OPINION: YORUBAS – THE KINGS OF THE DIPLOMATIC WAR
I can see our friends, neighbors, and perhaps outclassed adversaries marveling at the Yoruba's unique way of combining restraint, diplomacy, and strategic offense in our battles. Yet, like the tortoise in the fable, we always return victorious, even when some skirmishes may have ended with the illusion of defeat. The calculated tortoise will always outlive the reckless hare.
1. AWOLOWO IN 1963
They expected us to howl like a wounded lion when Awolowo was unjustly jailed on trumped-up charges of treason. But Yoruba are the masters of the long game. Why scatter the chessboard when you can checkmate your opponent with one quiet move?
Years later, in a cruel twist of fate, the Igbo Majors struck, sweeping away every leader of influence who was not their own. Had Awo roamed free that night, history might have recorded his name among the fallen.
Instead, the same Awolowo they sought to bury rose from the ashes to become Minister of Finance, guiding Nigeria’s economy with the wisdom of Solomon. The same unnecessary war they fought with brute force, he fought with numbers—and won.
2. MKO IN 1993
Three decades later, the wheel of time turned, and another Yoruba man found himself ensnared in the jaws of Nigeria’s ruthless injustice. MKO Abiola won a landslide victory, a triumph celebrated across the land, only for the oppressor’s hand to snatch it away.
Our rivals expected us to explode like a dry keg of gunpowder—but the tiger does not announce its presence with noise; it moves in silence and strikes with precision. The Yoruba, strategic as ever, measured our resistance, fought with intellect, and outlasted the storm.
When the dust settled, the democracy we enjoy today was birthed from the fertile womb of the Yoruba. The same Yoruba they mocked as cowards 😆. Since then, our voice in democracy has not only been important but indispensable. The river may flow quietly, but do not mistake its silence for weakness; when it swells, even mountains tremble.
3. ASIWAJU IN 2025
Now, a friend called us Area Boys. They expected us to roar, to rage, to throw tantrums. But do you argue with a parrot when you own the forest?
Yes, we are Area Boys. Afterall, An average motor park in Lagos generates more revenue than some entire local governments, "you-know-where." What they call cowardice is nothing but calculated patience.
We do not set our own house on fire to prove a point, nor do we "cut off our nose to spite our face." True cowardice is condemning one’s land into an unlivable grave where even the rising sun dares not shine on Mondays.
CONCLUSION
For centuries, our patience has been mistaken for weakness, our silence for surrender. Yet history tells a different story. We are the masters of time, the architects of destiny. While others destroy to make a point, we build to prove ours.
We are the Kings of the Diplomatic War. And when we fight, we do not fight for the noise of the moment. We fight to win the war of history.
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