Bola Bolawole Says, “Our Movement Is For A Restructured Nigeria, Not A Yoruba President”

One of the advocates of the Yoruba nation is Bola Bolawole. Kehinde Olatunji discussed concerns surrounding separatist agitation and the uproar among Yoruba country leaders in this interview.

What precipitated the recent protests in Ojota, where a person was reportedly murdered, when many believed you had scaled back your campaign in line with Biafra agitators?

To the best of my knowledge, the movement for Biafra is still going strong. You can notice what is known as a pause in people’s or organisations’ activity. Agitations may have certain low times, but this does not indicate that the agitation has been given up. I’m not aware that the Biafran people have given up their fight, and neither am I aware that those fighting for the Yoruba country, like Sunday Igboho, Prof. Banji Akintoye, and their supporters, have given up their fight. They may be pursuing it in different ways, but in my opinion, they are still pushing for their own independent organisations outside of Nigeria.

However, Sunday Igboho has disassociated himself from the Ojota protest.

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Although I am aware that there must be some persons behind any agitation, I have not seen anyone claim that they were the ones to organise the demonstration at Ojota. Going to some of the demonstrators is what we should do instead of asking Gani Adams or Igboho. They ought to be able to identify the perpetrators. Since the individuals gathered there are human, they need to be able to explain why they were there and who brought them.

Given that elections are approaching, do you believe that the call for a Yoruba country is important at this time?

It is essential since the condition that led to the Yoruba nation’s agitation is still very much present. You are aware, I’m sure, that there was no struggle for Yoruba country five to ten years ago. But somehow, we started to hear about the agitation, particularly with the unchecked nepotism of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, how he placed the Fulani in the commanding height of the country’s economy and security architecture, and how he transformed this country from a federation of nationalities to the estate of the Fulani.

That’s what led other ethnic groups to start to worry that, if they did nothing, they would soon become Fulani slaves. They reasoned that in order to free themselves from the Fulani, they needed to agitate. That circumstance is still present. Look at the organisational structure of NNPC and the security industry; both are still Fulani. Currently, the bulk of the people they appoint will still be Fulani. Therefore, I believe it is legitimate for individuals protesting the imbalance to continue doing so until it is corrected.

Don’t you believe the Yoruba people should calm down until a new administration takes office, one that would even favour them considering that a Yoruba person is running for office now that the Fulani president is stepping down?

In May, a Fulani president is anticipated to go. Let’s hope he does, as we have already been informed that the alleged insecurity may prevent or delay elections from taking place. What happens then if elections are cancelled or delayed? What will happen? Will the president of the Fulani country continue in office? Will there be a national interim government? Therefore, it is premature to declare that the Fulani president is stepping down or that elections will be held. Keep in mind that two of the four front-runners for president are from the North, and that anything may happen in the election. So, it’s difficult to predict which way the pendulum will swing.

I want Nigerians to commit their lives to promoting justice, equity, and fairness. There can only be peace, growth, and development when there is fairness, equity, and justice. Any ethnic group that believes it can continue to dominate the others and rule the world in its own way is being naive. One philosopher said: “If you are in power today, don’t think you will be in power tomorrow. If you are in control of the forces today, don’t think you will be in control of the forces tomorrow. If you are oppressing people today, don’t think that you will be oppressing them forever. One of these days, they will fight to liberate themselves.

What do you think of the conflict between Maxwell Adeleye, Prof. Banji Akintoye, and Prof. Wale Adeniran within the Ilana Yoruba group?

The fact that they are fighting among themselves is quite bad. All of the people you mentioned are people I am familiar with. It is unfortunate that they are arguing in front of everyone over money, positions, and dirty laundry. However, I want to clarify that based on how I personally perceive the Yoruba Nation’s situation, Prof. Akintoye has not resigned from the Yoruba struggle; rather, he has merely transferred leadership of Ilana Yoruba to Prof. Adeniran so that he can concentrate on his role as the overall figurehead of all the Yoruba self-determination groups.

Adeniran recently assumed leadership of Ilana, one of the several organisations that make up the Yoruba self-determination movement, after serving as its deputy head. Following their argument, Maxwell declared that there was no issue with him no longer serving as Prof. Akintoye’s spokesperson. I told him when he phoned that it was no problem if he wanted to resign, but why is he now disparaging the guy who was his spokeswoman yesterday? It doesn’t demonstrate his maturity or dedication to the Yoruba course.

All of those who now claim to have resigned and to have gone public with their criticism of Prof. Akintoye, whom they had been protecting yesterday, are in error. They say they are leaving the Yoruba track. Resigning from a path that you believe in is impossible since it implies that you never had any original conviction about it. It implies that they had to have been enrolled in that course for a reason other than serving the interests of the Yoruba people. It is terribly regrettable. You may be opposed. There are always conflicts in the revolutionary fights I have studied and am familiar with, but you don’t air your dirty laundry in public and start working against the direction you want to go.

They are acting like children, and I don’t like it. Whether they are professors or not, we label what they are doing juvenile radicalism. They shouldn’t have approached it the way they did. If you’re having issues, work them out inside and avoid taking any actions that would compromise the route you previously stated you believed in. If you are committed to a route, don’t take any actions that could deviate from it.

Do you think it is acceptable if many Yoruba people don’t believe in the struggle?

You won’t receive the advantages if you don’t believe in it. Once we get it, we will have you excommunicated from the Yoruba people. The minority is always engaged in revolutionary struggles, never the majority. Because there are so few of them, we refer to them as the proletariat’s vanguard. A small group of individuals will band together, the proletariats will guide others who are interested, and they will upend the structure and erect a new one. You will just be followers, regardless of whether you are part of the majority.

Because Peter Obi is running, many IPOB members and supporters are no longer identifying with the fight; in fact, many of them have changed their profile images from the Biafran flag and Nnamdi Kanu to Obi’s image. Do you believe that people fighting for the Yoruba country should follow this course of action?

The Yoruba have never been like other Nigerian ethnic groupings. No matter whose horse gets gored, the Yoruba have always adhered to their own ideal of equality, justice, fairness, and fair play. Yoruba don’t back someone only because they are his family. If your goals align with what Yoruba believe to be good, just, and equal, they will support you. Yoruba are constantly in disagreement because they don’t give a damn. As long like they (Yoruba) are aware that they are waging the proper battle, as we did on June 12 when we defeated the Yoruba struggle. Was MKO not declared the election’s victor after his passing? He didn’t get the nation’s greatest distinction. Despite this, is June 12 not “Democracy Day”?

Because Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may be elected, we won’t claim that Yoruba people would behave like other ethnic groups. As a result, we give up our campaign for Yoruba country. We’re not upset because Yorubas should be president. We are protesting because we want Nigeria to be reconstructed and where Yoruba people would be allowed to advance at their own pace. We think that we are being restrained and that we are unable to showcase our abilities. We think that if we had been permitted to develop at Awolowo’s rate by now, we would have outperformed Brazil, Singapore, and China. China was lagging behind us at the time.

In order to obtain its palm kernel, Malaysia travelled to Yoruba territory; currently, we purchase palm oil from Malaysia. Yoruba people are not calling for a Yoruba president since one already exists. We are campaigning for Nigeria’s reorganisation. If the structures aren’t created properly, no ethnic group will advance even with a Yoruba president coming and going.

To allow different areas to grow at their own speed, we desire a reformed Nigeria similar to the one we had in 1960. At that time, the evolution to which we are alluding today occurred. We are pushing for a return to that structure so that the Yoruba can move more quickly than they can right now. Now that they are being held back, we don’t want it to continue. We want to be in a position where we can catch up to China, Brazil, and Singapore within the next five to eight years.

When we achieve international dominance, our economy and educational system will once again rank among the greatest in the world. That is the goal we are working toward. We are OK with a Fulani, Igbo, or Hausa president being able to do that. We would have been fine with it if Olusegun Obasanjo or Goodluck Jonathan had done it. Many of us supported Buhari in the 2015 election because we believed he would reorganise the nation.

You thus want confirmation that restructuring would occur before the uprising for Yoruba country is put an end?

Restructuring is our minimal demand, but I must warn you that many Yoruba agitators are moving away from it because they think it won’t fully address our problem; instead, they want the creation of a separate Yoruba nation. Restructuring used to be the answer, but because of the prolonged wait, many now claim that it is incapable of doing so. However, I do advocate for restructuring so that, if it doesn’t resolve the issue, we may go on to the next course of action. However, if we reorganise and the Yoruba area can organise itself, like it did under Awolowo, we will advance and nobody will need to step in.