Nigerian Afrobeat artist and leader of the Movement of The People (MOP), Seun Kuti has said the cause of realising a Yoruba Nation currently pushed by agitators in the Southwest may not be successful in the next ten years.
Seun, who is the son of late Afrobeat Legend, Fela Kuti, said the actualisation of the Yoruba Nation could take up to fifty years.
According to Seun, the secessionists have to re-strategise and have self-sufficiency plans before they can actualise the establishment of the Yoruba Nation.
Speaking further, the afrobeat artist noted that the secession of Southwest from Nigeria cannot be achieved through war as agitated by many secessionist groups. According to him, the only way this can be achieved is through referendum.
Recall that a self-acclaimed O’odua Activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Igboho, alongside his cronies had threatened that there won’t be any election in southwest come 2023.
According to Igboho, the Yoruba people have woken up from their slumber and they have decided not to go to the polls in the upcoming 2023 General elections.
However, Seun, in his opinion stated that Yoruba Nation cannot be achieved through war.
Seun who made this known during a live video on his official Instagram page, noted that referendum is the only constitutional means the southwest can employ to secede from Nigeria.
While buttressing his point, the musician cited the instance of England which left the European Union(EU) without fighting.
“If we want to separate, let us debate it in a referendum, not with gun and blood-shed as these ones are doing, everybody is carrying gun,” he said.
Speaking further, Seun advised the Yoruba Nation agitators to have a rethink, stating that the Southwest is not ready for secession.
According to him, the southwest must become self-sufficient before clamouring for independence.
In his words, “England just left the EU recently; did they fight anyone before leaving? The Scottish are agitating to leave England. Why are they not saying they want to fight war before they can leave England? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these people don’t fight but understand the narrative.
“Must it be a fight if we don’t want to be part of Nigeria again, where are our elites? Why are they not agitating for a referendum?
“Referendums now put the decision in the hands of the people. They want a constitutional conference, they should pick among themselves to help us divide.
“If Nigeria truly wants to divide we must pose it in a referendum programme, yes or no vote to all the people in this country so that we can make our argument for and against and the people would be carried along every step of the way because we will need them to make the final decision.
“Even before we do constitutional conferences, democratically in any country, before you do a constitutional review, you must put it to the people, the people will now decide a yes or no vote for the review before you carry your review forward.
“But when only a handful of people want to make decisions for hundreds of millions of people, this is what you now get. Everybody is only discussing one angle, one way of separating Nigeria which will kill millions of us in the name of separating Nigeria. That’s what they are pushing for but there is another way.
”If we want to separate, let us debate it in a referendum, not with gun and blood-shed as these ones are doing, everybody is carrying gun. A journalist is asking me when two brothers will fight, why did he not ask me when these two brothers will come to the negotiation table, to decide and strengthen themselves against their common enemy.
”Even if they want to pose their narrative on us — violence. I want to pose a question to the Yoruba people that none of these Yoruba nation leaders are asking them.
“If the Yoruba people want to leave Nigeria, it is not overnight. Anybody that tells you Yoruba people can leave Nigeria over ten-year period, that person is trying to put you in another long jump. Our problem needs like fifty years of dedication to see the front, not to fix it but to see how we can balance and then say now we are moving forward.
”Nigeria is like a drunkard who is not balanced, staggering sideways, it needs like fifty years to balance but if the agitations turn to war, this will only add another 100 years of stress for us. We don’t want that, even if we want to separate, we want to separate in a way that our lives will get better.
“Yorubas are not even ready to be without Nigeria. Dear Yoruba people, how many refineries do you have? When we separate from Nigeria, how do we get petrol to use? Will we have to buy fuel from Nigeria, pay some people a subsidy?
“How can only one refinery cater for the whole of Oduduwa nation. Moreover, it doesn’t belong to a Yoruba man. If we break away from Nigeria, the refinery will either be disassembled and taken elsewhere or we will still be paying Nigeria for it.
”Yoruba nation must become self-sufficient before clamouring for independence. We must negotiate with our Igbo brothers because we need them for expertise. We must negotiate properly with our Hausa brothers because that is where all the pepper comes from. What will you do about the pepper, tomato, onions and all? We must be self-sufficient or at least the agitators should give us a strategy of our self-sufficiency as Yoruba people. Do you want to be in Oduduwa nation and still be begging for food, for military aid, educational aid?”
