The maths teacher beheaded by a terrorist in Oyo

By Olarinre Salako,

After 112 years of amalgamation, we have never culturally assimilated across Nigeria.

So much so that a northern jihadist almajiri terrorist — probably a son whose father had forgotten him somewhere, and one of 20 siblings from numerous wives — could find himself in Orire Local Government, a border town between Alaafin Oyo and Soun Ogbomoso, and behead a mathematics teacher. In Yorubaland.

This is the Yorubaland that Awolowo led with free education in the 1950s. Awolowo would be rolling in his grave right now, especially seeing that a Yoruba son is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

No wonder Awolowo said Nigeria is not a nation, but a mere geographic entity.

When an irredentist Fulani man, Buhari, was Commander-in-Chief, northern herdsmen were only able to attack our women in the bush. Now that we have a Yoruba son — a father from Iragbiji and Eko — as the Nigerian President, jihadist terrorists have become emboldened to abduct our schoolchildren and their teachers, and not just kill a teacher, but behead him in broad daylight. In the year 2026!

Is the Nigerian Presidency a curse to everyone? Even with Buhari’s military training, he could NOT stop the violent incursion of Boko Haram terrorists and banditry into his home state of Katsina. That state is now totally infested with violence and criminality.

Now, the British who amalgamated us still experience ethnic animosity, over 300 years after the union of England and Scotland.

The UK still maintains its semi-autonomous nations, albeit dominated by the English. Despite that, you still see the Scottish and Welsh with their own national flags. They compete in the World Cup as separate nations.

I was at the Scottish Parliament. Semi-autonomous. I participated in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. It was a highly civilized process, deeply debated before the vote. Then-Prime Minister David Cameron, an Englishman, gave a highly emotional speech in Glasgow — at the heart of Scotland — that helped defeat Scottish independence when he promised them Devo Max: maximum devolution. That Devo Max never arrived. The Scottish people are planning another independence referendum as we speak, especially because their businesses were devastated by Brexit, occasioned by majority English voters and non-native British voters from Asia.

So, I agree with those who say we need semi-autonomous regions or nations for Nigeria to function optimally as a country-state.

Gowon destroyed the semi-autonomy of our regions with the creation of 12 states as a war strategy against the Igbos. What he did then has now ballooned to 36 units that can hardly function independently. A governor is hapless in the face of his people being beheaded! In 2026! Would the legendary Awolowo have been as hapless as Seyi Makinde? I watched Seyi saying, “It is going to be difficult,” looking perturbed yet clueless, and I could not but cry inside me.

The pre-1966 arrangement is the barest minimum we need to reset Nigeria into a meaningful country-state!

We just need to rework the 1963 Republican Constitution. The Nigerian elites should get their heads together now before it is too late for them.

Otherwise, without being pessimistic, the country will die a brutal death one day. It will be a serious implosion that no one can arrest.

EULOGY TO THE LATE MICHAEL OYEDOKUN

You chose a noble profession: teaching. You added value to humanity. You made the difficult subject of Mathematics easy for the younger generation to learn.

You did not choose Nigeria, but you found yourself in it. Yours was not a tragedy of birth. Yours was not a tragedy of professional choice. Yours was not a tragedy of ethnic nationality. It was not a chosen death for the greater good. You didn’t die as a soldier. But you died an avoidable death. You were killed. The Nigerian state is the killer. The amalgamation without cultural assimilation is the cause of your death. The Unification Decree, wrapped in the 1999 Constitution, is the cause of your death.

May your soul rest in peace. But may your death signal a renewal — a return to a semi-autonomous region with Devo Max.

Adieu, Mr. Michael Adedokun. May God be with your family. May your death not be in vain.

Olarinre Salako, Ph.D.
A native of Oyo Town
Writes from Texas, USA
May 19, 2026.