Can Yoruba Nation leaves Nigeria without a Referendum? Sandra Popoola shares Insights

Being a keynote address by Mrs Sandra Popoola delivered at the Yoruba Nation Global Directorate Town Hall Meeting on the 28th May 2022 in London in response to the media campaign that the Yoruba needed no referendum before exiting Nigeria.

I salute the Directorate Director, Princess Adeola Atayero Olamijulo, other members of the Yoruba Nation Global Directorate cabinet, and members of the Yoruba press here present at today’s meeting. I want to congratulate the Yoruba people on this rare feat. Consistency, reliability, responsibility and omoluwabi are the values we could see at play in the organisation and operations of this functional body. I congratulate you on this.

Today, we will educate ourselves on the best route to Yoruba self-determination. This will make us understand the basic issues in this struggle. It undermines our intelligence when we are led by mere sophistry, and we assume that just wishful thinking is enough for us to achieve self-determination. We should not endanger the lives of our people, women, girls, children and older people, because we neglect to reflect and engage in critical thinking about this struggle.

Do we really want an independent Yoruba nation?

I ask this question because there is a lot of misinformation, outright academic lies, and uncertain dynamics thrown at the Yoruba public. These issues I hope to address in this keynote address. The question is: how do donations get their independence? What role does the United Nations play? Can a nation stand without the approval of the United Nations?

The United Nations Charter of 1948 and self-determination

The UN’s position on self-determination is not straightforward. It says you cannot disintegrate, and in deserving cases, it supports self-determination. But much of the work to get recognition as a nation is with the people who want independence. The more significant part of achieving self-determination is not merely words of the mouth but also a clear vision and well-outlined strategies. The UN position creates ambiguity because it doesn’t want to destabilise an existing nation or its territorial integrity. This can only have support where the people are homogenous. Nigeria is not homogeneous. It has different nationalities. Therefore, this point favours the Yoruba people, who are noted for their homogeneity.

The ambiguity dissolves when a would-be nation successfully fulfils the conditions of nationhood. The position of the UN on secession or self-determination and any subsequent recognition is basically important since accession to the UN is considered by the international community as tantamount to near-universal recognition. This means that once the five major permanent members of the security council of the UN recognise your nation, you can proclaim or announce your independence.

To become a nation and, in fact, a member of the United Nations, a state must be recognised by at least two-thirds of existing members of the UN after gaining approval of the 15 UN Security Council. This means that it recognises the major world powers, i.e. the permanent members (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US). This tells us that no nation can exist in isolation. You cannot form a nation without the support of the United Nations.

A significant factor that makes the UN sympathetic to the self-determination struggle is whether a state has failed. Nigeria has been unable to within the parameters identified by the United Nations. These parameters are failure of governance, corruption, failure of economic and social wellbeing, insecurity, etc. By these, the Yoruba, just like other ethnic nationalities, have a Remedial Right to Self Determination. The Nigerian government has lost the battle to secure its people, economically failed, and all infrastructures went comatose. As such, the Yoruba people have the right to exercise their sovereignty.

The Montevideo Convention of 1938

For a people to become a nation, certain conditions must be met. These conditions are like Siamese twins; one cannot leave another. Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention states: ‘The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

a. a permanent population
b. a defined territory
c. government, and
d. capacity to enter into relations with the other states

In view of these conditions and other necessary provisions of the conventions and laws, the Yoruba Nation Global Directorate was conceptualised to achieve the above conditions. We have an identifiable permanent population and a defined territory. The YNGD was set up as a government in exile to achieve the remaining two of the conditions above. YNGD has been relating with some governments of the world, empowering the Yoruba people with the capacity to enter into relations with other nations.

This suggests that the Petition would not achieve anything for us without fulfilling these conditions. The idea being promoted that we do not need a referendum will make a mockery of all our efforts and put the Yoruba people`s struggle into calculated jeopardy. If petitions could give people their desired nation, Somaliland, which has even gained the recognition of the United Nations as a de facto government, would have become a nation today. No nation declares itself without a standing army, parliament, economic councils, legislations etc. To do so is to jump on the way of a fast-moving train.

Take examples from other nations: USSR and Czechoslovakia.

Let me correct an impression. There are two ways to go about self-determination. Either by war or by peaceful means. Usually, for obvious reasons, the host countries don’t take kindly to secession or self-determination. As a result, nations whose constitutions stipulated referendum often result in that provision as a last resort. Scotland and Catalonia are good examples. Most nations go by referendum, especially if their constitution says so.

We all heard it said that.

We do not need a referendum. Russia and Czechoslovakia did not have any referendum when they went their ways. We are not going to hold any referendum. We will use our 5 million petitions. …Our people will match away from Nigeria…

I want to debunk the view that there was no referendum in the USSR before the nationalities within that great nation went their different ways. There was indeed a referendum. The question that was put to the people was:

Do you consider necessary the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics? The rights and freedom of an individual of any ethnicity will be fully guaranteed?

The turnout at the referendum was 80%, and the referendum question was approved by nearly 80% of voters in all nine other republics that took part. It was the only and main referendum in the history of the Soviet Union. It led to the Soviet Union being dissolved on 26 December 1991.

As for the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, in 1992, both Czech and Slovak republics agreed to dissolve the union. And in September 1992 opinion poll showed that 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution. Both countries entered peaceful negotiation as opposed to a violent break-up.

On November 25, 1992, the national assembly passed Constitution Act No 542, which reflected the agreement to dissolve Czechoslovakia by 31 December 1992.

Let me remind us that the politicians in the USSR and Czech and Slovakia were politicians and statemen with the interest of their people at heart. They are not as selfish, self-opinionated, greedy, and self-seeking as the Nigerian politicians.

Coming nearer home is the Southern Sudan, which recently became a member of the United Nations. The Constitution of Sudan does not have a provision for a referendum. However, the South Sudan and Sudan government in 2005 came together because of consistent differences. They signed the Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). The agreement that led to the referendum resulted from a serious civil war by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. The question at the referendum was: whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent?
I have been in-depth in this analysis to show that nowhere in the world an ordinary petition will ground independence or self-determination. There must be a legal instrument that will state as such or an agreement that will lead to a referendum having been constitutionally engineered. Anything short of this is false and fraudulent.

The consequences of misinformation

So, what are the effects of spreading misinformation about the Yoruba using a petition to leave Nigeria?

a. We do not have any security force or ammunition we could use if the federal government decides to attack the Yorubaland. We would endanger the lives of our people to adopt such a silly course. Most of us are abroad, and even the leaders proposing this are not in the Yoruba nation to lead the people.

b. We risk a state of emergency being declared in all the Yoruba states, and military administrators will be appointed to begin to rule us. The implications of this are multivarious. I wouldn’t want to imagine it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have left much undone while a supposed Yoruba leader cum whatever title without coronation continue to engage in social media campaign. We have neglected the local people back home who will also vote to say yes to our independence. For me, this is a major project the media and those presently seeking an international passport for a nation that has not been legally formed should pursue. The Yoruba Nation Global Directorate has been making subtle contacts with other nations while also taking the issue of security headlong back home.

The Yoruba Nation Global Directorate has a case before the ECOWAS Court of Justice based on the Constitutional Force Majeure instigated by the NINAS proposal as declared on 6 December 2020. This case, when decided, has the potential of directing the National Assembly to pave the way for a referendum for the Yoruba people. Besides, the Yoruba Nation Global Directorate has also joined the lawsuit instituted by the Concerned Northern Groups (CNG). They sought a court order to direct the National Assembly to make a law that would allow the Southeast region to hold a referendum and exit Nigeria. The Yoruba have been joined to this case. If the court grants the order, the Yoruba too will hold its referendum and exit Nigeria. And contrary to our ignorance and misinformation about the Yoruba people, the referendum will not be conducted and decided by the INEC. It will be a Yoruba affair through a legally constituted Referendum Commission, and members of the international community will supervise it.

We should not be misled to think that the Yoruba can leave Nigeria without a referendum. As I have said, the other alternative is a war that we are not prepared for because of its inappropriateness to our case.

I will encourage other organisations to also reflect on serious awareness campaigns back home. Let our people go to the Yoruba villages, cities towns. Let us educate them. Let the awareness be taken to their bedrooms, sheds, hamlets, churches, and mosques. Let this be discussed at owambe parties. Encourage our musicians to sing songs about it. Once we do this, we need not fear that our people will say YES to the question of whether or not they want a separate republic for the Yoruba nation. It will be a done deal.

But if we continue to deceive ourselves on social media pages, the future generations and indeed the current generations will not forgive the crop of leaders that refuse to see and learn from the history of others.

Thank you.

Oodua a gbe wa o. Ko nigbe Odale. Emi ko ni da ile Yoruba. Iwo nko?

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Mrs Sandra Popoola
London
28th May 2022.