The Future of Okun People in The Nigerian Context
Let me make it clear; we the Okun are the descendants of oduduwa, we are the Anagos and what people refer to as the Yorubas, we are not seeking approval neither are we seeking for identity. We are the children of Oduduwa and our land is the land of Oduduwa.
Let me also make it very clear that there is no clan , dialect or ethnic or section within the oduduwa family that is more Oduduwa than we are, we have been Oduduwa long before the creation of Africa or Nigeria. The blood of oduduwa is in our vein!
The history of Oduduwa started over 50,000 years ago and the history of Okunland is well over 20,000 years back. We are indigenous to our land! Our land is our history, our culture is our identity and our struggle is our existence!
The Critical questions of the Nigerian Context
Will Nigeria ever break up and if it does what will be the fate of Okun land and Okun people?
If Nigeria were to be restructured along regional lines will Okunland remain part of the north of Nigeria or integrated to the South west of Nigeria, which of course is the Root of every oduduwa child born or unborn.
If Nigeria were to remain as it were with the 36 states, what will be the fate of Okun People and Okunland?
To answer question 1 and 2, if Nigeria were to break up today the Okun people will naturally opt to join the South west region of Nigeria which of course is their natural and divine affiliation, and to the second question if Nigeria were to be restructured along regional lines the Okun people will not even think twice before identifying with the South west region. I believe this view resonates with the larger majority of Okun people if not all. The answer is understandable; since the existence of the idea called Northern Nigeria, it has become very clear that the region lacks the capacity and the willingness to develop and secure our interest rather they have underdeveloped us, marginalized us, deceived us, divide us, exploit us and of course loot us. Therefore the case of where we are heading to is as clear as daylight, in the case of disintegration or regionalization it is southwest or nothing!
The third question to me is the most engaging because it is not predictive it addresses the current social political and economic reality. Looking at Nigeria as it were, we have not only found ourselves in Northern Nigeria but in Kogi State, what exactly is the future of Okun people and okunland in Kogi State and as such Nigeria at large. In addressing this question we need to address the past and the present.
Okun people: 1800 to 2020 the era of disunity
For anyone that truly understands the history of Okun people (pre-independence) , the most conspicuous factor is disunity, we are not united, we have always failed to unite and even now we are still not united!
From the word go! Especially since the separation of Oyi(now yagba) district from kabba district in 1930 it has been politics of disunity. As a matter of fact if our political elites and native authority had spoken with one accord and acted in one accord Okun people and Okunland have no business being in the Northern region but we had a politics that was divided between the radical politicians who had their affiliation in the Southwest politics and the conservative who made themselves ready and accessible tool to Northern politics and we have a native authority that is totally divorced from their Ile-Ife ancestry to cling to the emirate of the North.
As at the time of independence the coalition between the native authority and the conservative elements was so formidable that Okun people and Okunland easily played into the hands of the Northern region and we were tactically and politically reduced to extreme minority among her two neighbors which is the Igalas and Ebiras despite the fact that we were the most educated and sophisticated why? Disunity!
Some people talk about southwest as if when we join the Southwest there won’t be Ekiti, Oyo, Ijebu, Ibadan, Eko, Egba and others to contend with, the fact is that if we join the Southwest we must be ready to play the politics of the Southwest. We have played the Northern politics so much and so badly that we have become the most backward among the Oduduwa family.
Our Values
Okun people have failed to create a truly oduduwa community where they found themselves rather they are striving to integrate into a system that has no regard for their value system and their way of life. We have traded our core values for politics, individual and sectional interest, there is absolutely no way we could have imposed ourselves in Kogi state and Northern region at large because we gave up our core values in the name of integration. When you find yourself with people that have a radically or fundamentally different values from you historically, culturally and spiritually you can can only coexist not integrate, As a matter of fact the failings of the previous generation is their inability to impose themselves on the system because they were busy fighting themselves and why so? Because they can’t see the big picture! What made chief Obafemi Awolowo an exceptional politician, leader and scholar was the ability to impose core Oduduwa values in politics, governance and leadership.
What are our core values?
1. Unity
2. Knowledge
3. Courage
We are all children of Oduduwa, any descendant of Oduduwa fighting against the values of Oduduwa will not thrive. It is a shame that we have failed to see the big picture in all that we do and this in itself is the essence of our disunity. Oduduwas were one of the first tribe in the black race to embrace western education and today we have an army of erudite making impact all around the world, the love of knowledge is one of our core values.
Our ancestors have shown enough courage by expanding the oduduwa Kingdom from Ile-Ife across Dahomey to Togo, Delta, Benin and Lokoja.
I am afraid that this values have long been lost, what we have now is full blown mediocrity! Our best no longer leads neither are they fighting for us!
A plan of Action
Unity is the greatest plan of action we can ever have, and this is exactly what we need at this point of our history, it is not by size we need to rise above politics, religion, sectional and personal interest.
Our best must lead us at all times, any Community, Society or Republic which her best are not leading will struggle with mediocrity. The calibre of people representing us in government, politics and religion is a shame. It’s absolutely nothing to be proud of. This extends to our traditional institutions too, where anything goes mediocre are now kings chiefs and village heads. We need visionaries, men of courage and character.
Quality Education: Honestly I weep for Okun land. Visit the education sector and you will weep for Okunland. A land that prides herself has the beacon of knowledge as now become the bandwagon of mediocrity ignorance and illiteracy. Teachers have become paupers, schools have become poultries and students have become touts. We need to declare a state of emergency in education. If our children must compete and find their own route in life we need to work on our educational system. I suggest we work on Okun education development and endowment fund, funded by all and sundry in and out of Okun land.
Create our Own market, our own is our own we need to structure our economy and our economy needs to meet our needs and promote our indigenous market. Okun people must buy from Okun people and Okun people must produce what they need. We must begin to leverage on ourselves. Okun is bleeding; our limestone, our trees and our mineral resources are flying away and we get little or nothing from it.
Okun people must be linked, we must be linked, we must do things together in purpose not only structurally but institutionally, we need to bend all our resources to serve Okuns purpose. The idea that once there is a new political party or government; we ostracize ourselves, blackmail, bad mouth, lie, divide and fight ourselves is bad enough we need to see ourselves consciously working together in the same aims and objectives regardless of party or government we are united by blood.
We need to start building solid alliance with the South west. If truly we are opting for the South west then we must practicalize it by building a deeper alliance with the South west, culturally, institutionally and socially and we are not doing enough of that yet!
A new Nigeria is rapidly unfolding how we position ourselves maters a lot we must not make the same mistake our forefathers made in the formation of Nigeria; they were unprepared and too divided along individual and sectional interest, today we are still on the same trajectory. Okun people that knows where they are going and are ready to unite to achieve it can never be marginalized or trampled upon. What we are is what matters not how plenty we are. Okun people unite!
Abidemi Adebola
Minority Whip KGHA 2011-2015
Founder African reading project