Bulletin #21:yoruba Referendum Committee’s Response To Senator Omo Agege

(i) The Yoruba Referendum Committee is compelled to respond to Senator Omo Agege’s call on 25 State Houses of Assembly to approve provisions of the 1999 Constitution pending before them on the ground that it is in the “interest of Nigerians”. Furthermore, the Senator said 24 states are making demands for the inclusion of other issues like “state police” in such a manner that all would be considered.

(ii) This is coming on the heels of Northern governors’ advocacy for State Police, riding on the back of persistent demands for same by the South and further reinforced by Southern Governors during their recent meeting, accentuated by the continuing face-off between Governor Akeredolu and the Central Government on the vexed question of arming state security agencies, and which has become a continuous source of tension between the states and the central Government.

(iii) The Yoruba Referendum Committee also recognizes the fact that “Restructuring”has now become an issue advocated by prominent personalities, including Presidential candidates and State Governors.

(iv) The above makes it abundantly clear that True Federalism must now take the front seat in the emerging political context. Previous ad hoc measures towards this end have failed mainly because of an assumed finality of the administrative units, the states, and not the various Peoples as Federating Units, hence the resort to always tinkering with the flaws in the Constitution through amendments and which has now led to this conundrum, where Senator Omo Agege is accusing 24 State legislatures of engaging in a quid pro quo in this amendment process.

(v) All of the above has given rise to the anti-thesis of Federalism, to wit: “devolution”—including “state Police”, as the ultimate goal. Yet, “Devolution” implies whoever devolves power also retains the capacity to take it back. Pursuit of “devolution” either in an incremental sense or as an end-goal becomes a token for the various Peoples of Nigeria who are further shortchanged by the tokenism embedded in “devolution”. Federalism is the other way round, to wit: the Nations/Peoples decide what powers and responsibilities to yield to the center.

(vi) As the “basic law” of a society, the Constitution embodies the socio-cultural essence of the People; it aggregates their existential paradigms physically manifesting in their administrative territories.

(vii) Hence, the Yoruba Referendum Committee agrees with the Yoruba truism that says one’s head cannot be shaved in his or her absence. All of Nigeria’s Constitutions since 1979 shaved our heads in our absence; the main reason for the societal dysfunction being experienced in Nigeria and the only way to remedy the situation is for the various Peoples and Nationalities in Nigeria to, in a Referendum, determine the framework for their aspirations and self-actualization which then become the foundation for Restructuringof Nigeria.

(viii) For the Yoruba, this will be the Yoruba Referendum, as proposed by the Yoruba Referendum Committee. The APC is currently the dominant political party in Yorubaland, with Legislative and Executive powers in its hands. The Party is therefore presently well-suited to endorse the Yoruba Referendum as the route towards re-Federalizing Nigeria.

(ix) The Yoruba Referendum provides a direct, practical, and achievable Pathway because the 1999 Constitution neither conferred upon nor denied the State Legislatures the capability and capacity to organize such a Referendum.

(x) The Referendum question is a "Yes" or "No" as to whether the states should "Federate" into a Regional Administration with a Constitutional Commission that will negotiate on behalf of Yorubaland.

(xi) This Constitutional Commission Legitimately and Legally resolves two issues simultaneously, to wit: it becomes the official Yoruba Leadership as well as providing the basis for negotiating with other Peoples and Nationalities in Nigeria.

(xii) The Yoruba Referendum Committee believes passing the Bill into Law and conducting the Yoruba Referendum by December 2022 will become the vehicle for engaging any incoming Administration towards a Constitutional Conference to arrive at a new Federal Constitution for Nigeria. Preparations for the 2023 elections cannot be an obstacle to this move. Indeed, it will aid in the preparations as it will galvanize the People towards their aspirations.

(xiii) The Bill for a Yoruba Referendum can be domesticated by others in Nigeria, as it will serve as a template even when they are not in a comparable situation with Yorubaland.

(xiv) Following up on this, the Yoruba Referendum Committee initiated a Petition to the Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti State Houses of Assembly to pass the Bill for a Referendum into Law and conduct the Referendum.

(xv) The Petition can be found here: http://chng.it/ybwX2ZR6Tt .

(xvi) The Yoruba Referendum Committee took this route because the National Assembly, as presently constituted, does not represent the Peoples of Nigeria, and the 1999 Constitution it seeks to amend does not recognize the Peoples as Federating Units; rather, the Peoples were substituted with administrations of the States and Local Governments as “Federating Units”.

(xvii) Furthermore, the process of amending the 1999 Constitution abridges True Federalism in that the required concurrence of 24 states already vitiates True Federalism, for, these states may or may not share similar existential prerogatives as now confirmed by Senator Omo Agege’s allegation of 24 states seeking a quid pro quo before proceeding on the amendment.

(xviii) At this point, we must remind ourselves that the Referendum for the creation of the Mid-Western Region in 1963 was conducted among only the people of the Mid-West and not the whole of Nigeria; the Northern and Southern Cameroon Referendum was carried out among the Peoples of the Cameroons and not with all of Nigeria, even as they were still part of Nigeria; the Scottish Referendum for Independence was conducted among the Scots; the Catalonia Referendum only among the Catalans; Quebec Independence Referendum within the Province of Quebec in Canada.

(xix) In all these instances, National Parliaments exist, yet there were no countrywide Referendums organized by these National Parliaments as the final arbiter of the wishes of the Peoples. There is therefore no reason the various Peoples or Nationalities of Nigeria cannot conduct their own Referendums.

(xx) With all the above, the Yoruba will be rendering a service of historic proportions, becoming a beacon for not only other Nationalities in Nigeria but also the rest of Africa where comparable Nationality questions exist and has led to continuous wars and conflicts. This pathway will aid in the resolution of such conflicts.

Editorial Board
Yoruba Referendum Committee