Agitators set for march at UN, Akintoye confirms

• Alleges incident in South, Middle-Belt state-sponsored terrorism
• Wants UN to declare Miyetti Allah a terrorist group

Chairman of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), Prof. Banji Akintoye, yesterday, declared that all is now set for the one-million-man freedom march scheduled to hold opposite the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States (U.S.) from September 14 to 21, 2021.

In a statement made available to journalists by his Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, Akintoye said the protest was meant to show to the world the genocide being perpetrated by murderous herdsmen in the name of grazing in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria.

The renowned historian said the people of the South and Middle-Belt would also be showing to the world the crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and other criminalities being aided by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

The octogenarian scholar said that the indigenous people within the NINAS territories would as well be demanding for the conduct of a regional referendum on self-determination and abolition of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria so that the people could decide on their nationhood.

Describing the 1999 constitution as a fraud against the people of South and Middle-Belt, Akintoye said the march would be used as an opportunity to expose how a tiny minority people have hijacked the assets of the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria through the 1999 Constitution, which he said, was enacted without the consent of the people.

NINAS is the umbrella body for self-determination groups in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria with Ilana Omo Oodua representing the Yorubaland, Lower Niger Congress representing the South-South and South-East and Middle-Belt Renaissance Movement representing the Middle Belt region.

The statement read in part: “The land belongs to the people through the grace of Almighty God. We the indigenous people of the South and Middle-Belt totally reject the illegitimate and imposed 1999 Nigerian Constitution that hijacks our self-determination and assets.

“We want an end to the ethno-religious killings in Nigeria. We want the Nigerian government to stop funding terrorism against us. What is happening today in Nigeria is a state-sponsored terrorism.

“The herdsmen you see in the South and Middle-Belt are different from the nomadic herdsmen we grew up to know.”
The current ones are imported members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Al-Qaeda, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram terrorists masquerading as bandits.

“By the grace of God, we shall be demanding from the world leaders to declare Miyetti Allah as a terrorist group. It is dangerous to safety and peace of the South and Middle-Belt people to call Miyetti Allah a trade union. It is a terrorist group being supported by the current Fulanised government of Nigeria with a mission to over-run the indigenous people.”