THE IGBOS AND THE YORUBA 'COLD WAR'; A CASE FOR SOUTHERN UNITY.

By Charles Ogbu.

"Power is like a shadow. It resides exactly where men who are under its control think it resides"

The above is true with regards to the situation of Southerners in the Nigerian experiment.

We think the Fulanis are the ones that have been holding power and because we think and believe so, it actually look so. Because of this assumed knowledge, we hand over our destinies, our future and those of our children to a people who are not above 11 million, have little or no education and contribute little or nothing to the national pulse.

What if I told you that the real power rests in the South and with southerners but that the mutual distrust and foolish superiority contest between Igbos and Yorubas is the biggest obstacle to wielding this power? This senseless feud between these two Southern giants is also the biggest enabler and promoter of the fulani Oligarchy.

The southern part of Nigeria owns the oil which feeds the entire country. Without the oil today, there is no economy and there is no Nigeria. The same south controls the commercial sector of the economy. The media is still owned and controlled by the South.

When a people owns the only thing that is feeding a whole country and still control commerce plus the media through which people's thoughts and opinions about anything can be shaped and can equally boast of the best human resources, what else does it take for such a people to wield power in such a country?

Unity!

The few fulanis who have been running this country directly and indirectly since independence, what do they have?

Unity!

When the fulani Oligarchs want to achieve an aim, they effortlessly find a way to get every northern minorities such as Christians and middle Belts on their side even when they almost always end up discarding these same minorities and even killing them once the aim is achieved.

Now, ask yourself: how have the fulani Oligarchs managed to turn the entire Nigeria into an 'Animal Farm' with them as the only "Napoleon' despite their low education and the fact that all the prerequisites/bargaining chips for acquiring and wielding power are domiciled in the South??

Igbo-Yoruba 'cold war'! This, right here, is the answer.

The day the two biggest southern ethnic groups --The Igbos and The Yorubas --decide to put a stop to their needless bickering and channel all their energy towards confronting their common enemy --the children of Danfodio--, that is the day the Fulani Oligarchs will understand that even though the king is the one with the crown, he is nothing without the kingmakers and the people.

The Fulanis are not runing Nigeria because they are smarter than others. Far from it. They are messing with the destinies of over 180million people because the two Southern big brothers with the wherewithal to end their murderous reign of impunity are busy chasing rats while their houses are afire.

I am no historian neither do I pride myself as a man of letters but I know for a fact that the biggest weapon of the fulanis is neither guns nor bombs. Their biggest weapon is their ability to identify their opponents' weak points or even create one where none exists, magnify it and use same to create division amongst them just so they would effortlessly implement their Divide And Rule tactics.

Sadly, they have succeded in using this weapon against Southern Nigeria's two biggest ethnic groups.

Throughout history, all the wars and woes visited on both the Igbos and the Yorubas all came from the fulanis. There is no record of ethnic clash between these two humane southern Nations.

No time has these two people ever disagreed violently.

Strangely, the mutual suspicion that exist between these two great peoples seem far greater than the one they harbour against their common oppressor, the Scions of Danfodio.

It was not the Igbos who imprisoned Awolowo and killed thousands of Yoruba youths who protested the unjust imprisonment for days in different Yoruba cities in 1963. It was the fulanis and the killing was done by another fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari, who was the then platoon commander, 2nd infantry brigade, Abeokuta. That same year, Buhari was gifted with double promotion on the same day by the govt of Tafawa Balewa.

It was not the Igbos who imprisoned many Yoruba leaders, forced others into exile and killed others like Abiola after annuling his presidential victory.

It was not the Igbos who attacked Yoruba citizens in Lagos neither was it the Igbos who desecrated Yoruba cradle of civilisation, Ile-Ife by cutting off the head of a Yoruba citizen and parading it along the street, thereby sparking off a bloody ethnic clash that ended in the arrest of only the Yorubas including an Oba by the fulani president and his fulani security agents.

It is not Igbo herdsmen that kidnapped a yoruba son, Chief Olu Falae and have been going about terrorizing and killing Yorubas in Osun, Ogun, Kwara etc with govt-sponsored impunity.

On the other hand,

It wasn't the Yorubas that killed thousands of Igbos in the 1945 Jos pogrom and 1953 kano pogrom.

It was not the Yorubas who slaughtered millions of Igbos in the North after the first 1966 coup.

It was not the Yorubas who jailed an Igbo son, Alex Ekwueme who was only the vice president while the president, Shehu Shagari, a fulani, was left in a cosy apartment in the govt house. It was a Fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari who did this in 1984 after overthrowing the then govt in a coup.

Was it the Yorubas that is holding Nnamdi Kanu? Or was it the Yorubas who rained bullets and acid on hundreds of Igbo sons and daughters praying inside a school field in Abia state on Feb.9th, 2016 and those remembering their Biafran heros inside a church in Onitsha on May 29-30, that same year?

Is it Yoruba herdsmen that have been killing, maiming and raping villagers in Nimbo, Nsukka, Awgu Bende Council etc, all in Igbo land?

Today, even Jack, my two day old puppy knows that Nigeria CANNOT work as presently constituted. It was the rejection of the Aburi Accord by the Fulani Oligarchs which would have restructured Nigeria as a Confederation that led to the Biafran war. Today, the Yorubas want a restructured country. The Niger Delta want the same thing. The Igbos want Biafra BECAUSE Nigeria has refused to restructure.

Who are the only people resisting the call for restructuring, thereby holding everyone to ransom? Your guess is as good as mine.

Dear Yorubas and Igbos, what exactly are you dragging?

Why have you refused to realise that you have a common enemy, a very ruthless common enemy who have kept you busy fighting among yourselves while he's busy ruining your future and that of your unborn generation?

Can you not see that your siblings; Ijaws, Urhobo, Edo, etc are all looking up to you for that 'big brother' leadership and direction?

Can't you see that the fulanis are not really the problem? You are! Your disunity is!

You have no reason to be fighting.

Was it not a Yoruba man, Lt. Col Fajuyi, who chose to die with his visitor and commander-in-Chief, Thomas Umunnakwe Aguyi-Ironsi, an Igbo man, rather than give him up to the Hausa/fulani soldiers on 28th July, 1966?

Was it not an Igbo man, Odumegwu Ojukwu, who released Obafemi Awolowo from calabar prison and sent a squad of Eastern Nigerian policemen who escorted him to Ikenne, Ijebu, his home town?

You pride yourselves as the two most educated people in the country, yet your best brains have been reduced to playing 2nd fiddle to the Scions of Danfodio who are mostly without even a secondary school certificate.

In 1979, it was one of the best Igbo brains, Alex Ekwueme, playing 2nd fiddle to Shehu Shagari.
In 1983/84, it was Idiagbo playing 2nd fiddle to a Buhari who had no certificate.
In 2015, it is a Yoruba professor of law still in political purgatory under the same fulani-born Muhammadu Buhari who has now acquired a certificate........NEPA bill certificate.

Ojukwu is dead. So is Awolowo. And since I was born, Igbos and Yorubas have never killed each other. How about we put the gory stories of the war behind us and save ourselves and unborn children from this danger that is staring us in the face?

It is always the descendants of Danfodio doing all the killing, all the subjugation and slavery and we, the entire south have always been the victim.

In a nutshell, Charles Ogbu is simply saying that the Igbos and the Yorubas should channel their energy towards confronting their common enemy. You can join forces to fight a formidable enemy and still remain ethnically patriotic to your respective ethnic groups!

Wisdom is profitable to direct.

an working very hard to liberate my people

Winner or No winner, i don't care.

They should restructure Nigeria or just allow it to break up. The deceit and cheating is too much!

An interesting piece.

Bini, Efik, Esan,Ibibio, Igbo, Ijaw, Isoko, Ogoni, Urhobo, Yoruba ( Idoma) etc Hope you all have read this.
The strength of the Lion is in the pride ( group)

This is the truth! The whole truth and nothing but the truth!!

Very good post. Reconciliation in the south is long overdue.

Human unity is a pervasive illusion and not a feasible reality.
The experience in the biblical tower of Babel should have taught anyone that the pursuit of human unity is an elusive phenomena.

Two people can't think alike because of their varying competitive interest talk more of a group of people.
Interest is the driving force in any common struggle. That is why togetherness is not oneness.

It is instructive to know that the anchor behind the Hausa-Fulani taking over power is not necessarily the unity among them but their capacity to collaborate and improvise amongst others with common interest.

KidsNEXTdoor:

Have you said Sai baba today

Are u guys through with ur fasting and prayer? Hope ur governor has stop his crying sah?

engreo:
Are u guys through with ur fasting and prayer? Hope ur governor has stop his crying sah?

That one na madam
But still better pass Buhari

stephleena:
not until this afonjas, revolt, and stop being under the shackles of their lord and Master, Hausa-fulani...

Go for washing and setting

KidsNEXTdoor:

That one na madam
But still better pass Buhari

what is this one saying? .....see ur master fulani herdman for ur back. aja one, eree

stephleena:
not until this afonjas, revolt, and stop being under the shackles of their lord and Master, Hausa-fulani...

SNOWCREAM come and see this Sangbeto! ☄

engreo:
what is this one saying? .....see ur master fulani herdman for ur back. aja one, eree

Abeg go mosque Kamoru
Go knack head for ground
Am busy

Now i see! this man has been the problem of this country since independent till now. If we still allow them to lord over us till the end of his year, i don't know what i'll call ourself.

It's simple,..yorubas shd give igbos unalloyed support and solidarity for igbos to rule,dis will earn dem igbo trust. Because the problem here is yoruba betrayal over the years from 1966 to date!

Igbos have actually forgiven yoruba tracheary,by supporting obj to rule for atleast 8yrs under civil rule,..and have allowed yorubas and hausas to rule in peace during military era. Igbos too hav supported hausa fulani candidates atleast twice under civil rule viz shagari and yaradua rules.

The only logical/reasonable thing 2 do now is to gv igbos unwavering support 2 rule. By so doing,nigeria will not only be doin the only just thing,but will be giving itself an opportunity 2 be revamped and set on d road 2 greatness,since the great igbo tribe has been tested and found 2 possess that touch of midas!


Finally igbos don't hate yorubas,..they just not ready 2 be stabbed at the back again and again,..so they being quite cautious! The onus is on yorubas 2 redeem their image b4 the igbo race they have so actively schemed against for atleast 51years!

The southern part of Nigeria owns the oil which feeds the entire country. Without the oil today, there is no economy and there is no Nigeria. The same south controls the commercial sector of the economy. The media is still owned and controlled by the South.

When a people owns the only thing that is feeding a whole country and still control commerce plus the media through which people's thoughts and opinions about anything can be shaped and can equally boast of the best human resources, what else does it take for such a people to wield power in such a country?

Point of correction. The South-South has the majority of the oil reserves in this country, not the igbos.

But yes the southwest, specifically Lagos alone, controls the commercial sector of the economy, with 25% of Nigeria's GDP, that's without oil. And if ranked as a country it is the 5th largest economy in Africa. Not to mention being home to the tech startup hub in yaba And with Ogun attracting 75% of Nigeria's foreign direct investment, the southwest in totality seems to be on the rise. And yes, the Southwest controls the media. The only thing thing the Yorubas don't dominantly control is oil (but as you can tell the southwest doesn't really need to), and the political sphere (even though Yorubas greatly influence it through media). The Yorubas also dominate Nigeria's music and film industry.

So to recount, the Yorubas own the commercial capital of the country and the tech investment scene (Lagos), the investment capital of the country (Ogun), owns the media, owns majority of the movie industry, and owns the majority of the music industry. The only thing the Yorubas don't easily dominate is politics. But while everyone is focusing on politics, the Yorubas focused on what is important. The U.S. didn't become a powerhouse by having great diplomats or being political savants. Neither did any other superpower. They became a superpower by controlling the MONEY and the MEDIA. Washington may be the political center, but Wall Street and New York are the true rulers of the United States.

Now with that being said, the Yorubas don't need the igbos or any other tribe to achieve anything. The Yorubas have all the power to do it on alone and could control Nigeria if that was the goal. It's funny because the Yorubas have been the least hungry for that. But it's only a matter of time before Yorubas start exercising that power to control major aspects of this country, including politics. It will come naturally and with time. Power never goes unexercised, and the Yorubas are amassing significant power in this country, that's just a fact. The Oba of Lagos made a comment against the entire igbos, and not only did they do nothing, they still live and work and go to Lagos in droves. Because they have no other choice. That's the signifier of power. It only began with the Oba of Lagos. We'll see more of that in the future.

This is nonsense

dacovajnr:
SNOWCREAM come and see this Sangbeto! ☄

person wey no get sense, be like say one mod dn give her punishment already

Iskander4:




only 2 4 u


SCUM SPERM

All these goats that join and start strolling into politics section from day one

Politics section should restrict contribution to accounts older than two months old.

In Yoruba Culture:-
The Yorubas are "Alatunse".
The Igbos are "Alaroye Atule".
The Hausa/Fulani Arabs are "Arinoko Agbako".
These are Spirits of Life and Death.
The Yoruba Obas must unite to revive Yoruba Culture for good and development and not leave this to the whims and caprice of Politicians
States should have and control their INEC, elect their Governors and make bi and multi lateral relationships as they please.
The Obas should control their people and make local arrangements to harness and apply their resources to please themselves.

Wow love this....
This is one of the best post on nairaland 2017 & the Best post in April......

And I'll also advice the south east and south south not to depend on Oil,,, cos very soon....

Oil will become a thing of the past...

technology advance everyday

Asking Igbos and Yorubas to unite is like asking oil and water to mix, not possible. The problem the OP has is that he is still trying to see Igbo/Yoruba from the context of 'Nigeria'

To understand why Yoruba and Igbo will never unite, one has to go back to when there was no Nigeria. What kind of people were Igbos and Yorubas?

History tells us that the Yorubas have never been able to exist alone. They once chased an empire from present day Nigeria to Togo. This 'empire creating' nature of Yorubas has never left them. Igbos on the other hand never had an empire and had no desire have one. The Igbo man is republican, egalitarian and very independent.

Unfortunately for Igbos, of the 3 main ethnic groups, Igbos are the only ones who are not empire creators and thats why Yorubas will continually unite with the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy of the North to undemine Igbos.

Yorubas and Hausa/Fulani are going to fight forever to keep the empire of Nigeria without caring about if the empire works or if Igbos want it.

Yorubas are no friends of us Igbos and we Igbos are fully aware of their antics. A people who threw away their right of self deternination to uphold the empire of Nigeria cannot be trusted