A group, Yoruba One Voice, YOV, has reiterated that the Yoruba territories cannot be taken over by anyone or group no matter the efforts made.
The YOV similarly insisted that the Yoruba nation will not relent in its struggle for self-determination noting that Yoruba people will fare better in a country of their own.
It averred that the occupation of many territories by armed Fulani herdsmen with the backing the Fulani-controlled Federal Government in the region is tantamount to a declaration of war on the people of the South West however warning this would be staunchly resisted.
This is just as the group utterly condemned the invasion of Chief Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a. Sunday Igboho’s house by state security forces leading to killing of some of his associates and arrest of others saying this is unwarranted attack, is a descent to state terrorism and consequently demanded that the attackers be fished out for punishment.
It insisted on the release of all those in detention based on their stand on Yoruba self-determination while urging the Yorubas to pursue the goal without relenting.
All this was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a webinar conference on the state of Yoruba nation, organized by the group last Saturday, to commemorate the one year anniversary of the biggest Pan Yoruba global group.
YOV states: “The armed occupation of Yoruba territories by Fulani armed men and Boko Haram cells, is a declaration of war on Yorubaland. This we cannot continue to tolerate.
“The Fulani-controlled Federal Government should order the immediate and unconditional exit of these armed bandits from Yorubaland henceforth or face the wrath of the people.
“The invasion of private homes of Yoruba people including that of Chief Igboho is strongly condemned. The murder of innocent people in his house is an act of state terrorism. All those security operatives that carried out the callous attacks must be fished out and punished.
“Immediate and unconditional release of all Yoruba people in detention who we understand are kept under unhealthy conditions with some of them being tortured to implicate key Yoruba leaders. All charges against them must be dropped.”
The group speaking on the urgent need for referendum towards self-determination by the Yoruba people canvasses: “Immediate referendum to be supervised by the United Nations, (UN) on the right to self determination by Yoruba nation.
“The Yoruba nation’s resolve to forge ahead with renewed zeal the right to self determination as entrenched in Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on People’s Right.”
It now charges: “We urge Yoruba people all over the world not to relent in the irrevocable campaign for self determination for Yoruba people.
“We resolve to work with other Nigerian ethnic nationalities in their search for self determination while we reaffirm our commitment to work with members of the international community to resolve the Nigerian dilemma which may consume Nigeria if effective and genuine steps are not taken to deal with the arrogant, repressive and anti-people postures of the Nigerian garrison state.”
The group expressed regrets that the Yoruba people are locked in a union of strange bedfellows, which it noted had exposed it to several socio-political woes.
It further states, “Yoruba forebears have for half a century insisted on self actualization and federalism, these demands have been trampled and subdued through military coups which in the process subverted the 1960 constitution, a near equivalent of some level of autonomy for Yoruba people.
“Our people have fought various battles, endured military coups and command structure of the Nigerian state at very huge human, spiritual and material costs.
“The Yoruba people are tired and continuously frustrated in not having the right to choose their own political and economic system in line with the Yoruba time honoured civilization.
“Today, the Yoruba nation is passing through even a more difficult moments characterized by poverty, hunger, youth unemployment, inept political leadership now compounded by external threats in the form of armed invasion of Yoruba sacred indigenous territories by Fulani and Boko Haram terrorist groups.
“The invaders, who are fully armed have organized themselves into terror gangs, raping, killing, kidnapping high and low, royals and cobblers, rich and poor, armed and defenceless people alike, turning the Yorubaland into a scorched earth.
“The consequences have been lost of biogenic resources, destruction of sacred groves and forests with serious implication on health and livelihood, food insecurity and threats to life and property of the people of the South West.”
Positing that “the helpless situation has brought into sharper focus the fear that the armed Fulani terrorists in Yoruba territories are part of the grand plot to seize Yorubaland in a war of conquest conceived ab initio and now being gradually but forcefully implemented by main actors some of who occupy strategic official positions in Nigeria,” it stated the need to ensure self-preservation is what has triggered rallies across the zone “including but not limited to Chief Sunday Adeyemo, (Igboho).”
Participants at the webinar conference made up of Yoruba professionals, men, women and students numbering over 3000 people were drawn from across the world representing six continents.
