By KEHINDE OKUNOMO 

This article is a clarion call to committed Christians passionate about the survival of the Yoruba race. We are on the verge of being obliterated, subdued, or completely subjected to Fulani domination as presently being done in the North. What we are about to witness will pale in comparison to the atrocities perpetrated against Christians in Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorists.

The fragile peace we have enjoyed so far with our Muslim brethren is about to be blown into smithereens. The signs were already there probably unknown to some of us. There had been surreptitious moves to actualize this but met with disappointment. It must be reiterated that they are undeterred and are willing to crush every opposition. Please do recall the Hijab conundrum in International School Ibadan, where they felt that the non-compliance by the School authority contributed in no small way to reducing the Intelligence Quotients of the Muslim girls as opposed to minimizing their promiscuity. 

The people we considered as riff-raffs are now exhibiting a high level of mental alertness beyond our imagination. The radicalization of our brothers began by association with the Fulanis in Ilorin through shared culture and religion. They are the ones initiating the moderate Muslims into Islamic fundamentalism to subjugate them and simultaneously incite them against the Yoruba Christians. It is pathetic and disappointing that our so-called leaders are unperturbed, indifferent, and oblivious to this imminent catastrophe that is about consuming the Yoruba land. Whatever explanations, excuses, or reasons they may give to placate the rest of us should be rejected outrightly. They should first of all convince beyond reasonable doubt the Chinese government about the peaceableness of their religion before introducing it to us. 

It is imperative that we put the situation in proper perspective. What we are witnessing or just witnessed was a culmination of several events that began a few months ago when a bigoted academic of Yoruba extraction who willingly surrendered himself as a tool to the Fulanis against his people (which is symptomatic of them) openly expressed an ominous desire for the implementation of Sharia in the Southwest before his benefactors. One would have thought that with his intelligence and cerebrality, he would have deciphered their shenanigans and not yielded to them.

Thereafter, there was a presentation of the Sharia implementation bill on the floor of the National Assembly by a House of Representative Member from the North which was vehemently opposed. Immediately after that unsuccessful attempt, the proponents deemed it necessary to impose it on the southwest as a form of experimentation to elicit a reaction from society. This was an attempt to test the waters. Please do recall the El-Rufai strategy of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State which was a prelude to the National stage. 

My dear brethren, we are in for a long haul as we deal with impudent, cocky, implacable, and intransigent individuals who will stop at nothing to actualize their goals; but let us be rest assured that our victory is guaranteed since we serve the TRUE GOD. The irrefutable truth about this Sharia imbroglio is that it is anything but religion. I referred to this in one of my articles. The question was “How many Buhari ministers” (Muslims of course) who pillaged our treasury at a monumental proportion have had their limbs amputated? Absolutely none! The primary aim of these bigots is to oppress, subjugate, and dominate our people.

It is a ploy to render us tenants in our land as was done to the Hausas for decades. It is now that the latter are beginning to realize the level of oppression they were subjected to over the years in the name of religion. What these Jihadists could not achieve during the time of our ancestors is now to be shoved down our throats in the 21st century through subterranean means and with the active collaboration of some despicable, misguided, and disgruntled Yoruba Muslims in our midst. They are on a mission to destabilize our people to erode the peaceful coexistence and religious harmony we have enjoyed for centuries before our very eyes.

The painful aspect of this ominous and odious development is the unexplainable indifference of our leaders. The Southwest Governors who are supposed to be at the forefront of this battle are presently ensconced in their imaginary political world and would rather seek for political solution than dissuade the extremists; which may be counterproductive just as Gen. Obasanjo erroneously referred to the implementation of Sharia in the North then as political, and has become a monstrosity that refused to disappear. Their major preoccupation is their self-centered, egoistic political ambition which is in the present circumstance an anathema to our people. They exhibit zero commitment to the Christian faith as opposed to their counterpart in the North who will willingly sacrifice their ambition for the advancement of their religion. Furthermore, our religious leaders should not be expected to fight this battle because they prioritized the proliferation of their churches through their global evangelization agenda while the home front is being eviscerated. 

May the Almighty God shower His innumerable blessings on those youths who put forth a formidable resistance against the grossly appalling inauguration. They deserve a lot of commendations. While not holding brief for the Governors, it must be emphasized that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has become a major handicap to them. It was obviously written, developed, and configured with the primary purpose of destroying Christianity in Nigeria. That document is a scam and absurdity designed specifically to trample on the rights of Christians by leveraging our collective docility and pacifism. How do you juxtapose the secularity of the Nigerian Nation with Sharia implementation? Where were the Christian leaders or the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria when Sharia Law was smuggled into the Constitution? I remember vividly the irreplaceable and indefatigable Archbishop Benson Idahosa of blessed memory. He would have immediately voiced his opposition against this absurdity.

In 2024, the President of a supposedly secular country fully participated in a Conference of Islamic and Arabized nations. Incidentally, he was made to read the communique. What a paradox! is there any justification for that? Probably because of their petro dollars. I’m aware that no Nigerian President or Head of state has ever attended any conference organized by Christian Societies before now which gives the impression of a country gradually drifting towards Islamism. We are presently at a critical threshold as Yoruba people and this is a defining moment where we need to choose between accelerated technological advancement and destructive primitivism. 

The earlier we collectively stand against the importation of Sharia into the Yoruba Nation the better for us lest we end up like the Lebanese people. One would not have been averse to the Sharia implementation if there was no hidden agenda behind it. The ultimate goal of the proponent is the domination, decimation, and annihilation of our people. What have been the experiences of the Northern Christians where Sharia is being practiced? They have been decimated and dehumanized systematically through intimidation, coercion, forceful conversion/marriage, and abduction sometimes their state governments being fully complicit.

The abducted Chibok girls were predominantly Christians. I must sound a note of warning that if Sharia is allowed to be practiced Christians will be killed with impunity (remember Deborah Samuel) since they consider us as infidels, and there will be no iota of condemnation from our Yoruba brothers simply because it is in line with Quranic injunctions. The unprecedented ruthless massacre of over fifty (50) worshipers in Owo Catholic Church a few years ago and the call by a despicable Imam for the assassination of the First Lady for no justifiable reason other than being a Christian serve as a poignant reminder of the level of wickedness these people are capable of. Unfortunately, up till this very moment nobody has been apprehended or prosecuted vis-à-vis those incidents. These should motivate us to resist, reject, and oppose this imposition with the last drop of our blood for the sake of our land and posterity. 

It is a statement of fact that the Yoruba Muslims we previously referred to as being moderate and tolerant are no longer so. They have been indoctrinated and radicalized irredeemably. It was a gradual radicalization that began some years ago and was consummated during the clueless Buhari regime that prioritized Fulanization and Islamization over the economic revitalization of this Nation. This religious fundamentalism began when another bigoted Yoruba academic was appointed to enforce the rights of the Muslims that were allegedly trampled upon.

He pursued the assignment with unparalleled zeal such that he agitated for the immediate replacement of Christians who were heads of all organizations and institutions in the Southwest by his Muslim brothers. Unfortunately, he was planted to sow the seed of discord among his people and accepted the task impulsively. He even advocated for the removal of the present Governor of Lagos State for having overstayed, to pave the way for a Muslim candidate being oblivious to the fact that Tinubu and Fashola spent sixteen (16) cumulative years as Governors while Ambode and Sanwoolu will be twelve (12) years after the latter’s tenure in 2027. 

How did we get here? This self-styled spokesman of the Caliphate was cognizant of the aforementioned atrocities against his people but no iota of condemnation from him and his ilk. This is pathetic as it is calamitous. It is reflective of the evil being perpetrated against Christians in the North including Kwara State despite the preponderance of Christians. For more than twenty (20) years now the Christians there have been relegated to the background with regards to the governorship of the state not on the ground of incompetence but religion.

Therefore, I wish to seize this opportunity to call on all well-meaning Yorubas most especially Men of God to mobilize, galvanize, and organize their members and Christians from other denominations massively for relentless and agonizing fasting and prayers to forestall this imminent calamity for the survival of the Yoruba Nation. I wish to passionately appeal to Rev. Moses Aransiola to spearhead this assignment due to your unparalleled commitment to the Christian cause and involvement in “Nigeria Prays” program.

•Okunomo, is Chairman, Christian Right Watch of Nigeria.