Prof. Akintoye Advocates for Yoruba Nation Independence
Akintoye stated in a press statement issued on Monday in commemoration of Yoruba Unity Day that, given the ongoing threats to life and destruction of farmlands, the only alternative left is to split the Yoruba Nation from Nigeria.
Prof Banji Akintoye, the national head of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, has alleged that suspected Fulani bandits had slain at least 29,000 Yoruba people and continue to rape women and subject others to other atrocities.
Akintoye stated in a press statement issued on Monday in commemoration of Yoruba Unity Day that, given the ongoing threats to life and destruction of farmlands, the only alternative left is to split the Yoruba Nation from Nigeria.
He went on: “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 Yoruba Unity Day was being celebrated in Ile Ife and Ibadan, he said: “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
Akintoye urged South West governors and traditional rulers to declare Yoruba Unity Day a public holiday, stating that “Obas, the fathers of our nation, should adopt this Yoruba Unity Day in their Councils of Obas in all our Yoruba States.” I urge our governors to approve this Yoruba unity day for all of our states in their Southwest Governors meeting.”
While encouraging other Yorubas to join him in his self-determination struggle, he stated: “We are really pressing for the secession of our Yoruba nation from Nigeria, and the Nigerian calamity is different. Our understanding of the Nigerian issue is not self-centered.
It is not emotional. It is intellectually sound and realistic. And it is accepted 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 destroy our Yoruba nation.”
He stated, “There was some hope when our Governors created Amotekun some years ago to resist the Fulani rampages, but Fulani people in control of the Federal Government have contrived Amotekun’s impotence.” The Fulani terrorists are also growing more brazen in their atrocities and brutality in our major cities.
