–Climate justice will come easier if it follows and encourages social justice
–Exclusive videos of my conversations, see tweets (xeets) below
–Nigeria criticises ‘undemocratic’ UN Security Council
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 25-29, 2024 — Various groups in #Nigeria are pushing for their own kind of Brexit.
I spoke with Professor Banji Akintoye, a renowned historian, who wants self determination for the Yoruba people.
See conversation (context below):
A process is planned to set details of self determination as soon as next month, such as deciding on a NAME OF THE NEW COUNTRY, FLAG, COAT OF ARMS, he said.
Some countries he declined to name are supportive of self determination, and the UN might help, he said. [The countries will speak about it when they are ready, he said.]
The basic problem is that the Nigerian federal government is supressing the Yoruba people and the injustice is mounting, he said.
Jan. 27, the Nigeria Police Force revealed that a Yoruba Nation agitator, Olamilekan Odofin, was arrested after over a year on the run, according to this report.
“The 34-year-old was arrested by officers of Ayobo Division. The suspect, on January 9, 2023, championed attacks on motorists and the police under the guise of Yoruba Nation agitation,” a statement by the Lagos Police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin revealed (report).
Africa could be the most populous region by the end of the century, rivalling Asia.
What will surprise many is the #Yoruba people developed a sophisticated and clean and often peaceful urban existence for hundreds of years …but their big mistake was trusting Britain, whose offer of protection in the 1800s actually turned out to be an exploitative racket causing (in part) violence, injustice and unrest that’s pervasive today, Akintoye said. Inflation is running above 20% and debt repayments limit money available for taxpayers.
Yorubaland ? Oduduwa Republic ?
Source: Wikimedia, Akintoye said initially the new state would probably not include areas of Benin (to simplify self determination)
With such violence in present-day Nigeria, a surge in suicide by young men, climate change (for instance) isn’t seen as a big deal, he said. Yet, self-determination processes will complicate UN climate negotiations and a sense of historical and financial justice at home will allow the world’s poorest to more confidently engage with and solve global problems when those solutions include tangible benefits (eg well-paying jobs, less pollution, lower levels of corruption).
Context
The numerically – and politically – major ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa-Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the southwest, and the Igbo of the southeast. (Wikipedia)
Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. …. Other European powers acknowledged Britain’s dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. By a British Act of Parliament, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960.
My conversations with Akintoye: Please Watch, it’s a fascinating and ambitious self-determination project
Apologies for my sometimes-ignorant questions.
‘To the guy with the biggest hammer (the USA?) everything is a nail’: Nigeria govt
Diplomacy should stop taking a ‘back seat’ to war
[@Prof_akintoye, former senator
Thanks for the introduction @KoikiMedia
(More to come)
