Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka said he does not like
the sound of a Yoruba or Igbo nation and would prefer an improvement of what we
have.
The Nobel Laureate made his point on Monday, during an
interview with BBC.
He was asked to take a stand on the creation of a Yoruba
Nation, being canvassed by Sunday Igboho and other Yoruba groups.
” I don’t like the sound of a Yoruba Nation any more than I like the sound of a Tiv nation, Igbo Nation, Itsekiri Nation.
“No. The reason is this: there are certain pejorative
overtones attached to it. That is not the issue. Take the Yoruba Nation for
instance. Are we talking about the creation of a Yoruba nation within Nigeria
only or across the colonial borders into the Republic of Benin where Yorubas
exist, Togo, and Ivory Coast where we have communities of Yoruba nation.
“I have to understand exactly what it means. We even talk
about Yoruba in the diaspora or not. It is a question for me not to answer at
this moment. All I know is this, and on a sentimental level and you know
sentiments are not objective reasoning. So yes I’d prefer us to try and mend
and manage what we have but under certain rigorous conditions.
“The condition is decentralisation. We have to move away
completely from this constitution which was imposed on us by an internal,
neo-colonial force called the military. Now, if it had worked, if it were
working, my position would have been different.
“My conditions are non-negotiable. We have to get away from
the present political arrangement because they clearly are not working; they
are creating internal overlords, they are creating a skewed, lopsided
revenue-sharing system. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“Right now, what we have is not a nation but a basket-case,
a real basket-case which is disintegrating all over the place, and all the
contents are spilling over the basket. And all we are trying to do is to hold
it there, grab it there, cover it there, cover that leak, and so on; a nation
can’t continue like this. It’s obvious. And some people are more impatient than
others.”
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