“Quest for Decoloniality and Challenges of Integration in the Kwara Project: The Igbomina Episode”
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Date
2018
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A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Federal University, Dutsinma, Katsina State
Abstract
The unabated quest for decoloniality and integration, the major crux of this paper, appears a foremost challenge to the stakeholders of the Kwara Project. Fears that the Kwara Project, 'an experiment in political engineering', may someday fizzle out, going by the nostalgia, nepotism and discrimination in Kwara today, particularly by the Igbomina, compares with South Africa's apartheid. Given the option, the Igbomina-Ekiti and Ibolo would gladly align with Osun/Ekiti; Baruten and Kaiama with Sokoto/Kebbi, and Nupe with Nduduma/Edu State, if/when created. A substantial infraction of Asa and Moro LGAs would also gladly join their kith and kilns in Oyo. It therefore becomes clear that only the advantaged seems interested in the Project sustenance, while the disadvantaged, with a strong reminiscence for their homeland, are keen to opt out. The paper, however, concludes that although Ilorin Emirate was established by warfare, conscious efforts to foster a formidable inter-ethnic bond by the forbears in the multi-ethnic cauldron that emerged therefrom has sustained it hitherto. Meanwhile, the highly sought West Merger can hardly provide the desired panacea to the political quagmire, since the merging group(s) eventually become(s) later entrants and a minority group all over again. It recommends, thus, that while Ilorin cannot hold suzerainty over all others in the Kwara Project ad-infinitum, a symbiotic relationship stemming out of the concerted commitment of all towards promoting sustainable integration in the cultural cauldron becomes the only apparent alternative. The paper adopts the historical-cum-narrative and analytical approach, with a combination of primary and secondary sources.
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Keywords
Igbomina, Integration, Decoloniality, Kwara Project
Citation
Aboyeji, A. J. (2018): “Quest for Decoloniality and Challenges of Integration in the Kwara Project: The Igbomina Episode” FUDMA Journal of Arts (FUDJARTS), Vol. 2, Special Edition 2018, ISSN: 2636-4530, A Publication of the Faculty of Arts, Federal University, Dutsinma, Katsina State, pp. 447-466.