…writes US, UK, France, Russia, China, EU, AU on group’s alleged plan to destabilise Nigeria
A coalition under the aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) has petitioned the United Nations, its five permanent members, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and other powerful countries across the world over a plan by the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, to present a petition against the Nigerian government at the 76th General Assembly of the UN.
YAF, which in the petition urged the UN and the five Super Power countries to bar Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies from attending the UNGA to present its petition against the Federal Government of Nigeria, stated that “the ultimate objective of this plan by the group is to achieve nothing salutary or beneficial to the people of Nigeria but to further their evil design to undermine and bring down the country and the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, out of sheer malice over the forthcoming 2023 general elections.”
The YAF petition is entitled, “STOP PLAN BY ILANA OMO OODUA TO ATTEND/PETITION 76TH UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO SEEK GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR ITS VIOLENT AGITATION FOR YORUBALAND SECESSION FROM NIGERIA.”
According to the Forum, Ilana Omo Oodua’s endorsement of the recent petition by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) urging the Nigerian Government to conduct a referendum, is only part of the strategy by the group to legitimise its plan for the violent dissolution of the Nigerian Federation.
It accused Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies of stockpiling arms and ammunition for its alleged plan to eventually confront the Federal Government in its bid to achieve its “evil objective” of breaking up the Nigerian state under the guise of fighting for an independent Yoruba Nation.
The Forum alleged that Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies “have snatched over 300 AK-47 rifles from military, police and para-military personnel they have attacked and killed across the country,” adding, “Those dangerous weapons are still in possession of these the non-state actors bent on destroying Nigeria. As at the last count, these dangerous groups, including Ilana Omo Oodua, have killed no fewer than 180 military men, 600 other para-military personnel, including policemen.”
Prof Banji-Akintoye-led Ilana Omo Oodua had recently announced its plan to attend the 76th UNGA scheduled for September to present a petition to the global organisation over its demand for a separate and independent Yoruba Nation.
But YAF, which is equally a coalition of Yoruba self-determination groups, alleged in its own petition to the UN, the five Super Power countries, EU and AU that contrary to the Ilana Omo Oodua’s claim that the UN General Assembly would be an opportunity to explain the rationale behind the Yoruba nation agitation to world leaders, the group’s plan “is to use the platform of this global body to get undeserved sympathy and secure support from unsuspecting countries across the world, which are largely uninformed about the true situation of things in Nigeria.”
The YAF petition signed by its National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, and made available to newsmen in Lagos and Abuja, accused Ilana Omo Oodua of funding “the violent activities of the self-styled Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Igboho, currently undergoing trial in the Benin Republic for gun-running following his recent arrest at that country’s airport while attempting to flee.”
The Forum alleged that Ilana Omo Oodua “is merely using Igboho to destabilise Nigeria through his nefarious, unpatriotic and violent agitation for an independent Yoruba nation.”
It further accused the Ilana Omo Oodua of getting “foreign funding from some ignorant Nigerians in the Diaspora to fund its plots to “destabilise the current government and the Nigerian nation and eventually truncate the country’s democracy.”
YAF also expressed its displeasure with Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies for constituting “themselves to unrepentant critics of the current government through their frequent acerbic and destructive outbursts and attacks against the government, coupled with the violence they unleash on innocent Nigerian citizens, which have become their pastime.”
It added, “Their obsession to pull down the current government has reached a stage where they have reduced themselves to playing the ignoble role of being the coordinator of all subversive activities against the Nigerian nation and the present administration. Their stock-in-trade is offering unsolicited and unconstructive but destructive criticisms and unleashing violence dressed in the garb of agitation for a separate Yoruba Nation.”
The Forum alleged that three weeks ago Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies “formed an alliance aimed at intensifying their violent attacks against soft targets and the Nigerian state.”
YAF’s petition to the UN further partly read, “As we stated recently, we are aware that this group (Ilana Omo Oodua) and individuals behind the recent violence in different parts of the South-West of Nigeria have a more sinister objective of destabilising the Nigerian nation for the selfish political end of those bankrolling them. They are only merely covering up their agenda with the cloak of fighting for Yoruba freedom and self-determination. Their plan now is to take their self-imposed agitation for independence and self-determination to the next level, which would involve outright widespread violence fashioned after what the IPOB/ESN are now doing in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.
“It is very clear that the masterminds of this violence are bent on throwing Nigeria into total chaos to hasten the collapse of governments at both the state and federal levels to enable them to execute their evil plans for Nigeria, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“They are planning to take advantage of the current security challenges in the country to wreak further havoc, starting with the South-West and expecting to instigate reprisals against Southerners in the North of Nigeria with the ultimate objective of destabilising the country, just as their partner-in-crime, IPOB is currently doing in the South-East and South-South regions of this country.”
The Forum also raised the alarm that Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies “have begun to mobilise their members in the South-West for the execution of the next phase of their so-called agitation for Yoruba independence and self-determination by engaging in more violent protests and bloody confrontation with government and security agents, all in an attempt to raise tension and create the violent atmosphere in the South-West to enable them to declare non-Yoruba living in the South-West of Nigeria, especially those of the Igbo and Hausa/ Fulani extractions, persona non-grata.”
YAF chronicled in the petition series of violence it alleged that Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies had been involved in, saying, “The latest in this orgy of unnecessary violence being unleashed on innocent Nigerians by the Ilana Omo Oodua and its collaborators was on July 3, 2021, which erupted from a banned mega rally organised by the so-called Yoruba Nation agitators in Lagos, under the aegis of Ilana Omo Oodua. This violence claimed the life of a teenage girl. The group had defied police warnings and banning of the rally, which eventually turned violent. Members of the group had stormed the state to foment trouble, the police later confirmed.”
It, therefore, urged the various countries also petitioned, the EU, AU and Amnesty International “to prevail on the UN Security Council to take careful appropriate and urgent steps to deal decisively with these elements who are bent on fomenting trouble in the South-West of Nigeria and the country at large. The UN should disregard and discountenance the disguised antics and plans of these shameless and unpatriotic self-styled freedom fighters under the aegis of the Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts.”
The Forum stated that it had become imperative for all the countries petitioned, the EU, Au and Amnesty International to join hands with the UN to support the “Nigeria Police and other security agencies to take appropriate actions against these unpatriotic elements to nip Ilana Omo Oodua’s evil plans for Nigeria in the bud,” adding that they “must act now and waste no time in putting these hoodlums pretending as freedom fighters and Yoruba Nation agitators in the South-West of Nigeria in their proper places.”
YAF also challenged the international community “to assist Nigeria’s security agencies to unmask both the local and foreign sponsors of these agents of violence in our midst and punish them accordingly.”
The Forum further warned in the petition of its readiness to mobilise its members across the country to confront any group planning to destabilise Yorubaland under the guise of agitations for self-determination and a separate country for the Yoruba.
YAF further warned that if prompt action is not taken against Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies, “these unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements will throw the South-West region and Nigeria into an unprecedented wave of violence under the guise of fighting and agitating for Yoruba freedom, self-determination and independence, adding that it is imperative for the international community “to assist the Nigerian Federal Government to nip the burgeoning insurrection now threatening to arise from the South-West under such a smokescreen, in the bud. Sir, having another rebellion from the South-West region would be one crisis too many for a country still fighting 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 regions of the country.”
It noted that if the UN and other countries “fail to assist the Federal Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies to enable them to act appropriately against these unpatriotic elements, everybody in Nigeria and the West African sub-region will suffer for any such inaction. The threat to the Nigerian nation by these unpatriotic elements is real! The nationwide chaos, violence and destruction of property and human lives that would result if their dangerous plot is allowed to crystalise are best imagined than experienced. Something must be urgently done to checkmate the emerging scenario in the South-West of Nigeria.”
The Forum, therefore, urged the UN “to disregard the disguised antics and plans of these shameless and unpatriotic Nigerians, whose lack of due respect for democracy has never been in doubt. The global body should disregard the so-called petition from Ilana Omo Oodua and refuse to pander to its whims and caprices. Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts should not be granted audience or recognition at the forthcoming UN General Assembly. Infact, this group of subversive elements should not even be allowed to attend the UN Assembly in order not to send wrong signals to the rest of the world.”
YAF further enjoined the UN “to disregard the disguised devilish plans of the masterminds of this evil plot against the government and good people of Nigeria. They are unpatriotic elements who lack the characters of true Nigerians. They do not speak for or represent the majority of the Yoruba in Nigeria and should, therefore, be disregarded in their attempt to use the UN platform to achieve their devilish aims and objectives. They’ll only use the platform of the distinguished world body to feed their ego and feather their own selfish political nest in their bid to prove their continued relevance and influence as fighters for Yoruba freedom and independence.
“Sir, the truth and reality on the ground is that the overwhelming majority of Yoruba and other Nigerians want the country to remain a united entity. Infact, the Yoruba, the same ethnic stock to which members of YAF belong, want to remain part and parcel of a united Nigeria at all times. It is an incontrovertible fact that the people of Yorubaland have not at any time sat down with anyone or convene a meeting where they took any decision to secede from the rest of Nigeria.”
It, therefore, advised the UN to “vehemently resist the manipulation by these unpatriotic elements to gain undeserved sympathy and support as well as score cheap political points with the global body and instigate violence against the Nigerian government to trigger the country’s disintegration. As we stated earlier, these few petition writers are only doing so for their own selfish interest and the pecuniary gains that usually accrue from such an ignoble enterprise. YAF is aware that this group and individuals have raked into their pockets huge pecuniary gains and have benefitted so much financially over the past few months when they renewed their plan for violent agitation.
“But we, as bonafide Yoruba and Nigerians, are now telling these rabble rousers that enough is enough! They should stop hiding under the banner of agitating for Yoruba freedom and independence to engage in felony and instigate disaffection amongst the citizens of the country.
“Nigeria’s well-being remains an issue of global importance and concern and the international community cannot afford not to continue to make things better for the country and all her citizens.”
Below is the full text of YAF’s petition to the UN and the international community:
Your Excellency,
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres,
United Nations Headquarters, New York City,
United States of America.
Sir,
STOP PLAN BY ILANA OMO OODUA TO ATTEND/PETITION 76TH UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO SEEK GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR ITS VIOLENT AGITATION FOR YORUBALAND SECESSION FROM NIGERIA
Your Excellency, our group, Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF), is a coalition of civil society and self-determination organisations in the six South-West states of Nigeria and across the country. We are a Non-Governmental Organisation serving as a watchdog of government policies and society in general.
We are a law-abiding and patriotic organisation whose major and ultimate objective is the unity of all Nigerians under a very peaceful and progressive atmosphere.
Our numerous peaceful activities and actions are aimed at assisting the government and the people to sensitise Nigerians on the need for all citizens to forge a common front to live in peace and to be united because, as the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
Your Excellency, YAF has consistently striven to ensure peace throughout Nigeria and this we have been able to achieve through various peace rallies, press conferences, awareness and sensitisation programmes, enlightenment and engagement of the people, which we organise on a regular basis.
Sir, recent developments in the Nigerian polity, which have elicited concerns in various quarters, have once again necessitated YAF’s decision not to keep quiet or act complacently. Infact, for us, keeping mum in the face of manifest evil being planned by some disgruntled and unpatriotic Nigerians, nay so called Yoruba Nation agitators, will amount to complicity.
Your Excellency, it has come to YAF’s notice that some disgruntled Yoruba Nation agitators and politicians, working in collaboration with their allies in other parts of the world, have concluded plans to present a petition at the 76th United Nations General Assembly scheduled to hold in September. Sir, we want to state without equivocation that the ultimate objective of this plan by the group is to achieve nothing salutary or beneficial to the people of Nigeria but to further their evil design to undermine and bring down the country and the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, out of sheer malice over the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
In actual fact, YAF has identified these disgruntled elements as the core and nucleus of the group of unpatriotic Yoruba individuals and groups plotting against the Nigerian nation and President Buhari. We make bold to say that the group, Ilana Omo Oodua, is a mere aggregation of disgruntled and unpatriotic individuals, who are always striving to finetune their strategies to cause chaos and the eventual secession of Yoruba land and the disintegration of Nigeria.
Your Excellency, Ilana Omo Oodua’s endorsement of the recent petition by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) urging the Nigerian Government to conduct a referendum, is only part of the strategy by the so-called umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups to legitimise its evil plan, which is the violent dissolution of the Nigerian Federation, and also give it a global appeal.
Contrary to the group’s claim that the UN General Assembly would be an opportunity to explain the rationale behind the Yoruba nation agitation to world leaders, Ilana Omo Oodua’s plan is to use the platform of this global body to get undeserved sympathy and secure support from unsuspecting countries across the world, which are largely uninformed about the true situation of things in Nigeria.
It will interest the UN to know that this same group has also been found out by YAF to have been funding the violent activities of the self-styled Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Igboho, currently undergoing trial in Benin Republic for gun-running following his recent arrest in that country’s airport while attempting to flee. Ilana Omo Oodua is merely using Igboho to destabilise Nigeria through his nefarious, unpatriotic and violent agitation for an independent Yoruba nation.
Your Excellency, relying on foreign funding from some ignorant Nigerians in the Diaspora, Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies are the masterminds of the evil plot to destabilise the current government and the Nigerian nation and eventually truncate the country’s democracy. Only on Tuesday, the Nigerian Government through its Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, admonished the members of the Nigerian in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) against sponsoring such secessionist groups.
The minister spoke during a visit of a delegation of NIDO, United Kingdom chapter, to his office, saying it is disheartening that secessionist groups campaigning around the world for their causes were using some members of NIDO to propagate fake narratives about Nigeria. The Nigerian Government particularly expressed worry that these secessionist groups were relying on the financial contributions of some NIDO members to fund their unpatriotic and violent activities against the country.
It is disheartening that Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts have constituted themselves to unrepentant critics of the current government through their frequent acerbic and destructive outbursts and attacks against the government, coupled with the violence they unleash on innocent Nigerian citizens, which have become their pastime. Their obsession to pull down the current government has reached a stage where they have reduced themselves to playing the ignoble role of being the coordinator of all subversive activities against the Nigerian nation and the present administration. Their stock-in-trade is offering unsolicited and unconstructive but destructive criticisms and unleashing violence dressed in the garb of agitation for a separate Yoruba Nation.
Sir, the present government in Nigeria has always opened its doors wide for advice and discussions that can move the country forward in the interest of the various ethnic nationalities within Nigeria. So, if these so-called Yoruba Nation agitators have issues or any axe to grind with the government, they should explore and exhaust the various avenues and mechanisms made available to all citizens by the present administration to reach out to President Buhari to trash out and resolve such issues. It is our own view that these recalcitrant and mischievous groups should not bother the UN with an internal matter that the Nigerian government itself has the capacity to resolve. Unfortunately, rather than availing themselves of the opportunities for dialogue through the avenues the government has provided to reach out to it with advice and discussions on pressing national issues, they are consistently plotting the downfall of the incumbent administration to achieve their sinister objectives. They’ll rather engage in unpatriotic clandestine plots to destabilise the government and bring about violence and bloodshed in the country.
Your Excellency, at this juncture, it is imperative to chronicle some of the violent activities of Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts now trying to falsely present themselves to this internationally renowned body as champions of Yoruba freedom and independence.
YAF has watched with bated breath the recent crises that occurred in some states in our own South-Western part of the country and we want to say these unfortunate violent incidents did not surprise us because we warned about such impending violent occurrences several times in 2020 and even in January 2021 up till recently. But unfortunately, both the Nigerian Federal authorities as well as the security agencies did not take us seriously.
Our holistic appraisal of all the recent happenings in Nigeria and the South-West region in particular has clearly revealed that the spate of violence, which eventually resulted from all the tension deliberately raised by these mischief makers posing as Yoruba freedom fighters and agitators were uncalled for and unnecessary. We, therefore, want to make bold reference to a few instances – Igangan in Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State and Sasha Market in Ibadan, Oyo State. The avoidable crises that rocked both areas in recent times and which resulted in wanton destruction of lives and property, are still fresh in our minds!
As we stated above, we foresaw and forewarned the six South-West state governors, Federal Government and the security agencies in Nigeria about this recent violence championed by some persons masquerading under the agitation and struggle for Yoruba freedom and self-determination. Now, these elements have since carried out some violent activities and have not desisted from planning a renewal of their nefarious and unpatriotic activities in the South-West of Nigeria, even in more violent ways. They are now being emboldened by the recent spate of incessant attacks on security infrastructure and personnel in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, especially the attack on police stations and the killing of innocent policemen. YAF has it on good authority that these unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements and groups in Yorubaland masquerading as freedom fighters and Yoruba independence agitators have concluded plans to unleash the kind of violence going on in the South-East and South-South on their own kinsmen and other non-indigenes residents in the South-West region of Nigeria. They are only waiting for the auspicious time to unleash unprecedented violence on the people living in this part of Nigeria. Recent violence involving the Ilana Omo Oodua group and some individuals promoting it is enough evidence.
For your information, Your Excellency, these violent secessionist groups, including the Ilana Omo Oodua are secretly building an armoury and arsenal of dangerous weapons in preparation for their attacks and strikes against the Nigerian state and people. So far, members of their militant wings have snatched over 300 AK-47 rifles from military, police and para-military personnel they have attacked and killed across the country. Your Excellency, those dangerous weapons are still in possession of the non-state actors bent on destroying Nigeria. As at the last count, these dangerous groups, including Ilana Omo Oodua, have killed no fewer than 180 military men, 600 other para-military personnel, including policemen. About three weeks ago, Your Excellency, these violent groups, including the Ilana Omo Oodua, formed an alliance aimed at intensifying their violent attacks against soft targets and the Nigerian state.
But as we warned earlier, we want to reiterate that the recent violence arising from the activities of these self-styled Yoruba freedom fighters and agitators, especially the recent rash of threats to some other Nigerians residing in Yorubaland by these individuals and groups, was just the onset of the large scale and widespread violence already being planned by those seeking the eventual disintegration and dismemberment of the Nigerian nation, with the South-West as the starting point. For them, that was just the beginning! May God frustrate all their evil plans for the South-West, Yorubaland and Nigeria at large. Amen!
As we stated recently, we are aware that this group (Ilana Omo Oodua) and individuals behind the recent violence in different parts of the South-West of Nigeria have a more sinister objective of destabilising the Nigerian nation for the selfish political end of those bankrolling them. They are only merely covering up their agenda with the cloak of fighting for Yoruba freedom and self-determination. Their plan now is to take their self-imposed agitation for independence and self-determination to the next level, which would involve outright widespread violence fashioned after what the IPOB/ESN are now doing in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.
It is very clear that the masterminds of this violence are bent on throwing Nigeria into total chaos to hasten the collapse of governments at both the state and federal levels to enable them to execute their evil plans for Nigeria, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
They are planning to take advantage of the current security challenges in the country to wreak further havoc, starting with the South-West and expecting to instigate reprisals against Southerners in the North of Nigeria with the ultimate objective of destabilising the country, just as their partner-in-crime, IPOB is currently doing in the South-East and South-South regions of this country.
Your Excellency, we are aware that these elements have begun to mobilise their members in the South-West for the execution of the next phase of their so-called agitation for Yoruba independence and self-determination by engaging in more violent protests and bloody confrontation with government and security agents, all in an attempt to raise tension and create the violent atmosphere in the South-West to enable them to declare non-Yoruba living in the South-West of Nigeria, especially those of the Igbo and Hausa/ Fulani extractions, persona non-grata. We stated this before that their current ethnic profiling of Northerners and campaigns of calumny against Nigerians of the Fulani ethnic stock were aimed at achieving these evil plans. This is still the case with this group and individuals, sir.
Your Excellency, Yorubaland in the South-West region is still grappling with the unimaginable aftermath of the very violent and bloody October 2020 #EndSARS protests. The large scale destruction in many parts of the South-West is still shocking to many Nigerians, as it remains unprecedented.
In the violence, the huge losses recorded by the South-West region of Nigeria, the homestead of the Yoruba race, in terms of burnt properties, were worth trillions of Naira, not to talk of invaluable human lives destroyed, due to the violence that followed the #EndSARS protests. All these still remain fresh in the people’s minds and Yorubaland can no longer afford to lose more to the unpatriotic and evil activities of hoodlums masquerading as freedom fighters and self-determination agitators.
Your Excellency, the latest in this orgy of unnecessary violence being unleashed on innocent Nigerians by the Ilana Omo Oodua and its collaborators was on July 3, 2021, which erupted from a banned mega rally organised by the so-called Yoruba Nation agitators in Lagos, under the aegis of Ilana Omo Oodua. This violence claimed the life of a teenage girl. The group had defied police warnings and banning of the rally, which eventually turned violent. Members of the group had stormed the state to foment trouble, the police later confirmed.
But fortunately, the police in Lagos State succeeded in quelling the violence, arresting no fewer than 49 members of the Ilana Omo Oodua group over the incident at the protest ground in Ojota and found in their possession dangerous weapons, including guns, charms, axes, Oodua flags, Yoruba Armed Forces vests and other items. The commotion and pandemonium created by these so-called Yoruba Nation agitators on July 3 in Lagos among Nigerians could be better imagined than experienced. The authorities had to deploy police to the area to disperse them to restore sanity in the state.
Your Excellency, we, therefore, urge the UN Security Council to take careful appropriate and urgent steps to deal decisively with these elements who are bent on fomenting trouble in the South-West of Nigeria and the country at large. The UN should disregard and discountenance the disguised antics and plans of these shameless and unpatriotic self-styled freedom fighters under the aegis of the Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts. It is, therefore, imperative that the UN backs the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to take appropriate actions against these unpatriotic elements to nip Ilana Omo Oodua’s evil plans for Nigeria in the bud.
The UN must act now and waste no time in putting these hoodlums pretending as freedom fighters and Yoruba Nation agitators in the South-West of Nigeria in their proper places.
YAF also wants to challenge the UN to assist Nigeria’s security agencies to unmask both the local and foreign sponsors of these agents of violence in our midst and punish them accordingly.
Your Excellency, on our own part as YAF members, we want to once again warn sternly that we won’t allow any group or individuals to turn our dear homestead, the South-West region of Nigeria, into a theatre of war. Our Yoruba kinsmen involved in this evil enterprise of plotting to destabilise the South-West and Nigeria should be prevailed upon to retrace their steps to avoid dire consequences. Sir, we have already reported their sinister plans to the relevant Nigerian security agencies for appropriate action in order to save Yorubaland from unnecessary and avoidable violence and chaos.
But should they refuse to take this our modest advice to desist from their devilish plans and unpatriotic activities in Yorubaland and Nigeria at large, they should be prepared to face sanctions and consequences as we will no longer fold our hands and allow them and their collaborators to further destroy the peaceful economic and social well-being of our people while pretending to be fighting for our common interests.
Your Excellency, as we have warned in the recent past, YAF won’t hesitate to mobilise all our members across Yorubaland and the rest of Nigeria to confront those planning this fresh wave of violence in any part of the South-West and the country under the guise of agitating for Yoruba self-determination and freedom, because this gathering storm will only result in an ill-wind that will blow nobody any good.
Your Excellency, YAF is, therefore, by this letter putting the UN, all Nigerians and the various security agencies on the alert about the impending doom being planned by these unpatriotic elements in the South-West.
YAF further 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 region and Nigeria into an unprecedented wave of violence under the guise of fighting and agitating for Yoruba freedom, self-determination and independence.
Your Excellency, it is, therefore, imperative for the UN to assist the Nigerian Federal Government to nip the burgeoning insurrection now threatening to arise from the South-West under such a smokescreen, in the bud. Sir, having another rebellion from the South-West region would be one crisis too many for a country still fighting 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 regions of the country.
The UN should also offer some assistance to the Nigerian Federal Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies to enable them to take urgent steps to stop the so-called Yoruba independence agitators and freedom fighters now before they set the entire country ablaze.
For your information, Your Excellency, their promoters are already in cahoots with both local and foreign forces to cause disunity, chaos and violence of unimaginable proportion in the South-West and by extension the entire country.
Sir, if the UN fails to assist the Federal Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies to enable them to act appropriately against these unpatriotic elements, everybody in Nigeria and the West African sub-region will suffer for any such inaction. Your Excellency, we are not crying wolf where none exists, sir. The threat to the Nigerian nation by these unpatriotic elements is real! The nationwide chaos, violence and destruction of property and human lives that would result if their dangerous plot is allowed to crystalise are best imagined than experienced. Something must be urgently done to checkmate the emerging scenario in the South-West of Nigeria.
A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. Your Excellency, the UN 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 and West Africa.
YAF believes that the provocative comments and statements of these so-called Yoruba Nation agitators are also a clear indication of their unnecessary indignation with the Buhari administration. Rather than backing the Federal Government against the subversive activities of some unpatriotic Nigerians and groups, they simply choose to be confrontational by undermining the current administration. For them, protecting the integrity of the country and the sanity of the Nigerian populace is of no significance.
It is now very clear to the UN and all Nigerians that there is a real plot by some citizens to use the South-West as their launchpad for unpatriotic activities and insurrection to bring down the present administration of President Buhari. The clandestine activities of these unpatriotic elements claiming to be agitating for the creation of an independent Yoruba Nation have proved YAF right that some people are bent on destabilising the South-West and the Nigerian nation.
Your Excellency, YAF will, however, not allow this to happen! It’s worrisome that some citizens and politicians who ordinarily should be at the forefront of uniting Nigerians, are the same people using others, in cahoots with their foreign masters and sponsors, to truncate democracy and foist violence and chaos on other innocent citizens of this country.
YAF, therefore, urges the UN to disregard the disguised antics and plans of these shameless and unpatriotic Nigerians, whose lack of due respect for democracy has never been in doubt. The global body should disregard the so-called petition from Ilana Omo Oodua and refuse to pander to its whims and caprices. Ilana Omo Oodua and its cohorts should not be granted audience or recognition at the forthcoming UN General Assembly. Infact, this group of subversive elements should not even be allowed to attend the UN Assembly in order not to send wrong signals to the rest of the world.
Your Excellency, for your information and without being unnecessarily immodest, we want to state here without mincing words also, that we’re fully prepared, as members of YAF, to vehemently resist the masterminds of this evil plot against the Nigerian people and government with the last drop of our blood!
YAF once again urges the UN to disregard the disguised devilish plans of the masterminds of this evil plot against the government and good people of Nigeria. They are unpatriotic elements that lack the characters of true Nigerians. They do not speak for or represent the majority of the Yoruba in Nigeria and should, therefore, be disregarded in their attempt to use the UN platform to achieve their devilish aims and objectives. They’ll only use the platform of the distinguished world body to feed their ego and feather their own selfish political nest in their bid to prove their continued relevance and influence as fighters for Yoruba freedom and independence. Sir, the truth and reality on the ground are that the overwhelming majority of Yoruba and other Nigerians want the country to remain a united entity. Infact, the Yoruba, the same ethnic stock to which members of YAF belong, want to remain part and parcel of a united Nigeria at all times. It is an incontrovertible fact that the people of Yorubaland have not at any time sat down with anyone or convene a meeting where they took any decision to secede from the rest of Nigeria.
The late sage and former Premier of the defunct Western Region of Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who also doubled as the first Leader of the Yoruba, throughout his lifetime aptly conveyed the yearnings of the Yoruba for a united Nigeria.
Awolowo in a television interview in the late 1950s said, “Indeed, we (Yoruba) are content to remain part of the Federation of Nigeria. We have no intention at all of severing a connection with this great country. Indeed, they (Yoruba) have begun to think of themselves as citizens of this great country and all enlightened Nigerians are determined to ensure that Nigeria remains united. Not all Nigerians are enlightened but the majority, quite a good number are enlightened and the majority are politically conscious to realise the advantages that accrue from Nigeria remaining as a single nation.” YAF aligns with this time-tested statement of the late sage and first leader of the Yoruba race.
Your Excellency, YAF’s honest advice is that the UN should, therefore, vehemently resist the manipulation by these unpatriotic elements to gain undeserved sympathy and support as well as score cheap political points with the global body and instigate violence against the Nigerian government to trigger the country’s disintegration. As we stated earlier, these few petition writers are only doing so for their own selfish interests and the pecuniary gains that usually accrue from such an ignoble enterprise. YAF is aware that this group and individuals have raked into their pockets huge pecuniary gains and have benefitted so much financially over the past few months when they renewed their plan for violent agitation.
But we, as bonafide Yoruba and Nigerians, are now telling these rabble rousers that enough is enough! They should stop hiding under the banner of agitating for Yoruba freedom and independence to engage in felony and instigate disaffection amongst the citizens of the country.
Your Excellency, Nigeria’s well-being remains an issue of global importance and concern and the international community cannot afford not to continue to make things better for the country and all her citizens.
Long live YAF!
Long live Yorubaland!
Long live the Nigerian Federation!
Signed
Adeshina Animashaun
National Coordinator, Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF)