Our Reporter
In continuation of its peaceful campaigns against groups agitating for the secession of the Southwest and dismemberment of Nigeria, a coalition under the aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum on Thursday carried out a peace rally in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos to sensitise the people and prominent indigenes of the state on the dangers posed to the Nigerian nation by self-acclaimed Yoruba self-determination groups.
YAF cautioned the various groups demanding a restructuring of the Nigerian Federation, warning them not to give room to unpatriotic elements, who are only interested in the dismemberment of the country, to hide under them to engage in any treasonable acts aimed at throwing Nigeria in chaos and violence.
The Coalition also seized the opportunity to present petitions to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, and some prominent traditional rulers in the state.
YAF members, who have been touring states in the South-West to draw the attention of their kinsmen to the plan to cut off the Yoruba race from the rest of Nigeria, also petitioned the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and the Director, Department of State Service, Shangisha, Lagos.
Traditional rulers in Lagos petitioned by the Coalition include the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Babatunde Akiolu; Alara of Ilara, Epe, Oba Olufolarin Olukayode Ogunsanwo; Aholu Menu Toyi of Badagry, Oba Babatunde Akran; Olu of Ejigbo, Oba Morufu Ojoola; Osolo of Isolo, Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka; and Onigando of Igando, Oba Lasisi Gbadamosi.
YAF also petitioned Oba of Ojomu Ajiran, Oba Tijani Akinloye; Oniru of Iruland, Oba Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal; and Onisiwo of Tomaro and Abagboland, Oba Musiliu Adio Yusuf.
The coalition described as “devilish” alleged plans by some Yoruba secessionist groups to work for the break-up of Nigeria, warning that this could lead to a second civil war in the country.
YAF also faulted calls by some Yoruba leaders for the dismemberment of Nigeria and secession of the South-West region from the rest of the country.
YAF National Coordinator Adeshina Animashaun, who led scores of other members of the group during their visits to the Governor’s Office and the Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa Secretariat and the royal fathers, appealed to the six governors and other major stakeholders in the South-West to rise to the challenge and stop the plans by secession agitators and some Yoruba elders backing them to cause chaos in the region.
Director (Political), Office of Civil Engagement, Governor’s Office, Alausa, received YAF’s petition on behalf of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while another official at the State House of Assembly received a copy of the petition addressed to the Speaker, Rt. Hon Mudashiru Obasa.
Animashaun restated that the aims and objectives of the most vociferous of these disparate groups known as the Yoruba World Congress, which claimed 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 said the YWC President General, Prof Banji Akintoye, in a statement, disclosed that the membership of the Yoruba-speaking nation of the UNPO was contained 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 their selfish and devilish aim of seceding and dismembering Nigeria.
The spokesman of YAF, Oloketuyi Ojo, told reporters that the peace rally was also to thank Sanwo-Olu and other Yoruba leaders for taking steps to avert the “evil” plans of some groups to cause chaos on October 1.
On Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary, YAF urged all Nigerians to remain peaceful and patriotic.
According to the coalition, “Let’s continue to celebrate peace in our country by ensuring that the labours of all our past national heroes, who have given us the freedom we’ve been enjoying in Nigeria in the past 60 years, do not go in vain.”
