Femi Fani-Kayode: VICTORY OR DEATH, MY STAND ON NIGERIA Fani Kayode...

Jonathan has not offered Sovereign National Conference and that is the problem. Make it ”sovereign” and I am on board. I will not replace Hausa Fulani domination, which we have suffered for over 40 years in this country, with ijaw or igbo domination. As each day passes it dawns on me more and more that the only way to secure and protect the interests of my people, the 50 million Yoruba people of south western Nigeria, is for us to leave Nigeria and establish our own nation. For us Nigeria has done nothing. She has only held us back. I am not ashamed to say that this is how I feel and I am under no illusion that it may not be the most popular position today even amongst the yoruba themselves. Yet the truth is that eventually our people will see that I am right and when the time for that idea comes no force or power in heaven or on earth can stop it. I have been in politics for 23 years and I make bold to say that I have little doubt that ultimately, if our people really want true liberation, we must break off the shackles of a united Nigeria and establish our own sovereign state.
Now go ahead and call me a tribalist or whatever you like. It matters not to me. I have the same feeling for and pride in my people as the Scots in the United Kingdom have in theirs. The only difference is that they are in a civilised clime where they have been given the opportunity to exercise their right of self-determination by the conduct of a free and fair people’s referendum to determine whether they wish to remain in their country or not, whilst we have not been given that opportunity.
As a matter of fact the very suggestion or thought of secession and the exercise of our right of self-determination to leave Nigeria is not only frowned upon and met with utter disdain and contempt by those who would wish to hold us captive forever but it is also despised by their collaborators within our own ranks who have cultivated a slave mentality that is borne out of what is known as the ”Stockholm Syndrome”.
Yet regardless of that our time will come because our aspirations are perfectly legitimate and lawful. There is no shame in wanting to be on your own and wanting the very best for your people. I am not a tribalist because I look down on no other but I am a Yoruba nationalist because I believe that the Yoruba are very different to most. We have a date with destiny and if we wish to keep that date I am convinced that we must remove the weights, break the chains, strengthen our resolve and get out of Nigeria.
I do not believe that we should dominate anyone or rule over anyone else. I do however believe, and strongly too, that no-one has the right to rule over us or dominate us any longer and I intend to dedicate the rest of my life to resisting such an agenda either within or without a united Nigeria. I am bound by the hopes and aspirations of the yoruba people and whatever they wish to do or opt to do is the cause that I, together with many other loyal and courageous leaders and men of integrity from the west in the new generation, shall do. For us it is either victory or death.