Yoruba: The Ethnic Group That Rejected Their Presidential Candidate

We have heard so much about ethnic strife and loyalty in Africa and Europe based on tribe. We saw it in Yugoslavia, Myanmar etc. and lately in Ukraine. The only Ethnic group in most parts of our ethnic world that has ever rejected their own son and kin as the Presidential candidate while voting for others, are the Yoruba of West Africa. Yet, it is not yet Uhuru since some Africans have become selfish as cash mules that care less about their people.

Unexpectedly, repressed tribal politics has also raised its ugly head in the United States of America. Well, it has always been there, the last United States Presidential Election just boiled to the surface what has been brewing for a long time since the end of their Civil War. It is doubtful if they ever recovered from the vestiges of slavery. But they have taken strides to reach the goal of an equitable society.

Africans and scholars in world universities always use the Yoruba as case study for their civilization, tolerance and accommodation. Nigerians also hold them up to their values and egalitarian system whenever they stray out of line. There may be debate of the falling standard in a country that realized Oil Income windfall since the Arab Oil Embargo of 1972. Unfortunately, Nigeria has replaced Asian countries as the face of abject poverty.

The Nigerian Presidential Election produced some surprises along the Regions. While the Eastern states of the country voted over 90 percent along ethnic lines, the West and the old North were divided. The old North made up of different ethnic groups did not follow the old slogan of One North One People because two Presidential candidates contested, dividing the block voted for Hausa or Fulani candidates.

Nevertheless, the Western states that were mainly Yoruba rejected their own son in his state of origin and his adopted state where he has been elected as Governor in the past. The reason Yoruba voted for the Presidential candidates of other ethnic groups in Nigeria points to their Value System. Unlike their counterparts in the same countries, money has never been at the top of their Values in priorities.

Knowledge, honor, status and caliber are appreciated before money. Ethnic loyalty through the political history of Nigeria has always been secondary. So within the Nigerian Youth Movement formed by Herbert Macauley that metamorphosed into a political Party, it is not surprising that he mentored leaders of different ethnic groups. Such as Azikiwe, Awolowo, Ernest Ikoli, Peter Enahoro and many others.

This spirit of honor, caliber and merit regardless of where members come from produced not only leaders but elites that did very well in businesses and politics. While Nigeria was divided along the North and South politically, they found a temporary unity to claim Independence from the British. Indeed, one of the reasons Nnamdi Azikiwe gave for his Party alliance with the Northern Party was to avoid division along the North and South line.

Nevertheless, the Yoruba made Azikiwe the leader of the Party founded by Herbert Macauiey in Lagos and then elected him as leader into the Western House at Ibadan in the Yoruba Western Region. Very rare in African politics. Other ethnic groups flourished in the West in business, law and other educational activities since the Premier University was in Ibadan.

The Balewa Federal Government installed Prof. Kenneth Dike in1963 at the University of Ibadan, as Nigeria's first Vice-Chancellor. In 1965, after the expiration of another Igbo, Prof. Eni Njoku's three-year term as Vice-Chancellor at University of Lagos, Balewa replaced him with a renowned Yoruba historian, Prof. Saburi Biobaku. Kayode Adams, one of the Yoruba student activists at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and others protested against a Yoruba man and stabbed him.

Fast forward, it is not by accident that other ethnic groups were voted for as Presidential candidates while the Yoruba candidates came second in two important Yoruba states. These two Yoruba states knew the characters of their son and rejected him. This critical moral value among Yoruba may be discounted by those ethnic groups that voted for nobody else but their sons. Their hypocrisy stinks to high heavens, knowing their past voting patterns.

Some even claimed they have voted across ethnic lines before. But we know they only do that when their sons are running mates of the party they form an alliance with. Even Abiola a Yoruba that was duly elected as President, the Military Government nullified his mandate. Apart from one Eastern state, an unknown Fulani, Tofa got more votes than Abiola. They later supported the cancellation of the Abiola mandate.

Then, the Military decided on another Yoruba as replacement candidate. The Yoruba put up their own preferred candidate. In unisom, other ethnic groups voted against the Yoruba preferred candidate, Falaye and voted for Obasanjo, the Military Government’s candidate. A cynical move against Yoruba interest.

Fajuyi, the man that stood by Aguiyi Ironsi who refused to bring Nzegwu to justice for killing each ethnic leader in power except Igbo while Igbo celebrated, was called a traitor. Banjo, the Yoruba man that remained loyal to the Biafrans Army and led Biafrans Army into his fatherland was called a traitor and killed by firing squad when he returned to Biafra.

Wole Soyinka, the man who supported Biafra during the Civil War and almost died in prison for it, was called a traitor by Igbo. Tai Solari and Gani Fawehinmi fought Babangida and Abacha to a standstill at the risk of their life. Both were labeled cowards. When the Fulani tried to keep Yar'Adua in a vegetable state in power and ruled by proxy, Yoruba activists fought until his Vice President, a Biafrans nominated by Obasanjo became Acting President.

Jonathan was later voted into Power by the majority of the country from North to South. As soon as he became President, he squandered his enormous goodwill by marginalizing the Yoruba and labeled his benefactor, Obasanjo, a motor park tout. It was during his reign that he declared: our money, we spend it anyway we want. While he boasted about creating more millionaires and billionaires, he left Niger Delta, his home, an environmental disaster worse than he met it.

Despite these transgressions against Yoruba interest in Nigeria, Yoruba voted for the other ethnic groups and rejected their own son. It has never happened anywhere in Europe, Asia, America or Africa. The only way to understand the rationale behind Yoruba action in the last Presidential Election, one has to go back into their Value System.

You wonder if it is short memory or convenient amnesia. Before and even during the Nigerian Civil War, it was Yoruba that were seeking peace and were called Unity Beggars.