The debate about whether Nigeria should return to Regionalism is quite fascinating. Many advocates of this miracle pill supposed to cure Nigeria of its delirium believe wholeheartedly that it is exactly what Nigeria needs to be great again.

I hate to be the spoiler but Regionalism is nothing short of “Restructuring 2.0” packaged in a new bottle for us to consume as though it is a new thing. The sad truth is that many of our self-determination advocates have drank this pill and completely forgot that we went through hell under Buhari for 8 solid years.

The people advocating for Regionalism know that it is too late in the day to restructure Nigeria and the proposal for Regionalism is just a means of prolonging the evil days ahead. Regionalism for Nigeria will not work for anyone, it will just be another means for the politicians to perpetuate themselves in power without actually solving the real problems such as pay inequalities and the deep-rooted corruption that persists in the Nigerian system.

Therefore, the mere thoughts that regionalism will work should be cast away from our minds and thrown into the abyss. It is not for us in the self-determination struggle to dabble into as the current politicians are just using it as a delay tactic to divert our attention from the real dangers that lie ahead.

This same political class told us in the past that democracy was the solution to all of our problems, but it seems democracy, as practiced in Nigeria, is the root of our problems. They told us we will be able to fight for our rights under democracy and everyone will have equal rights but it seems we are no better now than in the military regimes.

We have all seen that democracy in Nigeria was just a ruse for the political class to access the national cake. We have practiced it for over 25 years without a proper constitution and it is supposed to be a government of the people. They don’t care that there is no development, as long as they can continue to deceive us with big slogans that bring no real upliftment to the ordinary man on the streets.

When they fail to build infrastructure such as electricity in the country, they’ll get generators to power their houses at our expense. They don’t care if the hospitals are not working or if the schools are shut down for a year, they can go abroad for medical care, educate their children abroad; and get all the good things life can afford overseas at the expense of the poor masses who languishes in poverty with no hope of escape.

If we know what is good for us, it is high time we called the bluff of these political class and demanded our complete dissociation from the country called Nigeria. Yoruba nation has no business with Nigeria anymore and it is time to call it a day after over 100 years of forceful amalgamation with nothing tangible to show for it.

The Fulani terrorists that are killing our people do not understand restructuring, all they are after is conquest and that is why we must not let down our guard. I believe it is an insult to reduce the Yoruba nation with over 50 million population to just a mere region. Whereas, Wales which is less than 4 million, or even Scotland which is less than 10 million people have a country of their own within the United Kingdom.

Why are the proponents of “Regionalism” not advocating a Yoruba nation within Nigeria. Why are they scared of the nomenclature “Yoruba” when truly we are a nation with rich culture and heritage. We should be proud of who we are and the great legacies our ancestors bequeathed us. We shouldn’t let Nigeria steal our identity from us as that is what makes us who we are.

As much as I salute the courage of those advocating for regionalism, my humble submission is that it is a dead-on-arrival project. Regionalism is not capable of addressing the Nigerian problem. It is only a diversionary tactic designed to keep us as perpetual slaves in our own land.

The time is ripe to demand a convocation of a genuine Sovereign National Conference, the type that was called around 1957 where the then 3 regions sat down to decide how they wanted to co-habit before the military put us in this mess. If not, there will be no escape for our politicians when the chickens come home to roost. Just like it happened in Sri Lanka and recently in Kenya, Nigerian politicians may soon discover that there is no safe place in the land for them to escape to.