…Makes fresh call for separation

…Alleges 29,000 Yoruba people killed

Laolu Elijah, Ibadan

Professor Banji Akintoye, National Leader of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, has intensified his call for Yoruba Nation’s separation from Nigeria.

In a statement marking the anniversary of Yoruba Unity Day on September 23, Akintoye urged South West governors and kings to observe this day annually.

Akintoye alleged that Fulani bandits have killed at least 29,000 Yoruba people, continuing to rape women and commit atrocities. He emphasized that due to these threats and destruction of farmlands, separation from Nigeria is the only viable option.

He said, “The only viable and sustainable answer to all this horrible situation is to separate our Yoruba nation from Nigeria, and to establish our own country where we shall be able to exercise our sovereignty to provide security for our land and people, and where we shall be able to run our economy decently in the way that we Yoruba know.”

Claiming that the Yoruba unity day was being celebrated in Ile Ife and Ibadan, he stressed, “In the rural areas of our homeland, where probably the majority of our people live, the Fulani people who are determined to seize land for a homeland of their own, are daily killing our people, have killed a roughly estimated 29,000 of our people, are raping our women, kidnapping men, women and children, extorting millions of Naira in ransom for the kidnapped, destroying farms, food barns and villages”

For over nine years now, he continued, they have been forcing farmers to abandon farming, and by now, most of their farmers have abandoned farming, and have been migrating with their families to Benin and Togo Republics.

Calling on the South West governors and kings to adopt the unity days as a public holiday, he said, “Obas, the fathers of our nation, should adopt this Yoruba unity day in their Councils of Obas in all our Yoruba States. I urge that our State Governors, when they assemble in their Southwest Governors meeting, to adopt this Yoruba unity day for all our states.”

While asking other Yoruba people who are either afraid or reluctant to join him in his self-determination struggle, he stated,

“We who are seriously pushing for the separation of our Yoruba nation from Nigeria and the Nigerian disaster are different. Our perception of the Nigerian situation is not self-centered. It is not emotional. It is intellectually sound and realistic. And it is accepted now by at least 80 per cent of all our Yoruba at home and in the Diaspora. Objectively, there is good reason to fear now that the Nigerian situation could result in the destruction of our Yoruba nation. “

On the creation of the security outfit, Amotekun, he said, “There was some hope when our State Governors created Amotekun some years ago to resist the Fulani rampages, but Fulani people in control of the Federal Government have contrived the impotence of Amotekun. The Fulani terrorists are also becoming increasingly audacious in crimes and barbarism in our main cities.”

 “Our kinsman who won election as President of Nigeria is being made to face ever-mounting harassment, including threats of military overthrow, threats of wholesale regional rebellion, and even a defiant declaration of war.” 

Economy impossible to turn around

Prof Akintoye further reiterated that the collapse of the Nigerian economy under his Fulani predecessor, President Buhari, is proving impossible to turn around, and the overwhelming masses of our Yoruba people are being turned into paupers and beggars.