By By Reno Omokri
CONGRATULATIONS, Pelumi Nubi. You have once again publicly demonstrated that respect for authority and elders, along with humility, even at the apex of personal achievement, are the secrets behind the success of the Yoruba as a race.
As the cameras captured you in the unscripted act of kneeling before Governor Jide Sanwoolu, I was reminded of why the Yoruba are the most progressive Black ethnicity on planet Earth, bar none.
It can be traced to the spiritual principle in Psalm 138.6:
“Though the LORD is great, He cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud.”
For kings to be anointed, they must kneel before their anointer.
That is why the Yoruba have produced the first Black African Nobel laureate for an academic category (Wole Soyinka), the first Black African military ruler to have voluntarily handed over to a civilian President (Olusegun Obasanjo), the first person to have governed Nigeria thrice (Olusegun Obasanjo), the first Nigerian kingmaker to be elected President (Bola Tinubu), and the first Nigerian to win a Grammy Award (Sade Adu) as well as the first person born and bred in Africa to have won a Pulitzer Prize (Dele Olojede).
Of the top ten highest grossing movies in Nollywood, nine are by Yorubas. Of the top 5 highest rated actors of Nigerian origin in Hollywood and the British film industry, three are of Yoruba origin, including David Oyeolowo, John Boyega, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Richard Ayoade.
The reason why Yorubas are the biggest music stars of Nigerian origin is also connected to this spirit of humility and respect for elders and their culture (Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, AKA Ayra Starr, is an aberration). May God bless Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, AKA Wizkid, who exploded after publicly prostrating for Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, AKA Sunny Ade.
They are unabashedly Yoruba. They do not try to sing or act like Westerners. They are very in-your-face with their Yoruba-ness. And when people like themselves to such a high degree, others tend to join them in enjoying them.
There are an estimated sixteen Black billionaires on Planet Earth, four of them are Yoruba, including Dr. Mike Adenuga, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Tope Awotona, and Femi Otedola. More than any ethnic nationality in Africa or the Black diaspora. It used to be five, but the only female among them, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, slipped down the rankings.
US President Joe Biden named a Yoruba man, Adewale Adeyemo, as deputy Treasury Secretary. This is the highest position a Black African who became an African American, has been appointed (not elected) in US history. And Kemi Badenoch, a Yoruba, almost became The UK’s Prime Minister and is now a cabinet minister. Another Yoruba man, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, became the first person on Earth to successfully perform surgery by taking out an unborn fetus from its mother’s womb and putting it back after the surgery.
Unsurprisingly, all of Nigeria’s Grammy Award winners have been of Yoruba descent, including Sade Adu (1986), Babatunde Olatunji (1991), Sikiru Adepoju (1991) and Seal (1996), Burna Boy (2021), Wizkid (2021), Temilade Openiyi AKA Tems (2023).
If you are Yoruba and are reading this, do not lose this Omoluabi cultural ethos of the Lukumi Edekiri people, now known as Yoruba, for therein lies your greatness individually and as a race.
If you are not Yoruba, borrow a leaf from this. It is the principle that God respects, not the people. If you obey the principle, you will become the principal. Individually and as a people.
Once again, congratulations to Pelumi Nubi, the great Nubian amazing Amazon!
