Ikhide Ikheloa
Ikhide Ikheloa, a Nigerian writer and literary critic, has accused south-west intellectuals of dishonesty during the June 12 pro-democracy struggle by framing it as a pan-Nigerian cause while prioritising Yoruba interests.
The US-based literary critic and activist spoke in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica.
Ikhide, who said he was actively involved in the pro-democracy movement in the early 1990s, expressed disappointment that the nationalist rhetoric of the south-west intellectuals, like the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, gave way to ethnic bigotry once a Yoruba leader assumed the presidency.
“I came across all of these intellectuals.… They were talking about what just happened in 1993. However, it now turns out that they were looking out for themselves and the Yoruba nation,” he said.
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“That would have been fine if not that they were couching it as a struggle for the whole of Nigeria. Many of us were naive back then to believe that it was a national struggle.”
He recalled a meeting with pro-democracy activists where the late Beko Ransome-Kuti, a prominent Nigerian physician and human rights activist, presented a map dividing Nigeria into regions, which confused him as a believer in one Nigeria.
“From what is happening today, it is clear that these Yoruba intellectuals never believed in one Nigeria.
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“They are all quiet now because one of their own is in Aso Rock. But we recall that when they were not in power, the shout was Yoruba Ronu.”
On Nigeria’s economic challenges, Ikhide lamented the pervasive “billing” culture – where people constantly solicit money.
“Over 99 percent of my expenses in Nigeria were to settle ‘billing’ from people. The millions of naira that I spent were on this black tax. Everybody wants to collect, not just once but multiple times,” he said.
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