Yoruba People Are The Most Sophisticated Nigerians - Ojo Madueke

[Kola Fabiyi]

Yoruba People Are The Most Sophisticated Nigerians - Ojo Madueke

By Adams Odunayo

Mr Ojo Madueke who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to Canada has recently asserted that the Yorubas are the most enlightened, knowledgeable and experienced people in all the tribes of Nigeria.

The Ambassador while speaking in a gathering of Nigerians in Canada during an event organized by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) made it known that Yoruba people are the most sophisticated Nigerians.

Mr. Madueke, explained that although his expression contradicts his ”Igboness”, it has been a phenomenon that Nigeria benefits immensely only when the Yoruba are fully involved in governance, adding that as a former officer of the Biafra army, he knew what he was talking about.

However, when the guest lecturer at the event, Professor Jacob Olupona, put it to the Ambassador and former Foreign Minister that why did President Goodluck Jonathan not include any Yoruba in the top seven most important cabinet positions, if truly Yoruba people are of great importance. The former Foreign Minister returned to the podium to explain the sophistication of the Yoruba. He said that the President has all the ethnic groups well represented in his cabinet, but would not talk further on the issue.

Mr. Madueke also explained that the Igbo tribe is eating from the negative outcome of the 1966 coup by Nigerian army officers led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu which recorded the death of Igbos, not minding the fact that the coup-plotters did not consult with the Igbos before embarking on the killings of certain post-independence leaders.

However, another speaker at the event, Omoyele Sowore, a Sahara Reporters official implored many at the event not to take the Ambassador’s ‘flattering of the Yoruba tribe’ as a compliment. He disabused the minds of many at the event saying that if the former PDP National Secretary’s remarks were more than mere flattery, he and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP), would not spend so much energy and effort to sponsor to power and prominence some of the worst Yoruba.

Mr. Sowore called the attention of the listeners at the gathering to the recent elections in Osun and Ekiti States, where he said that the candidates of the PDP were people with well-documented criminal track records.

It would be recalled that in January 2010, during a UN press conference, in which Mr. Madueke was the then Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, there was a showdown when Mr Sowore as a journalist asked Mr Madueke a question during a press conference at the United Nations in New York. The question which bothered on the Foreign minister not speaking to the ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua for over 60 days, but said said he was getting his instructions from him as he liberally travelled the world.

So with what has transpired between Mr. Sowore and Mr. Madueke, Mr. Sowore made it known that the the Ambassadors proclamations should not be taken serious.

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[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Ojo Maduekwe may be presumed to have spoken his mind. But what is he saying to other Nigerians at the same time? He is however a politician turned diplomat. Has he has learned well? What about you are one of the.....?
I am just saying without full knowledge of the speech's content or context.

oa

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[olaka...@aol.com]

Quote # 1:

Mr. Maduekwe, explained that although his expression contradicts his ”Igboness”, 
it has been a phenomenon that Nigeria benefits immensely only when the Yoruba 
are fully involved in governance, adding that as a former officer of the Biafra 
army, he knew what he was talking about.--Adams Odunayo

Dear All:

 As one of the attendees at last weekend's Afenifere Renewal Group Yoruba symposium
at Carleton University in Ottawa, I wish to offer some clarifications on the above quote and a secong one from
(see below) from Mr Adams Odunayo's otherwise excellent report.

In addition to the statement quoted above, Ambassador Maduekwe also  explained why the Yoruba are not visibly represented in the highest rankings of the current
GEJ administration. He reminded the audience that President Jonathan had insisted that the position of the Speaker of the
House, the # 4 ranking political office in Nigeria, be zoned to the SW by the PDP even though the PDP lost badly in the SW in the 2011 federal elections.
He informed the audience that despite the President's directive a substantial no of  the PDP members in the house
from northern and southern states voted along with their SW colleagues from the AD to scuttle the wishes of the President by
voting for Tambuwal, a northern Nigerian instead of the candidate from the SW.

The main reason for denying the position of the Speaker to the SW was the view by some  PDP HOR members that since
the Yoruba did not vote for the PDP in 2011, they should not be reaping from the spoils of the PDP's electoral victory,

In order to partially rectify this anomaly, (i.e. the absence of the Yoruba in the top hierarchy of his government), the President directed that the position
 of the Chief of Staff at Aso Rock be filled by a suitably qualified candidate from the SW.

My Comments on the above:

We the Yoruba of the SW would need to decide whether the position of the Chief of Staff is enough retification for our visible absence
in the current government and whether or not the explanation offered by Amb. Ojo Maduekwe is good enough to palliate our collective grievance.


The lesson for me and probably many other Nigerians on this matter is that it is foolhardy in a truly functioning federal democratic system,
for any region of the country to give a blanket vote for one political party for or against one party or the other.
We the Yoruba have always been pluralistic in our choice
and adherence to and participation in as many political parties as there are at any given time in Nigerian politics.

The current myopic, unprogressive and risk strategy of casting our votes en bloc for one political party while demonizing the opposing political party as one in which
only Yoruba bastards (the Omo Ale Akotiletas) would be active in is out of sync with our well recognized astuteness and open mindedness in political
matters in Nigeria,

It would appear that the Igbo of the SE are also pursuing the same risky "All Eggs in One Basket Agenda" for 2015 as they are are committed to casting
their ballots for GEJ and the PDP not necessarily whether or not he had performed well but just so they would keep a northern Nigerian out of Aso Rock
in the next election. To actualize this objective they have started the demonization of Buhari as a sponsor of the Boko Haram while falsely labelling
the  ACN as the Boko Haram party
without producing a shred of evidence to support their allegations. If the PDP wins in 2015 the Igbo would have won big! But the reverse would be true
if the PDP loses!


This is the time to start examining and comparing the policy platforms of the major political partiies that would be contesting the elections in 2015
such that our voting preferences would be based on informed opinions rather than on mere propaganda!


Quote # 2:

"Mr. Madueke also explained that the Igbo tribe is eating from the negative outcome of the 1966 coup

by Nigerian army officers led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu which recorded the death of Igbos,
not minding the fact that the coup-plotters did not consult with the Igbos before

embarking on the killings of certain post-independence leaders."--Adams Odunayo

My Comments on the above quote:

The above quote is almost correct except that the word 'recorded'  is used instead of "resulted in".
Amb. Maduekwe was referencing the fact that even though the vast majority of the Igbo in Nigeria were
not consulted by the Nzeogwu led coup plotters of Jan 15, 1966-- Gen Ironsi and Brigadier Fajuyi  were killed
and many Igbo civilians lost their lives in the counter coup  and
during the subsequent  pogroms in Northern Nigeria later in the same year
-- because key Igbo political leaders who were on the list of those the coup plotters of Jan 15, 1966  wanted to eliminate
escaped death.

The Ambassador also referenced the irony of the fact that even though he was a uniformed Biafran
soldier during the war he ended up being the Minister of Foreign Affairs and that in general the Igbo despite their sufferings
before and during the civil war are now 'eating' (i.e. enjoying) the proceeds of democracy and are now able to rise to any position
in the same country they once wished to secede from.

Amb. Ojo Maduekwe repeatedly mentioned that for Nigeria to progress we must collectively and individually find a solution
to the perennial and for ever recurring Yoruba-Igbo discord and presumed animosity in the motherland.
I agree with Ambassador Ojo Maduekwe. The Igbo and the Yoruba and in fact all other Nigerians have a common
origin!


Bye,

Ola

[Ikhide]

Ojo Madueke has just mouthed drivel. Patronizing claptrap. Sophisticated ko, sophisticated ni. These criminals in power are so full of it! Kai!

 

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/

Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide

Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

[Okey Iheduru]

"Maduekwe was referencing the fact that even though the vast majority of the Igbo in Nigeria were
not consulted by the Nzeogwu led coup plotters of Jan 15, 1966-- Gen Ironsi and Brigadier Fajuyi  were killed

 
and many Igbo civilians lost their lives in the counter coup  and during the subsequent  pogroms in Northern Nigeria later in the same year -- because key Igbo political leaders who were on the list of those the coup plotters of Jan 15, 1966  wanted to eliminate escaped death." --- Dr Ola Kassim

Dear Dr Kassim:

I realize you didn't mean any harm, but there is an important correction/ omission we must note here. In addition to Gen. Ironsi and "many Igbo civilians [who] lost their lives...," more than 200 Igbo officers were killed in a murderous orgy of violence orchestrated by well-known Hausa-Fulani officers between July 29th and December 31, 1966. 

The full list of these Igbo officers who were targeted and killed simply because they were Igbo, their ethnicity; not because they had committed any offence (the Geneva Convention definition of genocide) was submitted to the Oputa Panel in 2006. 

If we can't haul the surviving perpetrators (who are all known and documented, by the way) to the ICC at the Hague as was done in the cases of Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto in Kenya, the least we can do is to avoid any thing that might suggest an erasure of the memory of these innocent victims of the "final solution to the Igbo problem." It's part of Nigeria's history, unfortunately.

Btw, did you know Amb. Ojo Maduekwe is a member of the pioneer combatant cadets (Course 1) of the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), Kaduna? He, like most of his Igbo/Eastern Region compatriots escaped from the NDA (where Maj. P. K. Nzeogwu was an instructor) during the genocidal attacks and subsequently fought on the Biafran side. Of the 60 cadets that enrolled at NDA on February 20th, 1964, only 34 graduated and were commissioned in 1967--many dispatched to the war front from the commissioning ceremony! Sadly, more than 50 percent of that pioneer class perished in the war on both sides of the divide. Ask Maj-Gen Ishola Williams (rtd.) and Col. Ogbebor (rtd.), two other pioneer cadets.

Peace as always!

Okey Iheduru, 

[Ikhide]

Madueke's silly utterances are just proxy for the shallowness of Nigeria's ruling and intellectual class. The "Yoruba people are soooo sophisticated" statement irritated and saddened me beyond belief. In the 21st century, people like Ojo Madueke still exist and talk like this? Imagine if a white person was to get up and say, "Black people are so sophisticated and articulate." We would all be up in arms. Such patronizing and insincere claptrap. And how can one look around today's Nigeria, witness the buffoonery, savagery and incompetence and call any "tribe" "sophisticated"? Ekiti the land where PhDs are more than twins and yams combined is in turmoil because, well, the PhDs just elected a thug and a fool to the governor's hut. Imagine that! Who writes this character's speeches? Why are we like this? Nigeria! Oro pe si je!

- Ikhide

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Ikhide,

 

Why are you conflating issues and projecting your own innermost racism and camouflaging it this way.  Ojo Madueke was invited to a Yoruba function by Yoruba and he spoke glowingly about his hosts diplomatically.

 

If you were invited by Fulani community at a 5 star hotel or the Waldorf Astoria in New York would it be out of place for you to say the same about the Fulani and their Caliphate?  Now is it logical to heap all the causes of Boko Haram, or the failure of Nigeria as a state on the Fulani.

 

When comparing ethnic groups in Nigeria it is valid to refer to some as sophisticated and others as not depending on the subjective criteria of sophistication the person making the statement wishes to adopt.  When I talk about those who are sophisticated pet owners, I may choose to refer to non dog eating ethnic groups as more sophisticated to dog eating ones.

 

Your attempt to compare this with racism, slavery and discrimination in the West is totally out of place, but then like I said at the beginning this is more about you projecting deep rooted inner angst than any objective analysis on your part.

 

Cheers.

 

 

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Ikhide]

IBK,

Brilliant analysis, you are soooo sophisticated! You must be Yoruba! *applause*

- Ikhide

[Shola Adenekan]

IBK, who gives a rat-ass if Yoruba people are sophisticated or not! All I want is a nation that works and not empty adulation! I guess that is what Oga Ikhide is pointing out. So relax man!

Regards,

Shola Adenekan, PhD.

Postdoctoral Researcher in African Literature

BIGSAS 
Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies 
University of Bayreuth 
D-95440 Bayreuth 
Phone:	++49-921-55 5108 
Fax:	++49-921-55 5102 
Web:	http://www.bigsas.uni-bayreuth.de 
e-mail:	olorunshol...@uni-bayreuth.de

Editor/Publisher: 
The New Black Magazine - http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Nice cop out!  I let you off.  You are not much fun when I jab you in the ribs.  You are too adept at cycling away!

 

BTW, on more serious issues, how bodi and your lovely family?  Hope they are chopping your moni and have not sent you a list of the 50 important milestones you missed in their lives!

 

Cheers.

 

IBK

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Nigeria suffers from acute integrity deficit; a syndrome that afflicts/ produced by public officials and the decadent ruling class. This ailment  on the increase since independence now threatens to become the national character of the power elite. And the register? Scandalous as it is bloody: from operation e wet e e in the western region to foyose's assault on the rule of law; from the mass rigging of elections to daylight looting of the national treasury. Absent in that register are issues that have to do with morality; ethics; and the collective national interest. The Nigerian power elite is making history on how not to make a nation. But that very history will record it's demise and eventual extinction.

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Sadly, unlike the dinosaurs, there will be no fossils to shed any light on the foolishness and decadent debauchry of the crop of Nigerian elite who took over what the British built with stoic discipline and hard work and destroyed it because they are simply too stupid to think straight and think right.

 

Cheers. 

 

IBK

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Dear Shola Adenekan,

 

While all ethnic groups gang up to rape Nigeria, some others are working harder than others at seeing it disintegrate while others are doing their damned best to keep it together and make it work.  In this spectrum of relative exertions, some are more sophisticated than others.

 

I refuse to accept your utilitarian plea on Ihide's behalf.  He lived long among the Yorubas, as his father lived in several police barracks in Yoruba land.  The set, setting, and context of Ojo Madueke's statement is not lost on him, but he must do his usual "show off!"

 

But for Yoruba sophistication, Nigeria instead of being a failing state would have failed already.

 

Cheers.

 

IBK

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Shola Adenekan]

IBK,

In some sensible nations, Ikhide will be considered a Yoruba man but that is a story for another day. However, I'm suspicious of any claim of exceptionalism by any ethnic group or race. It's like saying white folks are more sophisticated than black folks. Just a white person making such a claim on this forum and the furor that will cause! There is no scientific proof to suggest Yoruba people are better than others; we all bring something to the table. Sophistication, in my view,  is subjective.

[Shola Adenekan]

IBK,

In some sensible nations, Ikhide will be considered a Yoruba man but that is a story for another day. However, I'm suspicious of any claim of exceptionalism by any ethnic group or race. It's like saying white folks are more sophisticated than black folks. Just imagine a white person making such a claim on this forum and the furor that will cause! There is no scientific proof to suggest Yoruba people are better than others; we all bring something to the table. Sophistication, in my view,  is subjective.

[Okey Iheduru]

My esteemed IBK:

Now, you're talking like the real thing ... a SOPHISTICATED YOURUBA IDENTITY BROKER!!! 

Peace as always!

Okey Iheduru, 

[Pablo]

Wonderfully said, Shola.

I am reminded, too, of that "sophisticated"-- which, if you notice,  often goes along with the cognate "complex"--  writer in that big, sophisticated and complex book on the nature of  the sophisticated and complex economic system called capitalism, when referring to the origins of that complex term, sophistication  in the history of philosophy in the Platonic
critique of the Greek Enlighteners, the Sophists:

"In fact, this kind of ʻsophistryʼ understands better than Protagoras to make white black, and black white, and better than the Eleatics how to demonstrate before your very eyes that everything real is merely apparent."

Not that it is apparent or real that people are, or are not,  sophisticated, but I'll leave that for more complex people than myself. An' sorry for the long complicating and  unsophisticated first  and last sentences above. I be just a simple boy.

Pablo

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Sola

I made a point that you missed. Ikhide and his ilk are projecting their deep seated anti Yoruba sentiments under the guise of some high fangled neo liberalism.

What is wrong in saying that the Igbo are more sophisticated yam planters than Yoruba? Is it not the context set and setting of the sophistication that matters?

You can hide your head in the sand like an ostrich as much as you wish but over the years from the 40's and the time of Nnamdi Azikiwe's West African Pilot there has been an open and unabashed Igbo promotion and Yoruba denigration from our Igbo folks.

It is time like this that I miss late Valentine Ojo who hammers home the obvious with his malet of wusdin abd logic and the pack mentality is triggered and they label him and tag him.

After Ojukwu's mad dash to corner the oil of the minorities of the Eastern region contrary to the agreed conditions set out in the Henry Willinks Report of 1957/1958 they thought they had lost out and the Yoruba had won some undue advantage and they are ever so anxious to regain their imaginary ascendancy.

Sister Bunmi made the point eloquently with her experience of Igbo self promotion vis a vis the Yoruba. That is the crux of the point and the fact that an Igbo man Ojo Madueke voiced it riles them to no end.

I have related with the Igbo deeply and would have loved to marry an Igbo woman but that is a digression.  Wgen Cyril Onwumechili was VC at UNIFE I was the one who brokered peace among the Igbo in the 78 to 82 Law class when they fought bitterly among themselves and held clandestine nepotustic meetings with the VC that they would lead the set.

I will not mention names here but if anyone in that set is reading this they will bear me witness. Despite all their clannish machinations a Yoruba boy of then Kwara and now Kogi effortlessly led the class.

When I returned for my masters degree a similar inordinate competition was instituted and I effortlessly led the class.

Let us open these issues and address them instead of pushing it under the carpet under the guise of some silly political correctness. Did you follow the vitriol that attended the Wole Soyinka and Achebe Nobel laureate issue frim 1986 to date?

Ask Nigerian soldiers of nin Igbo extraction of Ihejerika's naked nepotism ib the army or Pius Anyim's tenure as whatever he is Head of Service or Secretary to the Federal Government. Pushing these issues under the carpet will not help.

Let us openly debate it and honestly address them.

I  rest my case (for now!)

Cheers.

IBK

[xok...@yahoo.com]

IBK,

Read your cringe-worthy response again and see how patronizing and ethnocentric you are. So some of your best friends are igbo, your niece na one-quarter igbo, you saved many "bios" during World War II, prattle, prattle, prattle! I hear!

Why am I disappointed? Early Man!

- Babatunde 😄 

Sent from my LG G3, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

------ Original message------

From: Ibukunolu A Babajide

Date: Sat, Sep 27, 2014 4:57 AM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com;

Subject:Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Yoruba People Are The Most Sophisticated Nigerians - Ojo Madueke

Ojo Maduekwe may be presumed to have spoken his mind. But what is he saying to other Nigerians at the same time? He is however a politician turned diplomat. Has he has learned well? What about you are one of the.....?  I am just saying without full knowledge of the speech's content or context. oa-----Original Message-----From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kola FabiyiSent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 1:19 PMTo: NaijaO...@yahoogroups.com; naijain...@googlegroups.com; naij...@googlegroups.com; niger...@yahoogroups.com; usaafric...@googlegroups.com; Talkn...@yahoogroups.comSubject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Yoruba People Are The Most Sophisticated Nigerians - Ojo MaduekeYoruba People Are The Most Sophisticated Nigerians - Ojo MaduekeBy Adams OdunayoMr Ojo Madueke who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to Canada has recently asserted that the Yorubas are the most enlightened, knowledgeable and experienced people in all the tribes of Nigeria.The Ambassador while speaking in a gathering of Nigerians in Canada during an event organized by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) made it known that Yoruba people are the most sophisticated Nigerians.Mr. Madueke, explained that although his expression contradicts his ”Igboness”, it has been a phenomenon that Nigeria benefits immensely only when the Yoruba are fully involved in governance, adding that as a former officer of the Biafra army, he knew what he was talking about.However, when the guest lecturer at the event, Professor Jacob Olupona, put it to the Ambassador and former Foreign Minister that why did President Goodluck Jonathan not include any Yoruba in the top seven most important cabinet positions, if truly Yoruba people are of great importance.  The former Foreign Minister returned to the podium to explain the sophistication of the Yoruba.  He said that the President has all the ethnic groups well represented in his cabinet, but would not talk further on the issue.Mr. Madueke also explained that the Igbo tribe is eating from the negative outcome of  the 1966 coup by Nigerian army officers led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu which recorded the death of Igbos, not minding the fact that the coup-plotters did not consult with the Igbos before embarking on the killings of certain post-independence leaders.However, another speaker at the event, Omoyele Sowore, a Sahara Reporters official implored many at the event not to take the Ambassador’s ‘flattering of  the Yoruba tribe’ as a compliment. He disabused the minds of many at the event saying that if the former PDP National Secretary’s remarks were more than mere flattery, he and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP), would not spend so much energy and effort to sponsor to power and prominence some of the worst Yoruba. Mr. Sowore called the attention of the listeners at the gathering to the recent elections in Osun and Ekiti States, where he said that the candidates of the PDP were people with well-documented criminal track records.It would be recalled that in January 2010, during a UN press conference, in which  Mr. Madueke was the then Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, there was a showdown when Mr Sowore as a journalist asked Mr Madueke a question during a press conference at the United Nations in New York.  The question which bothered on the Foreign minister not speaking to the ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua for over 60 days, but said said he was getting his instructions from him as he liberally travelled the world.So with what has transpired between Mr. Sowore and Mr. Madueke, Mr. Sowore made it known that the the Ambassadors proclamations should not be taken serious.Follow NAIJ.COM on Twitter! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.   For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   For previous archives, visit  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html   To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-        unsub...@googlegroups.com--- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.   For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   For previous archives, visit  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html   To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-        unsub...@googlegroups.com--- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[ienwana]

I do hope that all l have been reading on this topic have been placed merely in some effort to exercise the ability to construct interesting sentences in the English language! Happily l know that none of you represents the average Yoruba or Igbo.