Nnamdi Kanu & Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho): the Nigerian Constitution does not protect their Conduct

Ipemndoh dan Iyan

Citizenship of a Country has a particular fundamental Philosophy underpinning it. It is Philosophy that the Practice of ‘Dual Citizenship’ undermines. Some Countries recognize this salient Philosophy, and they accordingly refuse to accommodate dual Citizenship. The Philosophy of Citizenship to a Country is the moral obligation of undiluted Loyalty to that Country. It is unalloyed Fidelity. Ipemndoh dan Iyan©

Preamble

Nigeria used to be among the morally enlightened Dominions which are cognizant of the primary Duty arising from Citizenship. The Country then became disoriented in its Eagerness to join the Western World in warped Understanding of Citizenship as Identity. In embracing ‘Dual Citizenship’, Nigeria failed to think it through that what Western Societies conclude is good or appropriate for them is not necessarily so for Nigeria. Think about “different Strokes.” The Reality, actually, is that the West has never articulated what the Territorial-State profits from the ‘Dual Citizenship’ of Persons. I see ‘Dual Citizenship’ as antithetical to the Duty of Citizenship which is one of undivided Loyalty to the Country of which a Person is its Citizen. There is no other normative Explanation for Citizenship. My Definition of Citizenship here is both the philosophical Reconciliation between Citizenship and State (the Territorial-State), and the practical Demonstration of this philosophical Harmony. From the Point of View of Utility (also known as 'Utilitarianism'),1 dual Citizenship is of Reward only for/to those Citizens. Any Benefit to the States to which they split their 'international' Identity, in most Cases, is incidental (like Tax Payments). Dual Citizenship denotes the Irrationality of Human Thought for Greed, Moral Bankruptcy, Self-centredness, Selfishness, et cetera. Dual or multiple Citizens enjoy the expansive Benefits of their many Worlds without enduring the intricate Burdens of any. Dual Citizenship, and other types of multiple Citizenships are the Bedrock of moral-Chaos, and ‘international relations’ Bedlam. These are the Extents of multiple Citizenship for the Person, and the global Community respectively. This Type of global Identity is amoral in its ‘Consequentialism’. 

A little Digression 

Let us sidetrack slightly and talk about ‘Consequentialism’. In proposing ‘Consequentialism’, G.E.M Anscombe in her 1958 Essay2 believed she was criticizing ‘Utilitarianism' for being too restrictive in explaining the Morality of the Human Species. For me, she was the One in Error, and she unknowingly admitted this with her Acknowledgement that “It is a necessary feature of consequentialism that it is a shallow philosophy.” Of course, her damnation of Consequentialism was misfocused. It is not Consequentialism that is “shallow” but her Attempt to deceive the Mind she was educing something new when all she was doing was rechristening Utilitarianism with a new Name of Consequentialism. Perhaps, I am being unkind to her, and it could be that she really did not understand the overarching Incisiveness of ‘Utilitarianism'. She quite missed the Point. ‘Utilitarianism' is about exploiting advantage for the Purposes of achieving an Objective whether bad or good, self-interested or public-spirited nevermind how its original Exponents proposed it. In fact, Anscombe unwittingly contradicted herself when she argued that “if you are a consequentialist, the question ‘What is it right to do in such-and-such circumstances?’ is a stupid one to raise.” ‘Utilitarianism' in its Expansiveness is not concerned with that Question either. ‘Utilitarianism' and 'Consequentialism' can be summarised by the common Saying of “the end justifies the Means.” 

Dual Citizenship means just that; dual – Nnamdi Kanu, i.e., 

The UK Government has clarified the Situation for those who care to find out rather than spout grunge. This Clarification is the Standard in "international" Law. 

As a dual national you cannot get diplomatic help from the British government when you are in the other country where you hold citizenship.” (See ‘Dual Citizenship' – www.gov.uk)  

 

The UK Insight is straightforward enough even for a Mumu to appreciate. However, let me make it clearer for those still unable to grasp its Impact. If you hold British, and Nigerian Passports, when you are in Nigeria you are not British for Governance Purposes, and vice versa. It is similar to any other ‘Dual Citizenship’ or multiple Citizenship. 

Mr Nnamdi Kanu, the now Remandee Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has both a British Passport and a Nigerian Passport, but in Nigeria the Man is not a British Citizen, period. Kanu's Defence Lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, does not have this Understanding when appealing to the British Government to intervene https://youtu.be/k_9l6IE3HA4 Ejimakor "don miss road" (misleads himself). If the British accede to this legally unsustainable Request from Ejimakor, the British will be interfering in the internal Affairs of Nigeria, and aiding and abetting Kanu's Destabilisation of the Country. In this Kanu's present Case, the British will no more butt in as they would in the Case of anyone not holding a British Passport. As for Kanu "get[ting] a fair trial", he is not deserving of One. Did he give any fair Option to Persons he and/or IPOB ordered killed or those we saw on television News flogged by his Hooligans for not complying with his peremptory "stay at home" Order, besides the Fact that he has no constitutional Authority to issue any Order in that Legal Entity called Nigeria? "Do unto others as you want done unto you." 'Fairness' requires that once Kanu has disregarded 'Fairness' to Others, he forfeited his Entitlement to 'Fairness'. If I were prosecuting him, I would make him judge himself at all steps of the Cross-Examination by asking him if his Actions to those Others, inter alia, were 'fair'. I will make him confirm the 'Fairness' of his Actions, including skipping Bail to the Detriment of his Guarantor. So, please. 

"Read my Lips", Ejimakor; Kanu is a Nigerian Citizen when in Nigeria notwithstanding his British Passport albeit he is confused about his Nigerian Identity. He claims he is not Nigerian but Biafran yet he willingly carries a Nigerian Passport. He then sets about whipping up Discontent in Nigeria as Prelude to facilitating Violence in that Country. He vaunts himself as the Salvation for Igbo Deliverance from perceived Fulani Bondage, and his Solution is Igbo Emancipation into the Sovereign State of Biafra. He is not telling us anything new. The Argument is Camouflage for Igbo Desire to dominate the Country of Nigeria or there should be no Nigeria. It is the same imperious Impulse that led to the Coup of January 1966 planned and executed mainly by Igbo Military Officers in the murdering of primarily Fulani/Hausa3 Military Officers and Politicians for the Sins of Yoruba Politicians (1962 Ladoke Akintola - Obafemi Awolowo Riots hence). This Igbo selective-Nationalism4 eventually led to the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970. 

Kanu's Admirers immerse themselves in the Banality of Kanu's Biafra Agitation and ignore the evident Contradiction of his Biafran Pursuit. This Contradiction is simply that the Igbo are not “indigenous” only to Nigeria. If Kanu truly does not consider himself “Nigerian” but Igbo, why is he not engaged with the Dispersal of the Igbo into colonialist Enclaves by the Whims of European Colonialists? Those colonialist Enclaves, representative of the Strategy of 'white' Slavers and Colonizers to tear apart African Families and Communities were reinvented into Sovereign States such that African Peoples, including the Igbo, are permanently disassociated across neighboring African Countries. Such shattering of African Communities to sever their Connection to their Nationalities was typical of the Colonialists' divide and disillusion Strategy to emasculate African Families, and close-knit Communities on the American Plantations from mounting concerted Fightbacks against African Enslavement on those Plantations. The Strategy was so successful that it was replicated in the Colonization of the African Continent itself. Thus, if Nnamdi Kanu understands the Principle of the “Biafra” Project he would recognize my Disposition here. He should read and digest the 1969 Ahiara Declaration. The Framers of the Ahiara Declaration who were also the Originators of the Biafra Project, including Biafran General Odumegwu Ojukwu Jr5 and Chinua Achebe among other big Names were also apparently incognizant of this Fact of Igbo Dispersal by Colonialism across Countries neighboring Nigeria. The only sane Justification for Biafra is that Nigeria could never have emerged from the willing Association of Fulani/Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The Histories of these Peoples before Colonization tell us this much. The same reasoning obtains for a Yoruba Sovereign State as much as for a Fulani/Hausa Sovereign State. 

Kanu manifestly is not loyal to his British Citizenship either. If he were, he would not be holding a Nigerian Passport as Leader of IPOB which is a Body premised on disengaging from Nigerian Citizenship through Violence. The Biafra(n) Cause is of Nigerian Origination. In other Words, the Biafra(n) Agitation is a Nigerian Issue affecting the Igbo Community. Firstly, the Question the British need to ask is: has Mr Kanu given himself in any Way to any Matter of British Origination affecting any Community in the UK? Secondly, Kanu is bringing British Citizenship into Disrepute. He had been destabilising the Nigerian State as a Nigerian de jure while at the same time abusing the British Passport as the Access with which to travel the World in his Pursuit of violent Preferences for his Biafran Secession. He became too arrogant, and it is why he got caught and repatriated to Nigeria, in the first Instance. It might also be the Case that the British have washed their Hands off him, and his being apprehended has much to do with "behind the Scenes" Diplomacy not excluding British Input, i.e., "take him when he is not on British Soil." Kanu is a perfect Example of the Abuse of more-than-one Citizenship by dual-Citizens/multiple-Citizens. 

I do not know if Lawyer SAN Abiodun Jelili Owonikoko in https://youtu.be/KxtnrQV5MbE is correct in stating that a Nigerian Court cannot retain a British Passport. He is, after all, an Officer of the Nigerian Courts. He is wrong, however, in implying, and emphatically so, that what is practised in Nigeria’s Jurisprudence is Signature for what happens everywhere else, that it is the same in other Jurisdictions. English Courts6 have been known to grant Requests for the Retention of non-British Passports whether or not EU (when we were in the EU). The same Conditions apply in US Courts, even less flexible than English Courts. I needed to mention these two Jurisdictions lest Nigerians with Lack of Information, and no natural Inclination to self-teach took Mr Owonikoko’s strong Suggestion as Gospel. He is correct though that Passports are the Properties of the Countries of Issue. Another Thing; there is no such Thing as “International Passport”, as Nigerians are wont to say whether or not they are SANs like Mr Owonikoko. A Passport is an "international" Identity Card, is it not? It does not need to be labelled "International." It is kind of "Amo ju" otherwise. It is tautologous.

Nigerians are so full of it ..., but there are different Degrees and Types of Crime

Any Student of Criminology, including Criminal Law, recognises that there are different Types of Crimes and that there are Categories of Crimes and that these Categories are on a Continuum. Variations of Crimes attract different Opprobria and Punishments. 

Mr Nnamdi Kanu, a Nigerian by Nigerian Law, and “international" Law declared a Republic within the Nigerian Territorial-State and proceeded to impose his Will on the said Republic as though it were a Sovereign State, and his Fiefdom, i.e., his “stay at home” Decree and summary Punishment of those who did not obey the Decree. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti did not do anything close to such in the least yet the Military Government of rtd Full General Olusegun Obasanjo, who later became a two-term Civilian President, destroyed his Home, crippled his elderly Mother, injured his younger Brother, psychologically traumatized his young Children, et cetera. Kanu’s Conduct is high Treason not standard or depraved Crime. 

So when Owonikoko, and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who is also a Lawyer, and others compare the Kanu Crime with other Waves of Crimes in Nigeria, especially in their Reference to “Miyetti Allah” and “Herdsmen” (presumably Fulani), they mislead the Nigerian Peoples. They are suggesting that the Prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu, an Igbo Person, by the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari (rtd Army Major General), a one-third Fulani Person, arises from nationalist7 Persecution. As legal Practitioners – even if they are not criminal-Lawyers – they must know that even within the same Crime Categories, there are different Degrees of Offences within a Category. They need now to tell the Nigerian Public who from another Nationality in Nigeria has committed the seditious Offences Mr Kanu was charged with in 2015, and the seditious Offences he continued to commit as a Fugitive. The Crimes attributed to “Herdsmen” are in the Category of Crimes of Depravity. From what I have learnt from Nigeria’s Media Sources, Yoruba Lawyers especially, are directing Nationalist Presumption of Guilt at FulaniNigeria, i.e., "guilty until you prove yourselves innocent". This does not cut it in any Court of Law. Guilt has to be proven. These Lawyers, and Commentators are like Donald J. Trump Sr and his Lawyers claiming he was rigged out of the 2020 US presidential Election without producing a 'shred of Evidence'. Notwithstanding this obvious Delusion of Trump’s, we still have many Today all over the World pumping the Nonsense by distributing hallucinatory Opinions as Facts.

Legal Arguments and Evidence are not premised on Hypotheses. You have to have hard Facts, indissoluble Facts. The Evidence against Nnamdi Kanu is largely self-incriminating, and his Crime of Sedition is much higher up in Aggravation than any Crime of Depravity. Let me put it in a simple Way. Kanu’s Crimes are direct Assaults on the Territorial-State of Nigeria. Crimes of Depravity are Crimes against Persons and/or Properties although could indirectly be Crimes against the State. The Government of a Territorial-State has to prioritise Deployment of Crime-fighting Resources on the Seriousness of Crimes irrespective of the Emotions a Crime evokes. Besides, there is the additional Issue of Logistics in the Process of prosecuting a Crime from Investigations to formal Charges being laid. These are Decisions Governments make. It would help if Nigerians appreciate that

The state is a geographical socio-political entity. In other words the state has a population of human beings with political rights and cultural practices confined within geographical boundaries. The state broken down into components describes i) a geographical entity with boundaries, and ii) an identifiable population with political rights and recognisable cultural practices; a population that owes presumed allegiance to the geographical entity within which it is situated. Government on the other hand is the administration of the state whether or not this Government is welcomed by the whole population. Although Governments exercise oversight functions over the socio-political activities of the population, it is only an aspect of the state and not its totality.8

Let us talk about Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) 

Even Yoruba Sunday Adeyemo, also known as (aka) Sunday Igboho, whose Home has been raided by Security Forces for storing unregulated Firearms, and is on the Run for that Crime has yet to commit a seditious Offence. However, I disagree with the unrighteous Indignation displayed by Dr Reuben Abati, Ms Ojy Okpe and Mr Rufai Oseni in https://youtu.be/j16naZ3CtAI Security Services claim they had Information that Mr Adeyemo had unauthorised Firearms in his Possession. The best these three could do was insist that Adeyemo should have been invited for questioning. Before you knew it, Mr Oseni was referencing the US. He is clearly out of his Depth here. Let him direct me to one Incident in US policing History where the Security Services were advised of illegal Firearms at a Location but “invited” the Proprietor of the Location for questioning rather than raid the Location. Nigeria's Security Services took the correct Measure in raiding Mr Adeyemo's Premises especially as he is known for agitating the Secession of the Yoruba from Nigeria. The Point of the Raid is not to lose the Evidence, in situ, get it? The Questions these three should be asking, but are not posing are: - 1) ‘why was Sunday Adeyemo Igboho stockpiling the Firearms found on his Premises? 2) If he did not gather the Weapons, who did, and was he aware of their presence? 3) What were the Weapons intended  for; Banditry or Insurrection? Typically, it is YorubaNigeria Lawyers who are coming out with the utter Rubbish that the Raid was unlawful. They never point the Public in the Direction of the Law that supports their Assertion. They behave as though they are the only Ones who "can read and write" when in most Cases the highest academic Qualification they can ever boast of is the Bachelor’s Degree (whether or not a good one). These Lawyers are stoking Discontent in Nigeria on nationalist Sentiments, but presenting themselves as "human rights lawyers." Security Services all over the World can mount an Operation to arrest a Suspect at any time of the Day or Dawn or Dusk or Night. The primary Objective is to secure the Evidence. YorubaNigerian Commentators are not helping with their quite sectarian Intransigence. Adeyemo's People shot at Security Services Personnel, but they want those Officers not to return Fire? These Yoruba Individuals are simply unbelievable in their Stupidity driven by Nationalism. In their Estimation, bullets can think and decide where to hit when exchanged in a Firefight. Again, they are intolerant of the right Questions. In addition to the Questions I already asked above, others remain such as (i) did Mr Adeyemo's Household initiate the Firefight with the Security Agents? (ii) is Adeyemo authorised to carry, store and use Firearms? - my Father had a double-barreled Rifle and he had a Licence - and (iii) why did Adeyemo resist Security Services Entry into his Compound? It is not until these kinds of Questions are asked can reasonable Persons have considered Opinions. Note my Commentaries properly. In Addition to relying on the Reasons given by the Security Services, I have also triangulated the Circumstances of the Raid on Mr Adeyemo's Premises. However, the Answers to my Questions will justify or condemn the Actions of the Security Agencies. Knee-jerk Commentaries only exacerbate already dire Situations. By the Way, Ms Okpe, your grey Dress suits you well; the Colour.

Most Nigerians taking Adeyemo’s Side maintain he has been doing his Agitation peacefully. Do these Nigerians really do not know or are they just bloody-minded? Do they not know that 'public Action' can hide 'private Thought'? Why is it that these infantile Commentators are always Southerners? Yeah, you are right; redundant Question. We know why they do it; Sectionalism. However, public Conduct could still expose a Thing or two. Sunday Adeyemo Igboho wears a Body Shield under his Top, for goodness Sake. Why does he do that? Then he hoards automatic Weapons? For what? Agent Provocateur is another possible Explanation. 

Nigeria even as Territorial-State is an Aberration (of Statehood)

In World History, the Territorial-State or 'State', as Description of geographic Boundaries, has not always been the Case. What Europeans began to call the 'State' some under 500 Years ago was a Feature of social Organization so much long before then. We can reflect back on these geographic Boundaries as 'Empires' and, on much smaller Scales, 'Kingdoms'. The Empire, the Kingdom, and the State emerged either through the Subjugation of neighboring Territories by the most powerful neighbouring Territory or through Agreement between neighbouring Territories to come together. Social Theory explains the first as "coercive" and the second as "voluntary." Besides its Foundation as Colonial Britain's trading Geography, Nigeria does not fit into either Space of 'Subjugation' or 'Agreement'. If Nigeria had materialised from one or the other Circumstance, it might not be facing the nationalist Differentiations we are today witnessing. The same Problematic goes for most of ex-colonial Africa.

It is with the above Origin of Nigeria in Mind that I keep saying to the Fulani/Hausa that ‘enough is enough’. If the Igbo and the Yoruba want to disengage from Nigeria, it is high time. They see you as their primary Enemy, anyway. I am happy though that the Northern Elders Forum has finally come around to my Position that the Igbo can leave Nigeria, but through peaceful Arbitration https://youtu.be/ZoIlGDuDq0g The IgboNigerian and YorubaNigerian Thing of focusing only on the Fulani is Ruse. I certainly cannot understand their Subterfuge that the Fulani are in Control of Nigeria other than the Fulani being Part of the Northern Majority in the electoral Politics of the Country. Majority Validation is the standard in electoral Politics – so-called Democracy – but Southern Nigerians, especially IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians, are most unwilling to abide by this, the very, essential Rule of ‘Democracy’. I am not sure there has been a US President of Italian Extraction. They have been largely of English and/or Irish and/or Scottish Extractions, but you do not find Italian-'Americans' up in Arms demanding a President of Italian Extraction. Southern Nigerians do not look to that for Guidance, yet when it suits them they quite easily and quickly point to the US as the Epitome of 'Democracy'. Certain Southern Nigerians do really need to grow up. They are even unfair within themselves in their childish Demand for a Southerner President. I was impressed by Seun Okinbaloye of Channelstv, for the first time, when he wrongfooted the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, with his Observation that Shaibu and Others should use the same Logic of renouncing another Northerner as President to advocate for an Igbo only President in 2023. You should see the Stupidity in Shaibu's Face and hear his Gibberish Response. He had not anticipated a Southerner Newsperson putting him in such a Bind. See https://youtu.be/-WxrI54zGdY What more Evidence does anyone require to confirm that these Southerners are just anti-Northerners? So, the Hausa, and the Tiv feeling safe, do so at their Peril. 

Nigeria was a colonial socio-economic administrative Project. It could never have foreseeably worked as a socio-economic political Entity. It is surely now not working as one. It was an Abnormality imposed as Normality in Formation into a Territorial-State. As I have written elsewhere, Embrace of geographic 'Nigeria' was fine as modus vivendi for the Peoples of the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria to fight Colonialism, but Insanity to transform a rallying Tool into the legal Entity of a Territorial-State. I am in Agreement that the Peoples should go their separate Ways; Fulani/Hausa, Igbo, and the Yoruba. The Minorities within these four major Nationalities can decide which Way they desire to go. So, stop the regurgitative Nonsense of “let’s have a Conversation.” Quite mediocre Perpetuation and Propagation. Right now, Nigerians need to be negotiating the Terms of nonviolent Divisibility. This is a Task for the  National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (NAFRN).9 The NAFRN can vote to amend the Constitution to enable this Negotiation to commence. Let me introduce you here to something I wrote in 2013 about certain Attitudes in Nigeria. 

An intellectual basis for the "Nigerian-Biafran War" insofar as it concerned the "Nigerian" faction was to bulwark against ... ever making distinctions between portions of "Nigeria" or the activities of parts of "Nigeria". The "Nigerian" faction won the war. So, what exactly is going on with the ... descriptions which are outright affronts to the blood spilled in the circa millions of lives lost to keep the identity of "Nigeria" intact as "one", as a singular entity? ... young, creative and energetic musicians from all parts of "Nigeria" are collaborating to keep this single identity intact. I recognise that and I salute their vision, and accommodating and innocent minds. I had previously thought they were not aware of the geo-social implications of their collaborations until I read an interview with one of them. The interview impressed on me that these young minds know exactly what they are about. Again, I thank these young energetic, imaginative and pacific individuals for their progressive tolerance.

Anyone well acquainted with me and who is now reading or hearing of my applause for, and of, Nigerian young musicians might well turn to whoever is next to them and warn "do not trust him. He does not believe in the unity of Nigeria". That person, well acquainted with me, would be correct in advising anyone that I do not respect the "indivisibility" of "Nigeria". However, if I am here, in a public forum through my writing, accepting the truth of what that person acquainted [with] me could have said about my relationship with "Nigeria" then it is crystal clear that I am an individual to be trusted in what I say and/or write.  I am a much pacific person but my approach to pacifism is not to perpetually paper cracks. I am for enduring solutions for, and to, problems, especially those quite vexing imbroglios. Actually I love these creative "Nigerians" with all my being. I feel emptiness about what could be in the face of the unity and peace these young persons are encouraging. I am also tended to shed tears. Other than possible individual quarrelling - to be expected, after all we have our likes and dislikes and different endurance levels - that should not be confused with prejudices against one another based on ethnic differences, I see  toleration in these young divine persons. I note their pride in the "nation" of "Nigeria'' to which they believe they belong and their acceptance of the differences between the ethnicities comprising this "Nigeria". Importantly, I observe the make-believe world these beautiful young individuals inhabit, and I feel saddened. It is a world of naivety. It is their utopia of a "Nigeria" that is not a geo-social reality© Ipemndoh dan Iyan10 

The Reality is that 'Nigeria' is Identity foisted on truly disparate Peoples. Divisibility will be good for the different Nationalities of Nigeria. I can see the Fulani/Hausa doing well as a Statehood if they do not include the Tiv within their Sovereignty. They will prosper due to a certain Reason for which the Igbo Ahiara Declaration disparaged them, but for which Flora Louise Shaw, who invented Nigeria, praised them above southern Nigerians. "Easier said than done" you would say, and I agree. The North has to first sort out the Plague of Boko Haram. Who are these Actors by the Way? Mostly uneducated, medieval Islamic thinking, and … . They are lowlives. Boko Haram's Strength is the major Problem that the Nigerian State cannot conquer but a Fulani/Hause Republic can. The Boko Haram Strength is its anti-Western Rhetoric pitting Religion (Islam) against a Process of learning (Western Education). This Boko Haram Position is not even an Ideology. It is Sentiment. The Nigerian secular State cannot counter it effectively through Military Force, and/or Public Relations and/or Public Education Programs. An Islamic Fulani/Hausa Republic, which inevitably it would be, will execute these three Tactics well, and Boko Haram will be crushed. Do not anyone be alarmed that I am looking at an Islamic Fulani/Hausa Republic. Even in present day secular Nigeria, the Fulani/Hausa States constitute an Islamic Regimen. They have the Sharia Court, do they not? Yes, a prospective Fulani/Hausa Republic has to annihilate Boko Haram first to prosper. 

I can envisage the Igbo flourishing too, but the Yoruba not so well. Any Yoruba Sovereignty in no time would become like Ethiopia and Eritrea, like Sudan and South Sudan, et cetera. This is so because the Yoruba are fiercely independent. This Spirit of Independence is fueled by their discriminatory Nature, and umbilical Attachment to Ethnicity (different social groupings within the Nation), such that they cannot keep the Peace among themselves. The Yoruba Acknowledgement of Truth is thus based on Allegiance to Ethnicity in the first place, and secondly to Nationalism. Take, for instance, their Contest over the Relevance of both the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Ooni of Ife in Yoruba History.  The Alaafin was both the Military Leader, and political Leader hence the administrative Leader of all Yoruba. He was the Premier Yoruba Monarch. The Ooni was the Priest who crowned the Alaafin. For Decades, certainly since the 1970s, because of the political Prominence of Sir Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni from 1930 to 1980, in the Emergence of Nigeria as an independent territorial Entity, many began to revise History to claim the Ooni as the Premier Monarch. Fortunately in the Present, we have in Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunlusi a respectful young Man with the correct Sense of History. By the Way, what is the Etymology of 'Ooni' in Yoruba Lexicon?  

Nigeria's 1999 Constitution (even as amended) does not forgive "Protests" for the carving up of the Country 

Let me make it clear here that it is silly of IgboNigeria, and YorubaNigeria Lawyers, and Commentators to continue to contend what s.40, in particular, of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution does not intend. This Section does indeed enshrine the “Right to peaceful assembly and association” as do allied Sections such as 'Freedom of Expression', but going en masse on the Streets to demand Secession from the Country is not protected. To affirm that these Sections allow for such Agitation is absolute Hogwash. No matter how peaceful the Demonstration, it is simply treasonable. Silent, quiet it might be, the bottom line is that it is Agitation for the breaking up of the Country. It is bizarre that these Lawyers, and Others are comparing such Processions to the #EndSARS Demonstrations. Protests like #EndSARS, due to the subject Matter are different in Principle to those for the Divisibility of Nigeria. Persons like Rufai Oseni must learn to understand this Distinction. #EndSARS and such Protests will always enjoy the philosophical Approval of the Constitution even if Governments continue to disrespect  this constitutional Protection. The Constitution implicitly, if not explicitly, safeguards your Advocacy for Separation. Advocacy is not Agitation. I advise Mr Oseni to go read up on the not so distant violent History of Northern Ireland and British Governments' Military Response(s). He might be able to identify Parallels.  

In arguing his Case for the Right of 'the People' "to protest", Oseni asserted vigorously in https://youtu.be/5O5lmW8LNWo that s.14(2)(a) of the Constitution declares that the “government derives its Sovereignty from the People.” The Constitution does not state that. It is Oseni turning upside down not only the Language of the Constitution but also the Meaning of that subsection. I do not blame him. He simply parrots what I have heard Lawyers appearing on his 'Trending with Ojy Okpe' News Program claim. For starters, in political Theory and/or political Philosophy, Government does not have 'Sovereignty'. Sovereignty belongs to the Territorial-State by virtue of 'the People'. Sovereignty resides in 'the People', but the Territorial-State is the Custodian of the aggregated Sovereignties of 'the People' to be exercised on their Behalf. This is because 'the People' cannot deploy their Sovereignties severally otherwise Matters would descend into Chaos. This Sovereignty of the People is evident only in Electoral Politics. Following the Logic of Electoral Politics, 'the People' transfer their Sovereignties to the Territorial-State through elected Governments. Elected Governments are intermediaries between 'the People' and the State. The Residual-Custodian Relationship between 'the People' and the State is constant even in the Absence of an electoral Process, i.e., would you argue that a Military Government nullifies the Sovereignty of the State it governs? Normative Logic and "international" law will tell you the Answer is simply 'no'. The Government, in Principle, acts instead of the State, but remember that Members of Government are also Part of 'the People' who have transferred their Sovereignties to the State for Custody. See again my Indent above explaining the Difference between the State and Government.

Oseni clearly also has no Understanding of Fascism. I believe the Essentials of Fascism are summed up in the following by Benito Mussolini in 1932: "Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State …"11 I am not going to go into how Mussolini, who initiated Fascism as a System of Government, defined the 'State'. It is quite tortuous. However, it was clearly a type of Government that suppressed 'the People' as History tells us, and it was no Deviation from the preceding Excerpt I quoted. So, in what way is Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmad al-Rufai, removing his Child from Public School for Fear of being kidnapped, typical of Fascism? 

Incidentals 

This is for Oseni. Crimea is Russian Territory. It was stolen by Fiat and gifted to Ukraine in 1954 by Ukrainian Nikita Khrushchev.12 Even in current times, Russians are still the Majority of Crimeans. 

Why are Nigerians using ‘white’ Mannequins when even in ‘white’ Countries, Shops deploy a Mixture of ‘black’ and ‘white’ Mannequins? As for Sharia Law, its Permissibility in s.26013 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution directly contradicts the Rights bestowed by ss.33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/42 of the same Constitution. It is an Aberration, and Islamic Religion Imposition on the Country of Nigeria. As I have written many times, except for my Mother who was probably born a Judeo-Christain as her Children, my religious Heritage is islamic, but hey, the Truth has to be said. Me, religious? Bah. 

Endnotes

1See Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill on Utility, i.e.,. They are Guidelines for an Understanding of this Concept. 

2Anscombe, G.E.M., ‘Moral Modern Philosophy’, Philosophy 33, No. 124 January 1958.

3My oblique signifies my Recognition of the Fulani and Hausa as different Peoples but who are mistakenly put together with no Distinction.

4Nationalism is mistaken as Ethnicism by the uninitiated in political Philosophy - including Political Science Theorists - when it comes to discussing the Human Geography of Nigeria. In fact, they ordinarily get it wrong in mistaking the Territorial-State (Country) for a Nation. I used to be that uneducated even with my Research Degree. I resolved this by constantly thinking Things through. 

5Chukwuemeka's Father was Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu.

6The Laws of England and Wales are the same while Ireland and Scotland have certain Variations to their’s.

7Same Logic as "Tribalist" (Tribalism), but it is most certainly not "ethnic" or Ethnicist (Ethnicism). 

8See dan Iyan, I. P., The New World Order 1986 to 1999: The Behaviour of the United States Within United Nations Security Council Responses to Global Conflicts, Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, Google Books, 2002.

9It is wacko the Nigerian thinking. How can 'NASS' be the synonym for 'National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria'? NASS is certainly not its Acronym. Abbreviations are supposed to make sense on representing what is being abbreviated rather than a Jingle. 

10dan Iyan, I. P., Dulling the Imaginative: “Nigeria” as an example of the Acculturation of the colonised: The Subservience of non-Western Minds, Amazon, 2013. 

11Mussolini, B,. 'The Doctrine of Fascism', 1932. 

12This was when Nikita Khrushchev was President of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Some say he was part Ukrainian, part Russian. I do not know because I have not come across his full birth History. I am aware he was born in Russia, and that he has Ukrainian Blood in him. 

13Section 260 set up the ‘Sharia Court of Appeal' but no lower Sharia Courts, which in itself questions the Lawfulness of the higher Court. 

Abbreviations

SAN – Senior Advocate of Nigeria is a Barrister similar to the Queen’s Counsel (QC) in the UK. 

UK – United Kingdom (of Great Britain) 

US – United States (of America). 

Others

Amo ju - too-know/grandiose. 

English – Representative of England. 

Mumu – a term in Nigerian Lexicon that can mean ‘idiot’ or ‘stupid’ jocularly or seriously depending on the Context. 

Ipemndoh dan Iyan PhM©

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1 July