Olubadan of Ibadan: What Obafemi Awolowo Taught Me on Nationhood
By: Deji Yesufu
My background in Pentecostal Christianity gave me a faulty conception of the culture of the Nigerian people. I used to hold the opinion that many things in our culture were fetish and that no genuine Christian should be associated with them. Even adopting titles like “Chief” appeared like an anathema to me. I am not sure where I might have picked those ideas from, but the almost unanimous belief of many of us in the Pentecostal religion was that those who take up traditional title roles in many communities in Nigeria have sold their souls to the devil. They are men and women who engage in sacrifices to demons, and they cannot be regarded as Christians in the true sense of the word. Obafemi Awolowo changed all of that.
When you read books, you encounter spirits. Books written by dead people carry a certain authority because readers come to the work of these people with a benefit of hindsight, something that even the writer never had. So, a few years ago, the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation published all the written works of the sage again – including a book written on HID Awolowo by Wale Adebanwi. Then I had the good fortune of finding the resources to purchase these books. I then found the time to read all the books, numbering about thirteen, and Obafemi Awolowo became unraveled before my very eyes. The stories we heard about Awolowo were that he was something of a mystic. Awolowo’s writing revealed that the man was just like every one of us. There is no doubt he was very cerebral and possessed something that is near the prophetic, but reading him, you get the inclination that anybody can become an Awolowo. Awolowo properly documented his thinking in such a way that later generations could pick up where he left off and build on his work. I believe that Obafemi Awolowo understood that many people in his own generation would not see the vision he had for Nigeria. Awolowo wrote of an “educated reformer”; he said that such people are the people who will come and change Nigeria. But this is what the sage said about Nigeria as a nation – it is his most quoted statement, yet many people who quote him do not necessarily succeed at bringing out the point he was trying to make. In his first book, written in 1946, “Path to Nigerian Freedom”, Awolowo wrote:
“If rapid political progress is to be made in Nigeria, it is high time that we were realistic in tackling its constitutional problems. Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English’, ‘Welsh’, or ‘French’. The word ‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not. There are various national or ethnic groups in the country. Ten such groups were recorded during the 1931 census as follows: Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, Fulani, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Edo, Nupe, and Ijaw. According to the Nigerian Handbook, eleventh edition, ‘there are also a great number of other small tribes too numerous to enumerate separately…”
When people quote the sage here, they give the impression that Awolowo was saying Nigeria was not a nation but only a mere geographical expression. While he did write that statement, that is not what he meant. Awolowo was writing a book with the British, the white man, as his first audience. He was arguing in that book on a number of reasons why Nigeria should be given independence as soon as possible. He was helping his white readers understand that the country they refer to as Nigeria is not a nation “yet” in the strict sense of the word – at that time, it was still largely a mere geographical expression. His main point was this: Nigeria is a conglomerate of nations. Because one of the main defining elements of nationhood is that the people speak the same language and have the same historical origin. This is why he mentioned the English, Welsh, or French. One could also add: German, Swiss, or Polish. Language is the most important defining characteristic of a nation. Therefore, when you come to this “geographical expression”, you encounter many languages, with people from many historical origins. Therefore, that kind of place is not a nation per se – but a conglomerate of nations. Awolowo made this point to argue for the concept of federalism – a political theory that allowed for hundreds of nations to associate together in a harmonious manner. Nigeria will later adopt federalism as a political structure, even though we are yet to perfect the spirit and character of federalism as a country.
Now, when you understand the point that Nigeria is a conglomerate of nations, then you can appreciate why there is such a thing as a nation of the Yoruba in Nigeria. And even within the Yoruba nation, you have other nations that are defined by their peculiar dialect: the Oyo-Yoruba, Egba, Ibadan, Ekiti, Ondo, etc. In the 1930s, Nigeria’s population was approximately 40 million people. In the 1960s, our population was nearing 60 million. Today, Nigeria has approximately 220 million living within this geographical expression. Our population may have grown about four times what it was in the 1960s. My point here is this: the population of the Yoruba nation today may even be more than the population of the whole of Nigeria in the 1960s. Therefore, it is important that as time goes on, and as the country increases in population size, certain nations within the country must be recognized. The Ibadan people are a historically significant group, and having an Olubadan today rule over them is akin to having a distinct nation within the overall federal nationhood of Nigeria. This is the reason why celebrating the coronation of an Olubadan, as was done today, 26th September 2025, is something that is worth the time.
Now that Chief Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, one-time governor of Oyo State, has been successfully coronated as the new Olubadan of Ibadan, it is time people like him and others in this “nation” begin to consider lifting Ibadan to nationhood status in the real sense of the word. Obafemi Awolowo also argued that with time, Nigeria should create more states. Many have championed the idea of an Ibadan State. Unfortunately, when they do this, they forget a very important prerequisite for actualizing this vision. When Awolowo wrote about creating more states in Nigeria, he never envisioned the time when states would go cap-in-hand to Abuja to collect monthly revenue. Rather, he wrote about “viability” – that a state is ready to be created when such a state is viable – that it can stand alone. A viable state will use the resources within her to build her nation up, while at the same time contributing to the center. Ibadan can become a viable state if she rediscovers agriculture. In the 1950s, Obafemi Awolowo and the Action Group built the foundation of the Western region on two agricultural products: cocoa and palm kernel. Ibadan can do the same thing today.
As we celebrate a new Olubadan, and as the discussion around the creation of states increases, the people of Ibadan should look closely at the point of making Ibadan a nation-state. Agriculture can be so modernized in this place that we can become a net exporter of goods, so much so that one day, Oyo State would even forget to collect its state monthly allocation because it is making a lot more than it is collecting from the center. This is what it means to become a nation in the true sense of the word.
As I went around the city today, I saw people who were really happy to have Ladoja on the traditional seat of their forefathers. I hope that Ladoja will bring his wealth of experience as a former Governor to bear on making Ibadan such a prosperous hub that the Nigerian nation will have no qualms granting Ibadan a state status in the days to come. If this happens, Obafemi Awolowo could smile from the great beyond as he sees one of his greatest visions for Nigeria come to pass. A vision where all ethnic groups, all nation states within this country, become self-sufficient, viable, prosperous, and beneficial to their people. If such a thing were to happen in Nigeria, it should only be fitting that it begins in Ibadan, the Pacesetter, the same town the sage operated in years ago – showing Nigerians that Africans can do great things if they set their minds to it.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
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