As part of their continuous peaceful campaigns against groups agitating for secession of the Southwest and the dismemberment of Nigeria, a coalition under aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) on Friday stormed Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti and Akure, Ondo State capital, to sensitise prominent indigenes on the dangers posed to the nation by self-acclaimed Yoruba self-determination groups.
The coalition also presented petitions to Ekiti Governor Kayode Fayemi, his Ondo counterpart, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Ekiti Speaker Funminiyi Afuye; Ondo Speaker Bamidele Oloyelogun and prominent traditional rulers.
The members of the YAF, who have been going round states in the South-West to draw the attention of their kinsmen to the plan to cut off Yoruba race from the rest of Nigeria, also petitioned the Ekiti and Ondo commissioners for local government affairs.
The coalition described as “devilish” alleged plans by some Yoruba secessionist groups to work for break-up of Nigeria, warning this could lead to a second civil war in the country.
It 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.
The Coalition, which vehemently opposed the alleged secession plans by some other Yoruba groups, stressed the unity of the country remained non-negotiable.
It called on the Federal Government and the various security agencies to take urgent and decisive action against secession agitators in the South-West.
YAF National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, who led other members during their visits to the two states, 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.
Animashaun restated 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.
The YAF coordinator noted 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.
Animashaun stressed that YAF was not in support of any person or groups clamouring for the secession of Yoruba land from Nigeria.
He vowed the Coalition and YAF members would not be part of any arrangement that the South-West state governors and Yoruba traditional rulers have not endorsed.
The YAF coordinator also reminded those agitating for the secession of Yoruba land from Nigeria that such act is treasonable and punishable under the law of the country.
The Nation
