Yesterday, and very unlike me, I went out on a limb and took a sword after the CBN and the new JP Morgan
The issue was their Board constitution, and I went stark raving mad, screaming foul at their 100% Yoruba board
This morning, I am calmer, checked my BP, and watched what I normally watch in the morning and decided to revisit the issue
I took a deep dive and found out that there is a lone SE man on that Board-Chinedu Izunwanne
I will not accept that Sara Alade is from North Central as she is from the Yoruba speaking part of it which makes her Yoruba just like her kins men in Cotonou
My apology is threefold – a minor one and two major ones
The minor one: I am sorry I ranted that the Board was 100% Yoruba. It is not 100%, but 99% if we agree that Sara is Yoruba, and for that I am sorry
The first major apology is to agree that, as a private entity, JP Morgan and indeed any private organisation have the right to form an all-Igbira Board or an all albino Board, and that would be their problem. So for that, I apologise again; after all, my DOSF UK Board is all Yoruba, the superior tribe.
My second major apology is to say I’m sorry for allowing myself to be dragged into a tribal argument as a detribalised Nigerian.
I represent the best of Nigeria in my thoughts, outlook and positioning, as I do not see tribe, gender or any of those shallow misgivings in my life and outreach
Yesterday, I failed myself, my audience, and my upbringing to fall so foolishly into the tribal cauldron, and for that I am sorry
But then again, just maybe if we were not living in the worst nepotistic era in this country, where being Yoruba seemed like a badge of superiority, maybe I and so many others who cried foul over JP Morgan would not have done so
Maybe our skin tone has been made so fragile with the colouration of Federal Appointments, with the ‘Yoruba first’ type policy that seems to be driven by this Federal Government; just maybe we would not have fallen so foolishly
Look around you; almost every strategic Federal appointment is held by Yoruba, so maybe these JP Morgan people just played the same card to patronise the powers that be and ease themselves into the corridors of power with more efficiency.
This is why I would not be supporting this President in the next election, cos he has not shown any capacity or willingness to rise above these narrow thoughts and be a true statesman
He will definitely win this election cos there is no serious opposition, and from what we see, he will even dig deeper into this ethnic jingoism, which will continue to rankle the rest of us
Never has the cry for Omoluabi sounded so discriminatory as today
In the past, when they shout Omoluabi, we will all stand up in the beer parlours and hail them in full respect of what that stands for and what that represents
But today, that cry of Omoluabi sounds like derision of the rest of us; it sounds like they are laughing at us; it sounds like they look down on us; it sounds like we should be seen and not heard
So despite my apologies, you will understand how we feel in a country that is seemingly practising invisible ethnic apartheid very glaringly
I wish the JP Morgan people tremendous success in their foray into Nigeria and their MD, Mr Olagunju, whom I used to know, especially for his brilliant understanding of the Nigerian tapestry and applying it to his advantage, and for that I say well done
His brilliance, which is lost to most of you, is that, as a wholesale Bank, they are looking to play in infrastructure, huge transactions that would need heavy government backing and support, and how else can you make life easier for yourself than to fill your Board with people who have kith and kin in a Government that is populated by the same blood
That is his brilliance, and for that I hail him; well done, bro
In conclusion, as everybody who has reached me has said, I should not be championing ethnic division with my stature but should be healing it- which is another way of saying accept the wicked disadvantage the rest of us have been thrown into..
I am sorry; forgive me. We will go and look for our own HSBC or Pornhub and bring it in and populate it with our own tribe and really hope that the Yoruba-led regulator would easily approve us just as they did JP Morgan
I am truly very sorry. Forgive me.
No need to beat me; I’ve beaten myself enough this night
Yeye
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: October 26, 2026
