The Yoruba Nation ‘Secessionists' of Ibadan
On Saturday, April 13, a group of 18 masked persons dressed in army camouflage, armed with rifles, charms and Oodua Nation flags attempted to take over the Oyo State House of Assembly and Government Secretariat to proclaim the emergence of a Yoruba Nation. They caused some commotion as they insisted on hoisting a flag, but the rag-tag team of insurrectionists were soon overpowered and arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police Command. Well, not quite. They resisted the police but when soldiers from the 2 Div. of the Nigerian Army arrived on the scene, the Oodua boys took to their heels. Cowards! They should have waited and argue with the soldiers over the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria. But the twist in the tale turned out to be the appearance of a woman on several platforms - Modupe Onitiri Abiola, who endorsed the action of the Oodua 18 and proclaimed that a Democratic Republic of Yoruba had emerged with effect from April 13, 2024. The additional twist in the tale is that the woman introduced herself as a widow of Chief MKO Abiola, the undeclared winner of the June 12, 1993
Presidential election, pillar of sports in Africa, entrepreneur, philanthropist and a martyr of democracy.
Nigerians are probably used to persons, groups – ethnic and socio-cultural - threatening to leave Nigeria and declare their own separate country, to as they argue correct the mistake of 1914, so-called, or to seek meaning in a new association. Afterall, in February 1966, Isaac Adaka Boro, an Ijaw ethnic minority rights activist, formed a group known as the Niger Delta Volunteer Force and declared the formation of a Niger Delta Republic. He and his group fought the Nigerian Forces for 12 days before they were overwhelmed, arrested, tried for treason and thrown into jail. This was the first major rebellion against the Nigerian state. The same year, following the Unitary Decree No 34 of the Aguiyi Ironsi military government, the people of Northern Nigeria were so dissatisfied with the turn of events in Nigeria, they openly talked about “Araba” – meaning “let us separate.” In January 1966, there had been a military coup which resulted in the death of Northern leaders and others, notably Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Northern Region Premier, Chief Ladoke Akintola, Premier of the Western Region, and Festus Okotie-Eboh, Minister of Finance.
The coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu, an Ibo man, and with that collapse of Nigeria's First Republic, the new leader was also an Ibo man, General Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, the first military Head of State of Nigeria. The North had wanted to separate but eventually there was a counter coup in July 1966, which ousted the Ironsi regime, which further widened the centrifugal ethnic fissures in Nigeria. In July 1967, the Ibos fought back. Led by Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, they declared the Republic of Biafra, meaning they were determined to secede from Nigeria. The war that ensued lasted three years – 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970. That was 54 years ago, but there are signs that the civil war in Nigeria has not really ended. Nigeria took a turn for the worse. The rain began to beat us.
The separatist spirit would again show up on April 22, 1990 in the coup speech by Major Gideon Orkar whose plan, as announced, included the excision of five Northern states of Bauchi, Borno, Katsina, Kano and Sokoto from Nigeria. The Orkar group was convinced