the Tinubu administration, there’s the related issue of the Yoruba abandoning their long-standing tradition of holding government to account. For, instead of holding President Tinubu to account, they’re defending him. Talk about the perverseness of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, and they would say every Yoruba family has Christian and Muslim members, thus, as Chief Bisi Akande once put it, “among the Yoruba, religion is not a factor in leadership”, as if religious balance is irrelevant in national politics. Talk about economic hardship, and they would blame what President Buhari left behind, not how Tinubu handles what he inherited. Talk about insecurity, and they would say the buck stops with the military chiefs, not Tinubu; he’s done his best!
The Yoruba have a saying for this perverse behaviour: “Omo eni o ní se ìdí bebbre, ká fi ìlèkè sí ìdí omo elòmíràn”, meaning that, however wide your child’s waist, you won’t adorn another person’s child’s waist with beads. In 2023, Chief Olu Falae, a former SGF and finance minister, gave a political meaning to the saying. “How can a national leader go against candidates that hail from his part of the country?” he asked. In other words, a “national” leader should only support candidates from his ethnic group. Then, take the separatists. The drumbeats of Yoruba irredentism under the Buhari administration are now completely muted as a Yoruba presidency, with political connections, has suddenly given Sunday Igboho an incentive to keep his Yoruba Nation in Nigeria. But what’s utterly shocking is the conspiracy of silence and the attempts to muzzle opposition to Tinubu in Yorubaland. In a recent interview on Channels TV, Babafemi Ojudu, a former senator and former presidential adviser, laid bare the issue so powerfully. Indeed, it’s so powerful I would like to quote him verbatim. Hear him:
“From my corner of Nigeria where I am, if you want to speak up, people are abusing you, they are calling you “omo ale” (bastard), “akotileta” (renegade); they are saying you can’t speak against our own, even when the policies enunciated by our own is destroying your life. I never knew the Yoruba were like that. I think something has gone wrong with the Yoruba intelligentsia. I didn’t know that things could play out like this. Suddenly, there are no groups with voices anymore in Yorubaland; the academics have gone quiet, the big pastors who were very vociferous in the past have gone quiet. This doesn’t say well of our people.” Of course, that’s tragic. But here’s the point. A time will come when Tinubu will not be in power, and when a Yoruba won’t be president for another 20 years. A future president may reverse Tinubu’s “regionalisation”; a future president may not put Yoruba in strategic offices of state; a future president may even govern badly. What would the Yoruba do then? Would they suddenly regain their voice? Would they cry “marginalisation”, as they did under President Jonathan? Would they renew their separatist agitations as they did under President Buhari? What political credibility would they have left after their obsequiousness under Tinubu’s presidency? An interesting political future truly awaits the Yoruba!
Tribute to my late father
My father, Pa Olanisimi Fasan, died on March 5 this year, aged 97. Although this great newspaper, Vanguard, announced his passing on March 8, I have not, as I should have, paid tribute to him in this column. As we approach his funeral, barely a month away, on November 21, I want to say a few words about him. My father was, in every conceivable manner, a great man. He was a sage, even a philosopher, whose deep wisdom and wise counsel were impeccable; whose character and integrity were unimpeachable. My father’s zeal for learning and self-improvement rubbed off on me. His father died without sending him to school, but driven by a desire for learning, he enrolled for elementary education at the age of 20. With outstanding dedication, he finished Standard Six a year earlier after receiving a double promotion. He then learned carpentry, worked for several years in the construction industry before retiring to become a major cocoa farmer. He was a deep religious and family man.
By the grace of God, all roads will lead to Ondo Town on Saturday, November 21 for the celebration of his life. King Sunny Ade’s talented and gifted son, Emperor Ade and his Empire Band, will supply live music. He’s doing a fantastic job following in the footsteps of his legendary father. He will deliver a superb performance. Guests will also have a taste of the Ondo cultural experience, all to celebrate a remarkable life! Adieu, dad, rest in peace!
The post What future for the Yoruba after Tinubu’s presidency? By Olu Fasan appeared first on Vanguard News.