Dr. Ope Banwo
You may have read the viral article making the rounds on WhatsApp, especially among my Yoruba family of Nigerians, titled “Fairness Is a Curse in Nigeria,” credited to one Col. Abimbola Sowunmi (rtd.). I do not know this brother personally, but from the way he wrote, I must acknowledge him as a brilliant writer.
Ironically, that brilliance itself highlights the problem that seems to plague many of the most brilliant minds in our land across all tribes. Too often, we use our intellect to call black white, and to argue that what we once called black years ago has suddenly become white simply because our own brother is now the one doing it.
So my blunt response to Col. Abimbola Sowunmi’s argument is simple: No. Fairness is not a curse in Nigeria or anywhere else.
Fairness is a basic human virtue. What is a curse — especially among some otherwise brilliant Nigerians — is intellectual hypocrisy.
We see this intellectual hypocrisy every day among some of the most visible commentators and public intellectuals in Nigeria — people who once spoke courageously against injustice but who now bend their arguments depending on who holds power.
Though I know many of my Yoruba elite friends will roast me for saying this, I must remain honest with myself and state plainly that what I read in the article titled “Fairness Is a Curse” is not a defense of strategy or survival politics. It is a masterclass in Yoruba elite sophistry — the art of using big grammar and selective history to defend the very rubbish we spent decades condemning in other tribes.
With due respect to the author, this type of argument exposes the moral double standards that now plague parts of our Yoruba political elite — and indeed the elites of other tribes as well.
This is one of the reasons our brightest minds across tribes are not collaborating to move Nigeria forward. Instead, many are using their intellectual prowess to argue from the narrow vantage point of tribe, when the Almighty who gave them that brilliance might reasonably expect them to rise above base instincts like tribalism, ethnicism, and favoritism.
Now, Let me be clear before the tribal warriors start sharpening their knives.
I am a very proud Yoruba man.
I am a double prince of Ikala and Ijebu-Imushin in Ogun State. I am 100 percent Yoruba royalty on both sides of my family. My Ijebu villages may be small, but I am a verifiable prince on both sides of my family even though I do not put ‘Prince’ against my name. I also proudly carry the self-appointed title of Mayor of Fadeyi, a strongly Yoruba-dominated neighborhood that shaped my formative years.
So let no one start shouting “bastard” under this article. At least I know where I was born. People know my parents, and my childhood friends are all on my Facebook page to attest to my heritage and the schools I attended in Yorubaland are vey much out there for those who want to fact check. Unlike the record of others who present themselves as Yoruba leaders, my Yoruba roots, upbringing, and pride in my identity are therefore undisputed and indisputable.
But pride in one’s heritage must never require blindness to one’s hypocrisy.
And the truth — painful as it may be — is that many Yoruba intellectuals who once stood tall as the moral conscience of Nigeria are now bending themselves into intellectual pretzels to justify the same ethnic favoritism, state capture, and corruption they once condemned when it came from other tribes.
That deeply disappoints me, and frankly, it is a shame.
Yorubas are supposed to call things as they are — to “hit the nail squarely on the head,” even when it hurts. My late father believed strongly in that principle. He literal beat it us growing and lived by it until his final days.
THE YORUBA MORAL HIGH GROUND — NOW ABANDONED*
For decades, the Yoruba prided themselves as the conscience of Nigeria.
We spoke loudly about justice.
Led by some of the best among us — people like Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Professor Ayodele Awojobi, Fiery Pastor Tunde Bakare, Prof Bolanle Awe and Professor Wole Soyinka in his prime just to mention a few— we protested injustice regardless of which tribe held power.
We built reputations as defenders of fairness and national integrity.
Our icons stood tall.
Professor Wole Soyinka, for example, inspired generations of Nigerians with his fearless resistance against injustice. His activism during the Western Region crisis and his long opposition to military dictatorship earned him the respect of many of us who grew up believing that intellectual courage must always stand above political loyalty. That is precisely why many younger Nigerians now struggle to reconcile that legacy with some of the positions he has taken in recent political debates.
Now what do we have today?
Many of these same voices who once condemned corruption, ethnic favoritism, and injustice now appear comfortable accepting national honors, government proximity, and elite recognition from an administration many Nigerians believe suffers from the very problems they once denounced.
Where is the outrage now?
Where is the intellectual fire?
Where is the moral clarity?
Apparently, when “our own” occupies power, justice suddenly becomes complicated.
THE HYPOCRISY IS NOW THE REAL SHAME
Let us be honest: Tribal favoritism is not new in Nigeria.
Every major tribe — Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo — and many smaller groups have struggled with it. The ethnic suspicions and clannish tendencies that existed long before colonial rule did not disappear after amalgamation. In many ways, they intensified within the forced national framework created by colonial administration.
The average Hausa man does not pretend he is not tribal.
The average Igbo man will openly say, “my people first.”
But Yoruba elites historically claimed something different.
We claimed enlightenment.
We claimed principle.
We claimed the moral high ground against all other tribes.
Yet now that political power has shifted toward a Yoruba president, many of those same voices are suddenly discovering elaborate philosophical arguments to defend ethnic favoritism.
So we are not merely tribal.
We are tribal — and hypocritical about it.
That hypocrisy, in my honest view, is worse than open bias.
THE TINUBU QUESTION THAT INTELLECTUALS NOW AVOID
Let us address the elephant in the room.
We are increasingly told — directly or indirectly — that criticizing ethnic favoritism under this administration amounts to betrayal. Yet the same leader many now defend was once the subject of intense criticism from many of these same Yoruba intellectuals.
Questions they once raised and even challenged him openly on included:
Controversies surrounding aspects of his early and middle age biography (for a man who is president, I find it disgusting that any ANYONE, especially Yorubas who should know better, would think its okay for us not to have names of any classmates, playmates and colleagues of our president in primary school ,secondary or university. But a lot of ‘smart’ yorubas now think its oaky and any Yoruba talking about it must be a ‘traitor’ to his race)
Long-standing debates about elements of his academic history (most Nigerians can still not tell you which primary school, secondary school or university their president attended to this day)
The well-documented U.S. civil forfeiture case from the 1990s involving funds linked to narcotics investigations (some of these same people are now arguing the nonsensical and morally annoying position that accounts being convicted of drugs is different from the owner being involved in drugs, as if a bank account can conduct drug transactions on its own while the owner is blissfully ignorant. I still get upset when I hear supposedly intelligent people argue this intellectually dishonest position)
Allegations by critics that his long political influence in Lagos represents one of the most extreme examples of state capture by one man and the most sophisticated example of political patronage networks in Nigerian politics
These questions did not originate from his opponents alone. Many Yoruba analysts and commentators raised them as well. Yet, today we are told that asking questions is betrayal because ‘fairness is a cause’? wow.
When a ₦3 trillion road project is reportedly approved without competitive public tender or extensive public explanation, yorubas who joined others to raise concerns are told they are betraying their tribe rather than exercising their civic responsibility.
Instead of questioning government decisions, some of us who speak out are now labeled betrayers of our own people.
*THE NEW ARGUMENT: TRIBALISM AS STRATEGY*
The new intellectual gymnastics now goes like this: Others practiced tribalism before. Therefore Yoruba must now practice tribalism too.
That argument is not strategy. It is moral surrender by those who should be embarrassed by how much they have fallen from their previous high moral ground.
If injustice by others becomes justification for injustice by us, then we have abandoned the principles that once defined Yoruba political philosophy.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo built an entire political tradition around justice, merit, and institutional integrity. Yet, today some beneficiaries of that tradition now argue that fairness itself is foolishness.
WHEN FAIRNESS BECOMES “WEAKNESS”
The most disturbing part of the article by the retired Col Sowunmi is its celebration of abandoning fairness altogether.
“To hell with fairness,” the writer Col Sowunmi retired declares. Really?
After decades of criticizing northern domination, military impunity, and ethnic favoritism, the new doctrine suddenly becomes: “Our turn has come.”
If that is the argument, let us at least state it honestly. Let us not dress naked tribalism in the robes of political philosophy. It is frankly annoying.
*THE DANGER OF ETHNIC BLINDNESS*
To be fair, every tribe in Nigeria suffers from ethnic blindness. None of us is completely immune. I am sure I have my own blind spots too. The tribal DNA does run deep. Even my father is not immune from it but he never pretended he was above it either unlike some of our current Yoruba intelligentsia.
Fact is Yoruba political culture once claimed something higher — the courage to criticize even our own leaders when necessary.
That tradition now appears to be fading.
Many of the intellectual warriors who once criticized Tinubu himself as a corrupt and manipulative political godfather now appear willing to serve him enthusiastically without even a trace of the skepticism they once expressed.
Watching that transformation among some of the people I once admired most among my Yoruba tribe is frankly disappointing.
A FINAL WORD TO MY FELLOW YORUBAS
Let me say this clearly: Supporting a Yoruba president is not wrong.
Unlike most critics who would never agree that anything goo can come out of Jagaban’s Aso Rock, I believe President Tinubu has his good moments, and unlike many critics, I also openly acknowledge that he has also taken some actions that may yield positive results in the long term. Even if the current hardship for millions make it difficult to imagine.
I even wrote a book titled “Monetizing Tinubunomics” (the first of its kind book on his economic policies by the way for this govt many of his supporters still think I totally dislike), recognizing aspects of his economic agenda, while still criticizing what I believe are his mistakes.
That balance is part of the intellectual tradition I inherited from iconic Yoruba elders like Prof Soyinka in his prime, Gani Fawehinmi, Pastor Tunde Bakare, and Chief Awolowo — men who were unafraid to speak honestly even when it was uncomfortable. However, abandoning fairness and intellectual honesty simply because “our own” is now in power is a betrayal of the tradition that once made Yoruba political thought respected across Nigeria and beyond.
I will like to end this by reiterating that this is not an attack on the Yoruba people and hsould not be seen as such. i gain nothing by blindly attacking my own.
Instead, please lets see it as a call for introspection among those of us who claim to stand for principle.
A people who once prided themselves as the conscience of Nigeria must never allow tribal loyalty to silence their moral voice.
If fairness suddenly becomes a curse simply because the beneficiary of unfairness happens to be Yoruba, then the problem is not fairness.
The problem is us.
*Dr. Ope Banwo, self-appointed Mayor of Fadeyi is the Founder of Naija Lives Matter