EDITORIAL: The Columnist, A Psychopath, And Cultural Hegemony
- Good Governance Versus Ọmọ wa ní ẹjẹ̀ kò sé
In a very illuminating article in the Nigerian Tribune of September 15, 2025, the noted columnist, political analyst and pundit, Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, was sufficiently unsettled to make a counter attack on the proposition that the battle cry of the opportunistic, self-serving and self idolatry position that cultural Hegemony (Ọmọ wà ní ẹ̀jẹ̀ kò sé) should be a counter weight for under-performance or even lack of performance in governance.
“A Tinubu minister from the South-West sent this message to a respected, elderly journalist now in his mid-70s. It was meant for me and the Oga did as instructed; he forwarded the message to me. I read what the big man wanted me to read. It was someone’s reaction to my column on the Alaafin-Ooni problem and what I had described as Yoruba’s “curse of enlightenment.”
‘The minister said he got it from a Yoruba WhatsApp group, author unknown but he believed so much in what the writer wrote that he thought he should get Olagunju to read it “if he is redeemable.”
‘And what is in that message of redemption? I read it slowly and carefully because it came from a big man, a minister who had been where I am today: “Undoubtedly a researched article…but this writer is the archetypal Yoruba! He’s the most guilty of all the Yoruba negative attributes he so comprehensively enumerated. A content analysis of his writings shows a consistent, persistent and relentless attack on fellow Yoruba Tinubu under the same ‘curse of enlightenment’! If truly he’s disconcerted about the Yoruba ‘curse’, then he should engage himself in deep introspection – as all the Yoruba abhorrent attitudes he lampoons, he manifests with glee in his vituperations against Tinubu!
‘The above is the core content of what the minister said I should read for my redemption. The man described Tinubu as “the first real Yoruba man to attain Nigeria’s presidency.” I read that part and understood the man’s problem.”
Dr. Olagunju has every reason to be disconcerted. The issue of cultural hegemony, loosely translated into Yoruba as ‘Omo wa ni, Eje o se,’ has been a problem for a very long time in the pre-banalised politics of Nigeria, where governance is intermingled with a demented misinterpretation of politics in inverted commons. The result has been notable under achievement, which has translated into tens of millions of people being pushed into multi-dimensional poverty, secularly and unfairly trapped there.
Cultural hegemony has always been a problem everywhere in the world, used to mask fault lines and justify underperformance. It is essentially a con game. For Nigeria, in particular, given its diversity and lack of ideologically propelled politics, it will continue to pose a persistent danger to real, sustainable development.
Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, a wise old bird, has obviously long seen through this con game. He is very right to unmask it and show its utility. The whole use of cultural hegemony is to justify a narrow elite class drinking from the trough and squeezing out everybody else. It’s clear that nothing has been gained from this, except for a miniscule set of people, rather than thinking of what the overwhelming majority of the people and their hard-pressed families need.
This is precisely the reason that has led to Nigeria continously scoring own goals. A good example is how what should have been the benefit of oil-boom was squandered. The country had an oil boom, but it didn’t translate into a war against poverty, ignorance, and disease. The oil boom didn’t produce the basic industries like iron and steel, petrochemicals, machine tools, etc., which would have been the trajectory and propelling base for sustainable development.
We had an indigenisation decree that benefitted a select social strater and locked out the ponderant majority of the dispossessed. Even the Land Use Decree didn’t lead to widespread land ownership as it ought to have. The discrepancy between the real development seen in countries like Brazil and Malaysia over the last few decades has been denied to the people of this country because the elite have cleverly used the mask of cultural hegemony to disguise their swindle of the overwhelming majority.
This mass swindle must be disconcerting for someone of Dr. Olagunju’s age and enlightenment. The celebrated columnist is well-versed in the political and economic history and evolution of the Yoruba-speaking nation, and he must be very pained to note that Yoruba land has regressed from making life more abundant for the overwhelming majority and their families to serving the interests of a narrow strata.
Dr. Olagunju is aware of how the Free Education Act of 1957 and the minimum wage construct in Western Nigeria helped propel the region way above others. It would be delightful if the scholar could take time off and write a full exposition pointing out the futility and strategic flaws of a political position based on cultural hegemony. It’s a swindle, and we must thank him for exposing it as such.
