T Y Danjuma: Take Responsibility for your Actions and Stop Blaming the Yoruba People

Former Minister of Defense who spoke at an event in the University of Ibadan last week lamented that "in Yorubaland, everybody seems to have lost their voice, scared. And people appear not to care about what is happening. If I tell you what I know is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep...If you want details, I will give it to you privately."

He may be right in some regards concerning the disposition of certain Yoruba leaders who practically sold out their people for a plate of porridge. But he will not deny the fact that it is the voice of the Yoruba people that is loudest in condemning the anomalies of the present government and governments before it.

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Danjuma's statement has generated a lot of reaction from people. A one time Aviation Minister, Mr Femi Fani Kayode also reacted by daring TY Danjuma to reveal his secrets or forever remain silent. He said “Would someone please tell Gen. T.Y. Danjuma that if he wants to talk he should talk! Nigerians have already lost their sleep! We are already a vassal state being run by crude barbarians and we have nothing to lose. He should talk now before it is too late or forever hold his peace!”

The question to ask is how did we get here? What led us to the present situation where we are grasping at straws? History will not forget the roles played by General Danjuma and other military usurpers who plunged this country into this catch 22. The group where he belongs has always followed the North to degrade this country. Instances abound where these people went along with the Hausa Fulani people to perpetrate blood orgies during coups and religious violence that claimed thousands of lives. He also benefited greatly from successive military regimes in Nigeria and made a humongous amount of money for himself or how would he explain the acquisition of OPL 246 one of Nigeria’s richest oil blocks from Sani Abacha?

He has been part of the system, in fact he was and is still a major player. He should not look unto ordinary Nigerians or the Yorubas for help. As a general who has benefited greatly from the nepotistic propensity of the north, he should engage the federal government and not run with his tail between his legs to the Yoruba people whom history has always shown to resist the tyranny of his erstwhile brothers.

What significant role has he played to check the despotic tendencies of the northern oligarchies? The Yoruba race has always spoken truth to power even when one of its own led the country. It is not only the Yoruba race that brought us where we are; we all have a hand in it. To bail the country out of the present logjam, the whole country will have to come together. We are all part of the problem and we must also be part of the solution.

In certain respects, Danjuma's statement may be appropriately addressing a reversal of the fortune of the Yoruba people whom history has shown to be sophisticated and educated. Go to the streets of the southwest today and you will be sorry for what will greet your eyes. Thuggery and gangsterism has become the order of the day. This has been made so by the political elites of the region who made use of these youths to settle political scores and to perpetrate violence during elections. Worse still is the 'agbero' and 'owoeda' phenomenon, especially in Lagos State. You will see these boys at every bus stop and every street corner waiting to take advantage of commuters and pedestrians. They wield sticks and canes and are ready to unleash mayhem at the slightest provocation even with the presence of the police.

Taken from this angle, Danjuma's position that “We are in a big hole as a nation. And people who put us in this hole have continued today. So, we've got to wake up. Only we can save ourselves," is apt. If as a nation our leaders fail to address the increasing unemployment of the youth of this country, the disintegrating morals of the citizens and our imploding educational system, then we as a nation are in a big mess.