At its just concluded quarterly National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in New York, Egbé Omo Yorùbá devoted one of the two days of the meeting to deliberate on developments in Nigeria since the advent of civil rule in 1999. Issues deliberated on include the following:
Impact of the three-year post-military civil rule on macro and micro economic dimensions of life in the country
Impact of the introduction and implementation of Sharia on the well-being of majority of the people of Nigeria
Effect of religious riots on the political, social, and cultural development of Nigeria
Ongoing efforts by sections of the Nigerian Senate and Assembly at self-serving amendments of the constitution foisted on Nigeria in 1999 by military dictators
Objective conditions in Nigeria that make the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference inevitable and advisable.
Impact of Religious and Sectional politics on the image of Nigeria in the global market of values
At the end of this two-day meeting, Egbé Omo Yorùbá declared as follows:
That the Egbé views, with great perturbation, the continued onslaught on the secularity of the Nigerian state and on the tradition of religious plurality and tolerance as a great threat to the unity and progress of the nation.
That the Egbé has noticed with great dismay, efforts by sections of the Nigerian Senate and the Assembly to carry out self-serving amendments of the military constitution of 1999 and make their amendments retroactive. The Egbé notes that these efforts possess the capacity to disrupt the three-year old democratic polity in Nigeria and portends an ominous future for democracy in the country. The Egbé expresses concern that our legislators are now eager to amend a constitution that four of the six zones in Nigeria have recommended for tabling at a Sovereign National Conference of all stakeholders in Nigeria.
The Egbé considers that if those elected to the legislatures in 1999 now agree that there are problems with the constitution imposed on the nation by Abacha and his military successors, the right thing to do is convene a Sovereign National Conference or a constitutional conference to fashion an acceptable constitution for the country.
The Egbé asserts that the problem with the 1999 constitution is not just the tenure of office of executive officers like president, vice president, and governors, but the absence of provisions for a true federalism and regional autonomy for the peoples of Nigeria.
The Egbé perceives with alarm that the introduction of Sharia and its continued implementation provide new compelling reasons for a Sovereign National Conference, especially that sustaining Sharia, in the face of protests by non-Muslims all over the country, confirms that Nigerian legislators, like the president, are incapable of defending the secularity of the Nigerian state.
The Egbé notes that recent demonstrations and killings of innocent Nigerians on the excuse of a puerile statement in the press about Prophet Mohammed further entrench Nigeria in the comity of upcoming pariah states with a culture of religious and cultural intolerance and terrorism, such as are being attributed worldwide to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The Egbé further observes with deep concern that Nigeria is quickly becoming a pariah nation again, not because of the overt tyranny of its president as it was the case in the days of Abacha, but because both the president and the legislators are incapable of protecting the basis of Nigeria's unity: its secularity and religious plurality.
The Egbé views with disapproval, the federal government's acquiescence on objection by the Hausa-Fulani leaders to attempts by INEC to implement an anti-rigging registration system that includes fingerprints and photographs of potential voters.
The Egbé is concerned that the reference by President Obásanjó to Hausa-Fulani objections as observations of Nigeria's major stakeholders only shows a gradual return to Abacha's politics of preference for Hausa-Fulani interests.
The Egbé believes that the notion of one section of Nigeria as the major stakeholder smacks of deliberate marginalization of the interests of non-Hausa-Fulani groups by President Obásanjó and members of the legislatures who have been resisting the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference to set Nigeria on the right course to modern democratic governance.
The Egbé notes with great frustration and perturbation, the poor coordination of Yorùbá people's interests by organizations and elected officials in Yorùbá states. The Egbé asserts that this situation is capable of further undermining and underdeveloping Yorùbáland.
The Egbé strongly warns that the emphasis by Yorùbá governors and other elected officials from Yorùbá land on electoral politics without any noticeable attention to the root of the underdevelopment of the Yorùbá Nation: the absence of true federalism and resource control, is a dangerous trend that is capable of further undermining the Yorùbá Nation. The Egbé also notes with concern, that the growing culture of neglect of the primary Yorùbá interests by elected officials was never a part of the culture of elected governments in Yorùbá land in the period between 1955 and 1983.
The Egbé urges Yorùbá public intellectuals, the civil society in Yorùbá land, and the Yorùbá electorate to wake up to their responsibility to ensure the quality of those they elect to positions of leadership in the Yorùbá states.
The Egbé views with deep concern, the Oba, who erode the Yorùbá Essence by forming these foreign religious groups of "Born Again" Christians and Muslims.
The Egbé warns that these traditional rulers, whose mandate and raison d'etre is to protect our culture and traditions, risk their continued existence as an institution among our people if they do not consider with rationality their actions and their imbecilic fanaticism that can lead to eventual demise of the hallmarks of Yoruba civilization: religious plurality and tolerance.
The Egbé therefore concluded with the following resolutions:
That there be an immediate convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, to prepare a constitution that permits each federating unit in Nigeria to engage in all activities compatible with the culture and aspirations of its constituents.
That those Yorùbá Oba, that recently publicized their religious intolerance by privileging Born-again Christianity or Islam in an essentially multireligious Yoruba space, immediately apologize to Yoruba people for their irrational decision to marginalize Yoruba culture and tradition that they have been chosen to promote and protect.
That Yorùbá people assert their will and desire through declarations by their respected leaders for immediate implementation of the National Identity Project, as a requirement for voting, barring which the Yorùbá should agree to participate in elections only at the local government and state levels in the Yorùbá region of Nigeria. Yorùbá people should refuse to participate in a national election under a constitution that denies them rights to autonomy, self-determination, religious freedom, political and fiscal federalism, and resource control.
That governors and legislators in Yorùbá states immediately declare and openly demonstrate their commitment to the Yorùbá Contract: immediate restoration of true federalism: political, cultural, and fiscal autonomy, and resource control for the regions or zones that constitute Nigeria.
That all Yorùbá leaders immediately begin the process of openly planning and implementing the formation of a supra-partisan pan-Yorùbá organization that will include Afénifére, Oòduà Peoples Congress (OPC), Yorùbá Council of Elders (YCE), Yorùbá Parapò, COSEG, and other patriotic Yorùbá organizations. The Egbé declares that the political realities of Nigeria now and beyond the years of Obásanjó's regime in 2003 or 2007 require a new and creative strategy that the present proliferation of organizations pursuing Yorùbá interests in Nigeria cannot generate effectively unless they form an umbrella coalition that coordinates their activities to bring coherence and trust.
The Egbé calls on President Olúségun Obásanjó to make a categorical statement about Nigeria's membership of the Organization of Islamic States, and to quickly withdraw Nigeria from this organization if Nigeria's membership, subscribed to by Ibrahim Babaginda at the height of Nigeria's era of military dictatorship, was not terminated at the beginning of the current post-military democracy. This is the only honest and rational step that can guarantee the secularity or multi-religiosity of the Nigerian state
The Egbé pays special tribute to Yorùbá Solidarity Council and Professor J.F.Adé Àjayí for their efforts to bring promotion and modernization of Yorùbá culture back to prominence through annual festival of arts and cultures. The Egbé enjoins Yorùbá governors to get involved in public promotion of Yorùbá culture in the same manner that Chief Obáfémi Awólówò, Chief Ládòkè Akíntólá, Chief Michael Ajásin, Chief Bólá Ìge, Chief Bísí Onàbánjo, and Dr. Omololú Olúnlóyò did before them.
The Egbé further urges all elected officials from Yorùbáland to get familiar with Yorùbá culture and values, and to know that no elected officials in Yorùbá history has succeeded in fooling all the Yorùbá all the time. Any effort by self-seeking politicians in Yorùbá land to disregard or take advantage of the true interests of Yorùbá people has, never in the Yorùbá history, brought any long-term reward to perpetrators of such neglect.
Oláseéní Àjàó
President
Abíólá Popoola
Publicity Secretary
Egbé Omo Yorùbá National Association of Yoruba Descendants in North America
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