Igboho: Vindicated by reality

​Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, deserves a prominent place in the chronicles of our time. He has been at the forefront of shaping public thought and action, not just in the Southwest zone, but in Nigeria as a whole. He was one of the first to sincerely and commendably put a deepening security crisis on the front burner. To the undiscerning at that time, Igboho looked like he was crying wolf. Subsequent events have vindicated him.

There will always be debates about Igboho’s methods, but every mortal is a product of inherent flaws. Again, the key point with him in mind is to answer the question: “What is to be done?” Even the Commander-in-Chief of the valiant Nigerian Armed Forces, the astute, ever-thinking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has cause to now rejig the security framework with the stated intention to bring the number of established army divisions to twelve.

It is to be hoped that the president’s salutary move would reveal an emerging Defence Investment Programme (DIP) to navigate Nigeria’s defence mechanism over the next decade. Given the constant mutations and re-strategization of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and assorted criminal elements, Nigeria is now in it for the long haul. This is no temporary hiccup, and there should be no illusion about this. History will be merciless to a nation that misconstrues a dimple for a pimple; that mistakes a systemic war for a passing storm.

To return to Sunday Igboho, he is in effect arguing that the Southwest as a region should have a regional security framework with decentralized command centres as a preemptive, containment and neutralizing strategic imperative. Like a lone voice in the wilderness, he has been hinting at this for a long time, and this position applies to every other region as well. We already have regional development commissions. Having regional internal security mechanisms to protect development is only logical.

In a broken-down society, where being decent is a dangerous business, Igboho is correctly making a valid case for heightened regional integration, an idea that was once on the front burner and had seemingly been jettisoned. As the pioneer Administrative Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), I can confirm that the Yoruba sociopolitical organisation explicitly detailed the “institutionalization of strong regional security mechanisms and the decentralization of policing and community structures” within the DAWN framework.

Let’s face it: recent sordid events in Owo, Ondo State, Oriire, Oyo State, and elsewhere have shown that this is the only way forward. Such an initiative should be strategically funded to cover technology, personnel recruitment and continuous training. Furthermore, we should develop Special Forces specifically trained and equipped to handle security crises unique to the topography and terrain of Southwest Nigeria.

Whatever the reservation about the crudity of his utterances, Igboho has to be given kudos for treading where even the angels dread. That he had the foresight to open a discourse on existential issues confronting the Yoruba-speaking nationality and Nigeria as a whole has shown him as a Yoruba hero. As fate would have it, he is now an important player in the Southwest security framework, even extending beyond his borders and therefore should be given special protection worthy of a priceless asset.

Apart from everything else, Igboho should be a key member of a Southwest security consultative forum, acting as a strategic think-tank to develop and help implement immediate, short-, medium-, and long-term strategies. The Southwest needs to protect his person; as history amply demonstrates, warfare throughout history has rarely been a mere clash of armies on a neutral battlefield. Rather, it has relied on the systematic disruption, starvation, and economic strangulation of opposing populations - falling squarely under the military doctrine of economic warfare and exhaustion designed to break an adversary's will and capacity to fight.

Rome (during the Second Punic War)! Nigeria (during the Civil War)! We miss the point if we view the current violence merely as random criminality. It is a deliberate, calculated strategy to displace our farming populations and choke the rural economy. Drive the farmer off his ancestral land, and you trigger a vicious domino effect: rural destitution, skyrocketing food prices in cities like Ibadan and Lagos, and a quiet transfer of wealth into the hands of criminal syndicates.

It is therefore to Igboho’s credit that he forewarned of the signs of things to come. At that time, he sounded like an alarmist and an impenitent irritant in search of undue attention. He even lost men and materials; only God made him walk away with his own life. That is classic Nigerian state hypocrisy for you: hounding the truth-teller when panic is low, only to secretly adopt his blueprint when reality catches up with them. History has now vindicated Igboho Oosa. After all, there are no unanswered prayers.

Igboho’s emergence simply laid bare the helpless inadequacy of running a multi-ethnic federation with a clumsy, centralized policing system. Unlike some other opportunistic noisemakers and blame-shifters who made their mark earlier but now have to contend with their past, Igboho has proven to be a deeper thinker and a more astute strategist. He is deserving, and it serves as a reminder that karma will, in its own time, make a difference in the affairs of men. You may make even more than enough money in this world, but again, karma is forever a bitch!

“Ẹ̀hìnkùlẹé lòtń wà, ilé l’asẹni ńgbé” (The enemy lives around, the evil doer lives within!) The framework and ideas launched by the Sunday Igboho intervention should be structured and institutionalized. Who knows? “A new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” can rise up again! Surely and certainly, this is the only way to prevent ‘Ìrù Ekùn’ from being distorted, losing focus, and graduating into a ‘Us-versus-Us’ threat against its original laudable intentions. Of course, this has been the fate inadvertently of political movements all over the world in the past. The Yoruba self-determination activist should be conscious at all times of the admonition made by the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Good intentions are best interwoven with a clear, constantly fine-tuned foundational goal.

A Yoruba proverb also says: “Sókí l’obè oge.” Translated in English, it means “A sweet soup is given in small quantities.” What do I mean? Igboho should beware of over-extending his reach. He should be reminded that no savvy General wants to be ensnared into fighting on too many fronts. He should also bear in mind that there’s something called ‘Division of Labour’, which means that he should concentrate on the topography and the culture which he knows very well. Extending his reach beyond the Southwest is a route to diversion, entrapment and almost-certain loss of focus, and the end result may be disaster. He should be forewarned against the well-proven danger of overreach.

Lastly, history offers a good antidote to delusion of grandeur, and it comes from Otto von Bismarck. After Prussia's victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, Bismarck was returning to Berlin. Crowds lined the streets, cheering him as the saviour of Germany, the Iron Chancellor who had humbled Austria. Instead of basking in the euphoria, Bismarck reportedly turned to an aide and said coldly: “If it were another man, you would say the same thing for him.”

Bismarck understood crowd psychology. The cheer was not for Bismarck the man, but for Bismarck the moment. It was for the victory. Give them another victor tomorrow, and the same crowd will cheer with the same lungs. Therefore, Igboho should beware. Those shouting ‘Hosanna’ today may be the ones chorusing ‘Crucify him’ tomorrow. Crowds are loyal to the drumbeat, not the drummer.

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

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