By Adesina Wahab

A group, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum, YAF, on Friday called for caution over the ongoing national debate arising from the resolutions of last Monday’s Southern Governors’ Forum meeting.

YAF said that the tension being generated by the resolutions of the Southern governors’ meeting with the rest of the country has become a cause for concern amongst all Nigerians.

YAF National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, stated this at a press conference in Ogba, Lagos.

He said already, Northern governors and elders, youths as well as various groups had rejected the position of the Southern governors, particularly on power shift and other demands made by the last Monday in Lagos.

The Yoruba coalition, however, alleged that certain utterances and actions by some powerful politicians and individuals in the various Southern states since Monday when the Lagos meeting ended could spark off “serious tension” amongst the different ethnic groups making up the Nigerian Federation.

According to YAF, these powerful politicians have been putting pressure on the traditional rulers and civil society groups in their individual states to organise similar meetings to that of the Southern governors and issue communique supporting last Monday’s resolutions in Lagos.

The coalition stated, “The brouhaha the Southern governors’ resolution from their Monday meeting has sparked off between the different sections of the Nigerian polity is, as we said earlier, a matter of serious concern to us, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF).

“YAF has observed a flurry of activities and desperate attempts by some powerful politicians and individuals to further aggravate the ongoing debate and eventually create tension in the polity ahead of the 2023 general elections.

We have it on good authority that these powerful politicians and individuals have been on the throat, so to say, of some traditional rulers in the South-West states, in particular, to compel the royal fathers to convene a meeting and issue resolutions backing the decisions they took last Monday in Lagos.

“Similarly, various civil society groups in the South, YAF learnt, are being pressurised to meet and issue communique supporting the Southern governors’ position on the various issues they raised last Monday in Lagos.

The utterances of some of these groups have left so much to be desired as their statements on the issue border on threats to the rest of the country.”

It added, “YAF’s concern is mainly about the implications of this rash of veiled threats swathed in reactions and opinions coming on a daily basis from the groups and individuals from various sections of the country.

We want to warn that this latest development is beginning to further heat up the polity and, knowingly or unknowingly, preparing the fertile ground for another round of protests and violence in the country.

“YAF believes that the recent peaceful atmosphere prevailing in different parts of the country and being enjoyed by the majority of Nigerians should not be threatened or disturbed by issues we can all resolve amicably as a united entity.

thedailynewsngr.com reported that YAF noted that Posterity won’t forgive us if we allow the ongoing brouhaha to degenerate to any untoward or unthinkable situation.

YAF alleged that the Yoruba Nation agitators and the rally organisers had the sinister intention of hiding under the cover of the rally to attack Nigerians from other parts of the country living in Lagos.

The coalition said, “At this juncture, YAF wants to commend our security agencies for their professional handling of the situation during last Saturday’s Yoruba Nation mega rally in Lagos.

“But for their deft management of the security situation in Lagos during the banned rally, the state would have gone up in flames once again barely eight months after the violent and destructive #EndSARS protests.

The organisers of the Lagos mega rally, we learnt, had planned to use the event to launch attacks on Nigerians of other ethnic stocks living in Lagos and then spark a spread of violence across the country.

“YAF thanks the police and other security agencies for nipping this planned violence in the bud.

The coalition also enjoined all “Yoruba youths to continue to eschew violence and resist being used by unpatriotic elements masquerading as Yoruba self-determination promoters to destroy our cherished motherland, the South-West and the Nigerian Federation at large.”