A coalition under the aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) on Tuesday raised the alarm that a former president of the country, some Northern clerics and other politicians have begun a grand plot to destroy the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
YAF also alleged that the former president, who it did not name, and members of his group, had resolved to fund the self-styled Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Igboho, “to destabilise Nigeria through his nefarious, unpatriotic and violent agitation for an independent Yoruba nation.”
The Forum further alleged that the former president and his group had concluded plans to hold a meeting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday, June 10, 2021 “to finetune the strategy for their plots for the removal of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration from power.”
YAF stated these on Tuesday during a motorcade it organised in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, in continuation of its sensitisation of the people of the South-West to the alleged evil plans by some individuals and groups to launch attacks on security agents and formations in the South-West.
The Forum, therefore, urged Nigerians, government and security agencies to immediately take appropriate actions against the former president and members of his group “to nip their evil plans in the bud.”
It urged the Federal Government and the security agencies to ensure that the planned meeting by the former president and members of his group scheduled to hold in Abuja on Thursday “and even any other day, must never be allowed to hold!”
The motorcade, led by hundreds of okada riders and people dancing to music provided by a live band, went round Abeokuta and other parts of the state to distribute handbills and leaflets calling on the people of the South-West not to fall for the deception by those claiming to be championing Yoruba self-determination and independence, eschew violence, live in peace with other residents of their states and expose troublemakers in their midst.
The Forum’s National Coordinator, Adesina Animashaun, who led hundreds of other YAF members and residents during the motorcade, used the occasion to raise the alarm of the alleged plot by the former president and his group to destabilise and bring down the President Buhari-led government.
He said, “It has come to YAF’s notice that a disgruntled former leader of this country and other politicians, working in collaboration with their allies in other parts of the world, have begun some clandestine meetings in one of the South-West states, with the ultimate objective of undermining and bringing down the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, out of sheer malice.
“YAF has identified these disgruntled leaders, particularly a former president of the country, some Northern clerics and some politicians in the South-West and other parts of the country as the core and nucleus of these group of unpatriotic leaders plotting against President Buhari.
“YAF makes bold to tell all Nigerians that this group of disgruntled leaders has concluded plans to hold a meeting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday, June 10, 2021 to finetune the strategy for their plots for the removal of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration from power.
“This group, YAF has also found out, have resolved to begin to fund the self-styled Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Igboho, to destabilise Nigeria through his nefarious, unpatriotic and violent agitation for an independent Yoruba nation.”
Animashaun, therefore, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the service chiefs, the inspector general of police and other major stakeholders in Nigeria to rise to the challenge and stop the alleged plan by the former president and his group to destroy the incumbent administration and cause unprecedented chaos in the country.
YAF enjoined the country’s various security agencies, including the military, police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to activate their machinery against “these unpatriotic elements” masquerading as past leaders and clerics intervening in the current situation in the country, before they realised “their evil agenda.”
The Forum further threatened to mobilise its members across Yorubaland and the country to “confront these unpatriotic former leaders, if they fail to desist from their nefarious plans to destabilise the country.”
YAF, however, also disclosed that it had already sent petitions on the alleged plan by some groups and individuals to cause violence and chaos in the South-West to President Muhammadu Buhari; Governors of the six South-West states, Senate President, Ahmad Lawal; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; Speakers of the six South-West states’ Houses of Assembly, the Service Chiefs, National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ministers of Police Affairs, Interior, Defence and Information & National Orientation.
YAF said it has also petitioned prominent traditional rulers in Yorubaland, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo; Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona; Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji; Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun Oyetunji; Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi; Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu; Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Aladesanmi III; and other prominent leaders in Yorubaland.
The Forum, therefore, urged the police and the other security agencies to take appropriate and urgent steps to deal decisively with these elements bent on fomenting trouble in the South-West and Nigeria as a whole.
It also challenged security agencies to unmask both the local and foreign sponsors of these agents of violence in Yorubaland and Nigeria, and punish them accordingly.
YAF said by its petitions to the President, South-West state governors, royal fathers and other leaders of the country, and the alarm it had raised on the plot by the former president and his group to destroy the present government, it had put all Nigerians and the various security agencies on the alert about the impending doom being planned by some unpatriotic elements, including a former president, in Yorubaland and across the country.
It, therefore, warned that “this gathering storm will only result in an ill-wind that will blow nobody any good.”
The Forum stated, “YAF, therefore, warns that the indications are now very clear that if prompt action is not taken, these unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements will throw the South-West into an unprecedented wave of violence under the guise of fighting and agitating for Yoruba freedom, self-determination and independence.
“It is, therefore, imperative for the Federal Government to nip the burgeoning insurrection now threatening to arise from the South-West under such a smokescreen, in the bud. Having another rebellion from the South-West would be one crisis too many for a country still struggling to combat the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, banditry and cattle rustling in the North West and North Central areas as well the current IPOB militancy in the South-East and South-South.
“The Federal Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies should take urgent steps to stop the Yoruba independence agitators and freedom fighters now before they set the entire country ablaze.
“A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. We must not watch idly as the enemies of the country hide under the smokescreen of agitating for Yoruba self-determination and independence to engage in activities that are not only inimical, but also injurious to the continued corporate existence of the entire Nigerian nation.”