The next Oodua nation

"Now the trumpet calls us again – not like a call to carry weapons, although we need weapons – not like a call to battle, even though we are in battle – but a call to wear the burden of a long twilight battle, year after year out, "rejoice in hope, patient in tribulations" – a fight against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and the war itself … "

– John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1960
In some circles, views were expressed as to whether, when we would eventually have our own nation, the Oodua nation, we would be saved from the sufferings of incompetence, the anguish of corruption, and / or or the badault of treacherous rulers.

These are legitimate views and fears. They should be expressed and entertained. Doubts must be expressed and taken into account. Because only fools do not doubt.

Doubts are essential for real progress. They are the greatest tools of the sage. Doubts help measure where you are and where you need to be and how to get there.

Doubts are the barometers of our dreams, the thermometer to measure the temperature of our efforts and the stethoscope to measure the beating of our hearts in the face of adversity. Our efforts should not go cold. Our hearts must be strong enough to face adversities.

We could not and should not be afraid of our future in the Republic of Oodua. If Obafemi Awolowo was scared, he would not take the bulls by the horns in 1951. That would be a great opportunity to get lost.

If Osagyefo Kwameh Nkrumah had succumbed to fears and intimidation, the birth of Ghana would have been delayed until God knew when.

If Sékou Touré had been intimidated by the threats and possible cruelties of the French who had looted his country until nakedness, Guinea would have remained in slavery.

Sendar Senghor did not have the guts of a titan, the trajectory of Senegal would have been very different.

If Jommo Kenyatta did not fight like a voracious leopard, his ancestral lands would still be occupied by European racists.

If Kenneth Kaunda did not want to endure and persevere, Zambia might not be free yet.

If Julius Nwalimu Nyerere did not strive to overcome his doubts and believed in his own dreams and vision for his people, Tanzania could still be in colonial slavery.

If Mahatma Ghandi and Jawaharlal Nehru had succumbed to the tyranny of the British Empire, India would not have been free in 1948.

If Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Mohammad Iqbal, Agha Khan III and others had failed to follow their dreams and pledged to realize them, Pakistan would not have been liberated from the British and India.

While our fears push us to have doubts, our doubts should be directed towards the infinite possibilities of the Oodua nation; the innate greatness of the children of Oduduwa that would be unlimited and unleashed.

I trust in the respect of the fundamental principles of Omoluabi as a real tool of our arsenal. I am convinced that the bursting of the cotyledons of patriotic energy, arrested since October 1, 1960, would inevitably be lost in a way never seen in human history.

There would be a joyous eruption of enthusiasm to rebuild ruins of about 60 years of war with an amorphous but enslaving entity called Nigeria. It would be a hindrance for a nation after more than a century of damn dungeons of British inspiration.

We have what we need in all ramifications. The economic resources are unlimited. Natural resources are there. Human resources are extraordinary.

Geographically, we are blessed. Weather is a child of Oodua. Arable land, his twin.

Yes, like all nations on the planet, we would have our problems. We would have our challenges. We would argue among ourselves, argue among ourselves, disagree and disagree with ourselves. But it would be between brothers and sisters, children of the same parents.

There is nothing as valuable as FREEDOM and LIBERTY. There is no greater satisfaction in human history or in human psychology that is greater than controlling your own DESTINATION.

If Nigeria's roads were paved with gold from Badagry to Maiduguri or from Calabar to Sokoto, they would still be enslaved in gold. It would be enslaved gold. It would be useless. Without meaning. And worthless.

And by the way, whoever owns the slave owns his property.

Yes, it would not be worth the dream and aspirations of our children. This would not be worth the cost of the limitations to their potential. It is always better to eat tasteless bread on the dining table than to drink the best champagne under the table.

We must strive to give our children the right to determine their own destiny in a nation of their own, so that they can prove to the world that the Negroid race is not cursed. We should give them the power to inspire others.

The Oodua nation is the most visible of YORUBA PEOPLE.

This could be delayed, but not prevented. Its realization could be slowed down, but could not and would not be frustrated.

With all the expected challenges of building a nation, the Republic of Oodua would be a beauty to behold. It would be a semi-final study of a human capacity positively deployed in competence and competition.

This would be a perfect example of mankind's humanity, kindness of brotherhood and affection of fraternity. It would be a building of citizenship and adulation of citizens.

Our culture must be decontaminated. Our long philosophy of cosmology will occupy a place of choice. Our preeminent secularism must be reborn. The Yoruba language, when it will be restored and refined, will be a clbad way and an exquisite exuberance of intellect and civility.

The Oodua nation will be a real pride of the Negroid race, respected by the courtesy of all nations.

Like Martin Luther King Jr., I went to the top of the mountain, I saw the promised land of the next Oodua nation, it is full of milk and honey. We will be there when the time comes.

We will soon occupy and in unity our God-given country. From the banks of the Niger River to the belly of the invading ocean, sumptuous and lush gifts of nature.

My dear Yoruba brothers and sisters, I exhort you to gird your loins and prepare for the imminence of this new dawn. Please, in the following immortal words of President John F. Kennedy, to:

"Let every nation know, whether it wants it right or wrong, that we will pay any price, carry any burden, face any hardship, support any and all friend, oppose any enemy to ensure the survival of freedom. "

The triumph of our freedom is near and the integrity of Yorubaland will be restored

The land of Oodua will be free.
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been entrusted with the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger, I do not shrink from this responsibility, I congratulate myself."

– John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1960.
© Rémi Oyeyemi