By Bashir Adefaka
The Oodua National Coalition, a pressure group in Yorubaland, has warned against any act of violence in any part of the region during and after the general elections.

The group at a gathering to end a ‘walk for peace’ from Maryland to the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, Lagos, on Wednesday, stated that it would not fold its arms and watch the Yorubaland being destroyed.

The forum provided the Yoruba and their brethren from the Itsekiri land the opportunity to meet and express their heartfelt concern about the political and economic conditions in the country.

Speaking to Saturday Vanguard during the gathering attended by eminent activists of Yoruba extraction, Comrade Ayo Opadokun, a lawyer, said there were rumours making the rounds on how some groups were going to turn Yorubaland to a battlefield.

He said: “We have come to let everybody be sure that we are committed to self determination. We are committed to the rule of law and committed to free and fair credible election.” He also pleaded with the people that they should stand firm against anybody trying to use the Yoruba as an instrument for carrying out evil practices during the elections.

Opadokun advised the people to vote for the right candidates, adding that the Yoruba self-determination group would not allow anybody to cause trouble in the land. “No matter how many falsehood they have told the Nigerians, they will not succeed here with us. Yoruba will always stand out because they are the head of black people in the world,” he said.

Bemoaning the hard life system in the country, former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, Comrade Wale Adeoye said while some people were ready to fight for the rights of brothers, others were headstrong at denying them of same.

Other speakers at the gathering included Comrade Awosanmi Olasunmi and Comrade Tunde Adeleke.

Adeleke, praising the presence of great pro-democracy leaders like Opadokun at the gathering, took a swipe on some of the people who said they were fighting for the Yoruba whereas, they were working for their own pockets. He remarked that such leaders were “doing the wrong assignment.”

Adeleke stated that that the onus of fighting for the said rights lied in the hands of the youths urging them to stand firm to the obligation of setting things right.