Igarra, Ososo, and Okpe are Yoruba-speaking communities in Edo State. Their affinity to Ondo State is not only linguistic but also cultural. Kwara is almost entirely Yoruba despite the Emirate of Ilorin. Bayo Ojulari, GMD of NNPCL; the recently appointed Chairman of INEC, Ojo Amupitan; and Senators Dino Melaye and Smart Adeyemi – genetic evidence proves that Kogi State has a large and prosperous Yoruba ethnicity. Within the Southwest, Ondo State has Ese Odo Local Government dedicated to Ijaw-speaking people. They are a riverine nationality dwelling in the geographic Southwest, many of whom do not speak Yoruba, nor can they read or write the Yoruba alphabet.
The intercalation of ethnic groups across state boundaries is not peculiar to the Yoruba. There are Fulani tribes indigenous to Benue, Plateau, and Taraba in spite of the carnages. Hundreds of thousands of Igbo, separated from their Arochukwu kith and kin by the Niger Bridge, reside in Asaba, Agbor, and other purely Igbo settlements in Delta and Benue States. We shouldn’t even talk about the anomaly faced by the Ikwerre in Rivers State, who are unmistakably Igbo in tongues and names.
These fringe dwellers – whether in Kwara, Edo, Delta, Ondo, Benue, Taraba, or Kogi – face the affliction or prejudices of the majority. Bayo Ojulari would not be accepted as Yoruba and allowed to cream off the region’s share of the milk when positions are zoned to the Southwest. He would be reminded that he’s a northerner. Senator Dino Melaye is culturally suspected by the Ibadan Yoruba and politically denied as a double-dealer if he’s nominated for an INEC position despite his sonorous Yoruba hymns. In the same manner, the Igbo would still have felt cheated and unsatisfied if Rotimi Amaechi, an Ikwerre, had been elected as President of the Republic of Nigeria in 2023.
Those who pigeonhole persons according to their ethnicity (on social media) are often the most educated class. The objection to Prof. Ojo Amupitan SAN selection to head INEC because he’s Yoruba is a textbook example. It insultingly reduces the scholarship and competence of a man like Prof. Amupitan because of his ethnicity. It is akin to believing that Ade Olawale, a professor of law teaching at Ahmadu Bello University, would fix the scores to be more benevolent to Ajoke Adeniyi, a research student, because she’s Yoruba. That mindset is primordial and barbaric. It is why the private sector develops at cheetah speed while our public sector crawls.
The discussion of the Amupitan situation throws up two questions. Firstly, how should we be classified? Should state of origin be jettisoned for ethnicity? Perhaps the Constitution should be tweaked to officially recognise the nation’s ethnicities and classify us into those boxes. By that measure, the Ijaw in Ondo State would not be politically deceived into thinking they are Yoruba, Southwesterners, and not Izon.
Secondly, would we ever advance to a state where the competence and capacity of candidates for public office would override zonal or ethnic considerations? This is a tall ambition even for liberals. There’s too much leeway for mutually assured suspicion among the major tribes. For instance, my preference for Bola Tinubu in 2023 was deemed a protection of my Yoruba ethnicity, and there’s no hyssop that can wash me clean of that in the eyes of others. Nevertheless, that’s not a good way to conclude things. Reductionism of political choices and offices to patronising kinship and ethnicity blots out excellence and promotes mediocrity.
Affirmative action, educationally disadvantaged states, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), quota systems are lawful or constitutional measures to ensure the even growth of subgroups within a nation. They consolidate the reality that there are interests and diversities that must be encouraged and protected. Sadly, in the quest to protect endangered species among the minorities sandwiched between the majority, Bayo Ojulari gets blackmailed as NNPCL GMD by fellow northerners for taking what is meant for “true northerners”; and President Bola Tinubu is crucified for selecting Ojo Amupitan, a bona fide northerner whose genes and ancestry are Yoruba. To buttress the dilemma, Isaac Kekemeke, lawyer, former Attorney-General of Ondo State, and deputy national chairman of the APC, is Ijaw from Ondo State. If he gets elected as President in 2031, would he be seen as fulfilling the slot for the South-South, where he ethnically belongs, or as a Yoruba president where he geographically resides?
Conclusion
In the tapestry of Nigeria’s nationhood, where ethnic threads weave inextricably through state boundaries, the stories remind us that identity is not a rigid cage but a fluid continuum. Yet, as the fates of Bayo Ojulari, Ojo Amupitan, and countless others illustrate, we persist in wielding ethnicity as an instrument to slice opportunities, fuel suspicions, and perpetuate a zero-sum game that elevates mediocrity over merit. The two pivotal questions raised by the essayist – how to classify our multifaceted selves, and whether competence can ever eclipse zonal parochialism – demand not just constitutional tweaks but a profound cultural reckoning. Ultimately, Nigeria’s advancement hinges on transcending this primordial barbarism, where the educated elite on social media sharpen ethnic daggers. Imagine a republic where Rotimi Amaechi’s Ikwerre heritage does not bar Igbo acceptance, where Isaac Kekemeke’s presidency unites rather than divides geopolitical slots, and where political choices like President Tinubu preferences are judged on vision, not kinship. By jettisoning reductionist lenses and embracing a competence first ethos tempered by inclusive safeguards, we can forge a nation where diversity is not a cross but a pedestal.
… Olalegan is a lawyer, essayist and a public affairs analyst.
