…says Nigeria’s unity not-negotiable
Soji Ajibola, Ibadan
A group, Yoruba Appraisal Forum, has staged a peaceful protest against the agitation by some groups for the secession of Yoruba race from the rest of Nigeria, describing it as an invitation for another civil war.
The protesters, at a peaceful rally in Ibadan, Oyo State, faulted calls by some Yoruba leaders for the dismemberment of Nigeria and secession of the South-West region.
The YAF, which vehemently opposed the alleged secession plans by some other Yoruba groups, stressed that the unity of the country remains non-negotiable.
Members of the YAF, who during the protest in Ibadan, carried various placards with different inscriptions such as, “We are not in 1967-1979, “Don’t Allow Another Civil War”, “Succession will give us war”, “Don’t Turn Our Greenland To War Zone”, “We Say No To Succession”, “We Are Not In Support Of Succession, urged the Federal Government and the various security agencies to nip such alleged secession plnas in the bud.
YAF National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, urged Governor Seyi Makinde and other major stakeholders in the South-West to rise to the challenge that some of Yoruba elders were about to foist on the region.
Animashaun stated that YAF wanted to emphatically say that the aims and objectives of the most vociferous of these disparate groups known as the Yoruba World Congress, which claims to be the umbrella body for these amorphous groups, were “patently suspect.”
“Those people by their nefarious and unpatriotic activities are bent on bringing hardship and disaster to the peace loving people of the South West”, he said.
Animashaun recalled that the YWC President General, Prof Banji Akintoye, in a press statement, had disclosed that the membership of the Yoruba-speaking nation of the UNPO was contained in in a letter addressed to him through the YWC coordinator for Europe by the UNPO Secretary General, Ralph Bunches.
“Your Excellency, the antics and body language of the YWC are enough clear indications of the sinister plans by some of these so-called Yoruba self-determination groups and their leaders like Prof. Akintoye, to lead their innocent and unsuspecting people to secede from Nigeria,” he said.
The YAF coordinator noted that with Amotekun under the control of YWC, it was planning to sustain unprovoked attacks and intensify the provocation of other Nigerians, especially northerners, in the pursuit of thier selfish and devilish aim of seceding and dismembering Nigeria.
Also speaking, the group’s Publicity Relations Officer, Comrade Oloketuyi Ojo said, “We are all gathered here to say that we are not in support of any group that is clamouring for the seccession of Yoruba from Nigeria.
“We cannot be part of anything that our traditional rulers are not part of, we have even confirmed that our governors in South West are not part of it, it’s a treasonable act, which is punishable under the law”, he added.
Addressing the protesters, the Executive Assistant to Governor Makinde on Security Matter, Hon. Odukoya Sunday, commended the protesters for making their protest a peaceful one.
He said, “I commend you for this peaceful protest, for you have demonstrated your grievances on a peaceful note, and now that you have expressed yourselves in peace, I can assure you that I will deliver all your messages to the governor”.