The Future of the Yoruba People: A Call for Accountability and Cultural Renewal

I write this not out of hatred for anyone, nor out of loyalty to any political party. I write out of love for my people, and out of genuine concern about what we may slowly be becoming.

The Yoruba people have long been known for education, enlightenment, enterprise, hard work, courage and independence of thought. We have never been known as bandwagon people. We question authority. We examine our leaders. We defend the truth, even when it is uncomfortable, and even when it touches one of our own.

That heritage is now under quiet threat. And if we do not name the threat, we may lose the very thing that made us respected across Nigeria and beyond.

Our reputation was not an accident. It was built, deliberately, by people who believed that an informed citizen is a free citizen.

On 17 January 1955, the government of the Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo launched Free Universal Primary Education, the first scheme of its kind in Nigeria. In a single year, primary school enrolment rose from about 446,600 fee-paying pupils in 1954 to 811,432 in 1955, an increase of over 90 per cent. By 1961, it had passed 1.1 million. Many of the professors, engineers, lawyers, doctors and administrators the South-West later produced walked through doors that policy opened.

On 31 October 1959, the same government commissioned Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) in Ibadan, Nigeria's first television station, which proudly called itself “First in Africa.” It was built, in Awolowo's words, as a tool to inform, educate and entertain.

These achievements did not come from tribal sentiment. They came from vision, planning, competence and a culture that prized knowledge. That culture has a name among us: Omoluabi, the person of good character, integrity and responsibility. The Omoluabi does not sell his conscience. He does not praise what is wrong because it benefits him. He stands for what is right, even when he stands alone.

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is Yoruba. Yet when he contested the presidency in 1999, the Yoruba heartland did not simply hand him its votes because he was “one of us.” Voters across the South-West overwhelmingly backed Chief Olu Falae instead, and Obasanjo lost the region decisively even as he won the presidency. Our people judged him on his record and his backers, not on his surname or hometown.

When moves were made in 2006 to amend the constitution and open the door to a third term, Nigerians resisted. Polls at the time suggested that about 84 per cent of Nigerians opposed extending term limits, and on 16 May 2006 the Senate threw the bill out. Obasanjo's ethnic identity did not place him beyond accountability, and it should not have.

That is the Yoruba spirit I know: truth above tribe, merit above sentiment, and the common good above personal advantage.

Today, I fear we may be losing that spirit.

Across Nigeria, politicians have learned to exploit poverty, poor education, religious sentiment, ethnic loyalty and economic dependence. When people are kept poor, hungry, uninformed and dependent on political patronage, it becomes easier to control their choices and silence their consciences.

The numbers show how fertile that ground has become. According to the World Bank's April 2026 Nigeria Development Update, about 63 per cent of Nigerians, roughly 140 million people, lived below the national poverty line in 2025, up from 56 per cent in 2023, even as inflation began to ease. The Bank expects only a gradual improvement, to about 59 per cent by 2028. A hungry voter is a vulnerable voter.

And politicians know it. During the 2023 general elections, the European Union Election Observation Mission reported that its observers directly witnessed vote-buying, and Yiaga Africa documented reports of politicians inducing voters with cash transfers and food items. We have even coined a phrase for it: “stomach infrastructure.” When a bag of rice, a few thousand naira or a promise of contracts can buy a vote, democracy itself is up for sale.

Such a system rewards loyalty instead of competence. It empowers praise-singers and sidelines principled, independent minds. It hands appointments and opportunities to those who will defend the system, even when that system is failing the majority.

My fear is that this strategy is gradually taking hold in Yorubaland.

Today, I hear people declare whom they will support without offering any clear or convincing reason. The argument is sometimes simply that a candidate is Yoruba, that it is “our turn,” or that power must remain with “our people.”

I find this deeply troubling.

Let me be clear. I am not writing against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Neither am I campaigning for Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi or anyone else. My position is simple: whoever we choose to support, we must be able to explain why.

Our support should rest on character, competence, performance, policies and a demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians. It should not rest merely on tribe, personal rewards or the interests of our political associates.

The question should not be, “Is he one of us?”

The questions should be:

• Is he competent, and does his record prove it?
• Is he governing well, or campaigning well?
• Are ordinary Nigerians better off than they were before?
• Are his policies improving security, education, healthcare, employment and the economy?
• Is Nigeria making measurable progress under his leadership?

If a Yoruba leader performs well, let us support and celebrate that leader on merit. But if a leader fails, we must have the courage to say so. Defending failure simply because the person is Yoruba is not loyalty to the Yoruba people. It is a betrayal of the very values for which we have been respected.

Our elders say: Àgbà kìí wà lọ́jà, kí orí ọmọ títun wọ́ — an elder does not stand in the market and watch a child's head-load tilt without correcting it. Those of us who know better cannot keep quiet while our young people learn that votes are for sale, that truth depends on tribe, and that loyalty matters more than results.

As we approach the 2027 general elections, I appeal to every Yoruba man and woman, and indeed every Nigerian:

• Collect your PVC and vote. Apathy is a gift to those who manipulate.
• Never sell your vote. The money is spent in a day; the consequences last four years.
• Ask for plans, not slogans. Demand specifics on jobs, security, education and healthcare.
• Judge by records. Look at what candidates and parties have done with the power they already hold.
• Speak up. Commend what is right and condemn what is wrong, whoever is involved.

We must not exchange generations of enlightenment for temporary political benefits. We must not surrender our intellectual independence to politicians who appeal to tribal emotions while ordinary Nigerians continue to suffer.

Our loyalty must first be to truth, justice, competence and the progress of Nigeria. We must scrutinise every leader, regardless of tribe, religion or party. We must demand accountability without fear or favour.

The Yoruba people must awaken. We must preserve our heritage of education, courage, enterprise, independent thought and principled leadership. We must never allow any politician or political system to turn us into what we are not.

That is the Yoruba legacy worth preserving.

That is the Nigeria worth building.

Sources

• ThisDay (18 Jan 2024) — Western Region enrolment figures, 1954–1961
• Africa Media Review (Michigan State University) — history of WNTV, Ibadan, 1959
• Financial Times via Probe International — 1999 presidential election in the South-West
• Council on Foreign Relations, “Nigeria's Democratic Victory” (23 May 2006)
• VOA, “Nigerian Senate Denies Third Term for Obasanjo” (16 May 2006)
• BusinessDay — World Bank Nigeria Development Update, April 2026
• EU Election Observation Mission, Nigeria 2023, via ICIR
• Daily Trust — Yiaga Africa on voter inducement (2023)