To build up: (Ecclesiastes 3:3b)
The Nations, the Peoples into a new State.
Each of the Nations/Nationalities in Nigeria to clearly determine, within itself, the parameters for Nigerian Presidency and by extension, the Nigerian Multi-National State.
Mandating the Constitutional Re-Formation of Nigeria into a “Federal Nigeria, through a valid Federal Constitution, to be known as The Union of Nigerian Constituent Nationalities, with a Federal Presidential Council, whose members will be selected or elected from each of the Nationalities as Federating Units and from whom a Head of State will be selected or elected as the primus-inter-pares with an agreed term.”
The pursuit of which is to become the political reality of Yorubaland as the example for Nigeria and Africa.
The Nigerian Post-Colonial State, having created an electoral system on its terms, based on false Census figures assuring electoral majority for itself, legitimized with the 1999 Constitution, all wrapped around the fallacy of its being the product of the Peoples of Nigeria, resulting in the on-going attempt at homogenizing the Nations and Peoples into a “new creation”, this time, not of God, but by man.
Against which God has lifted up a standard, the Yoruba Referendum, as the only way to address the clear and present danger to Yoruba existential preferences and legitimizing our existence, a necessary precondition for the resolution of our existential crises and to serve as the beacon for the rest of the Peoples of Nigeria and Africa caught in the Nation-State Conundrum.
Rev Mojola Agbebi’s Inaugural Sermon, quoting The Apostle James: ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is: “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1: 27)
And by way of expansion, saying “I would add, however, that at present the cultivation of cotton, the raising of rubber trees, of coffee, kola nuts, etc., the calling forth the riches of the soil, sanitation, and the promotion of handicrafts form part of the pressing essentials of religion.”
This was 1902, before Amalgamation and the formalization of the Colony.
By which we know that the only period Mojola Agbebi’s “addition” came into fruition was during the time of relative Autonomy for the Regions, arrived at as the only possible way for the emergence of such admonition and recognized as the “Golden Era”, for the Western Region.
Which must now be addressed; having experienced and continue to experience, the indignities of the Post-Colonial State.
By which our manifestation as the “sons of God” would be realized.
Making it mandatory for the Church in the Yoruba World to champion the necessity for the actualization of Yoruba Autonomy, and by extension, the Autonomy of the various Peoples and Nations in Nigeria.
And this, to become a topical subject on the Pulpit; the Church embracing Autonomy/Self-determination in all its ramifications by getting the various Congregations to unite behind the Yoruba Referendum, for the Yoruba; promoting and advocating the Nationality Referendums within other Nations.
Calling for its actualization from the Pulpit as a Ministerial and Pastoral responsibility.
The Church, by this very act, repudiating the colonial holdover.
The notion that we are a “tribe” and not a Nation.
And our manifestation as the “sons of God”.
For whom “the creation eagerly waits”.
It is written:
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Mathew 5 :14-15)
The glaring contradictions of the Nigerian Post-Colonial State, mandating calls and clamor for “Restructuring”, demanding a pathway to its actualization, this time, to be taken from the realm of reasoning to practice, expressed as the Yoruba Referendum, the light that cannot be hidden, giving light to all the Nations and peoples of Nigeria because it can be emulated by other Peoples and Nations in Nigeria.
Agitations for a Yoruba Nation State, mainly using Europe as examples, fail to recognize the existence of an “European Consciousness” which drove its quest for global dominance and enabled it to neutralize the German attempt at a hegemony over the rest, ultimately resulting in the formation of the European Union, with established protocols for membership.
Africa became a victim of this “European Consciousness”, resulting in the on-going attempt at homogenizing the Nations and Peoples of Africa into a “new creation”, this time, not of God, but by man.
Thereby making nonsense of the quest for a “Yoruba Nation Now” because it ignores the nature of the relationships between Europe and the Nations and Peoples of Africa.
To cure which a measure of “Yoruba Exceptionalism” is created and buoyed by some Christians, resulting in a syncretism anchored on Yoruba atavism, ending up in a form of collaboration incongruent with the Scripture.
It is written:
“Those who make an image, all of them are useless, And their precious things shall not profit; They are their own witnesses; They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing? Surely all his companions would be ashamed; And the workmen, they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together, Let them stand up; Yet they shall fear, They shall be ashamed together. The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, Fashions it with hammers, And works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails; He drinks no water and is faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule, He marks one out with chalk; He fashions it with a plane, He marks it out with the compass, And makes it like the figure of a man, According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They do not know nor understand; For He has [b]shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:9-20)
It is written, in another place:
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mathew 5:16)
If Yoruba Christians, and by extension Nigerian Christians, fail to advance the standard lifted up, how will our good works be seen, and our Father in Heaven be glorified?
(To be continued)
© Wale Odeku, January 9, 2022
Website: https://solomonoluwabiyi.com
Email: viewpoint@solomonoluwabiyi.com
