THE YORUBAS ARE ALWAYS GENEROUS WITH POWER.
THE YORUBAS ARE ALWAYS GENEROUS WITH POWER.
One uncomfortable truth Nigerians avoid saying out loud: The Yorubas are the most generous with power in Nigeria.
Look at history, not emotions.
From the pre-independence days, Lagos was the base of the progressive politics which Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe championed.
He was allowed to play the Lagos politics by the Yorubas and actually represented Lagos at the Regional Parliamment.
No other ethnic group in Nigeria can or has a history of doing this.
When power comes to the Southwest, it is shared, not hoarded. The same way they share Lagos with everyone.
Yoruba leaders don’t see power as an ethnic inheritance — they see it as a national tool.
Presidents, ministers, technocrats, military heads, business leaders — many from other ethnic groups have risen under Yoruba-led governments.
Competence mattered more than surname.
Loyalty to the system mattered more than loyalty to the tribe.
That’s why Lagos — a Yoruba land — became Nigeria’s most diverse, prosperous, opportunity-filled state.
No indigene certificate required to succeed.
No ethnic gatekeeping.
If you can add value, you belong.
Power in Yoruba political culture is institutional, not emotional.
It’s about strategy, negotiation, and long-term dominance — not loud victimhood.
That’s also why they rarely cry marginalisation.
From the independence of Nigeria in 1960, they faced serious exclusion.
Awolowo was resisted from ruling Nigeria and later thrown into prison.
Obasanjo was thrown into prison but survived by a miracle.
Abiola ‘s election was annulled and later was kpaied.
The only time they ruled before 1999 was when General Obasanjo became head of State after the death of Muritala Muhammad but he handed over power to the civilian government of Shehu Shagari and Dr Alex Ekwueme without delay.
All these times they were in political wilderness, they never cried marginalization or breaking out of the country.
They understand one thing Nigerians hate to accept:
👉 Power is not begged for. It is organized, negotiated, and defended.
If Nigeria truly wants progress, other regions must stop romanticising oppression narratives and start studying how power is built, shared, and sustained.
This is not praise.
This is a lesson.
When Obasanjo became president, he went and headhunted smart men and women.
People like …
- Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
- Dr. Oby Ezekwesili
- Professor Charles Soludo
- Professor Berth Nnaji
- Nuhu Ribadu
- Mallam El-Rufai
- Mike Okiro (IG of police)
- Arunma Oteh
- Dr. Emeka Anyoku
- Frank Nweke Jr
- Professor Dora Akunyili
Etc .
He used more South Easterners than he used Yorubas.
And now Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is president, you can see that he’s repeating the same pattern?
Obasanjo began to get opposition parties to join him from every part of Nigeria.
Meanwhile don’t forget that it was Tinubu that created the opportunity for foreigners to become House of Representatives and Assembly members in Lagos.
It was him who created the opportunity for foreigners to be employed into the Lagos state civil service and other government offices.
Which other ethnic group does that?
And today at the national level you can see how he’s getting other politicians from every part of Nigeria to come and join him.
The Yorubas try to build a united Nigeria in their political style at least we saw that with MKO Abiola, Obasanjo and Tinubu.
This is really something other parts of Nigeria can learn.
I keep saying that the Yorubas are the ones holding Nigeria together.
They’re not dragging anything nor crying over anything.
If a government doesn’t favour them, they don’t cry nor burn down the country.
They just silently strategize.
But that’s not the case with the North and the South East.
Make una REPENT.
Just two years Arewa has been out of government they’re already burning down the country.
The South East has been in power in 1960-1966, 1983-1979, from 1999-2015 we were prominently dominant while the South West and South South were no-where.
The South West didn’t burn down the country nor cried marginalization.
The South South kept enduring even when they’re the goose laying the golden eggs that fed Nigeria, they kept enduring until when the injustice began to affect their environments and fishing business.
Arewa and South East…. REPENT!
Ugoji Maximillian speaker, Author, Entrepreneur and believer in the beauty that’s in humanity.
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