•Warn: Time running out on Nigeria

By Kennedy Mbele

Nigeria risks a major explosion without credible elections that will urgently resolve the national question and free indigenous territories from the grip of terrorist cells, the Alliance for Yoruba Democratic Movements, (AYDM) has said.

Over 1, 000 delegates drawn from the old Western Region plus Kogi and Kwara states took part in the two-day conference held in Lagos last week.

Many representatives also came from Ivory Coast, Benin Republic and Ghana to the parley attended by leaders of pan-Yoruba groups from northern Nigeria and the South-South.

Guest Speakers at the event were Prof Tayo Adesina of the University of Ibadan and National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) chieftain, Pa Ayo Opadokun.

The Itsekiri were led by 87-year-old Pa Alfred Agbayegbe and President, Itsekiri National Youth Congress (INYC), Mr Weyimi Agbateyinwo.

The meeting was presided over by a notable journalist and conflict resolution expert, Mr Adewale Adeoye.

The group, in a communique issued after the technical session held on the second day of the conference, said the interests of the people of the South-West in elections have waned simply because their votes no longer translate to good governance.

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It said there are four main tendencies in the region: Those who want to restructure, advocates for regional autonomy, campaign for a sovereign nation for the people and those who want elections to hold.

The group said those clamouring for self-determination are justified following the excruciating pains imposed on the people coupled with the historical injustice.

“As we speak, our forests, high and lowlands in the South-West up to Kogi and the Kwara States are occupied by armed gangs”, the communiqué said.

“Farmers can no longer farm, women are raped, daughters gang-raped and children kidnapped and murdered pushing the entire territories into a state of siege and anomie.

“The people nurse bottled up grievances that can explode at any time”.

The group warned that time was running out for Nigeria amidst the bleak prospect of free, credible and fair elections and the desperation of the ruling clique to ward off the real choice of Nigerians.

According to it, Nigeria is currently in the grip of a reckless, corrupt, inept but defiant class whose major objective is to sustain the status quo at all costs.

“The small cell that rules the country wants to impose presidential candidates on the people, those that will continue with the same horrifying agenda of human persecution”, it stressed.

The group said Nigeria faces major sources of implosion that can drag the country into turmoil unless the people themselves seize their own destiny with their two hands.

In the communique signed by its General Secretary, Mr Popoola Ajayi, the 2023 elections face three major threats: Lack of resolution of the national question through a new Constitution, the desperate attempt by the northern cabal to retain power in the zone and terrorism which, the group said, appears to enjoy the support of some state actors and the dwindling participation of the people in the electoral process leading to the disempowerment of millions of people in the South-West.

Vanguard News Nigeria