Yoruba groups warn against move to silence Akintoye, Igboho, Kanu

Say plan not way out of separatist agitation

The coalition of Yoruba self-determination groups, yesterday, warned President Muhammadu Buhari that silencing the leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye; the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu; Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo ‘Igboho’ and others will not put an end to the separatist agitations across the country.

The coalition was reacting to the attack on Prof. Akintoye’s house and the arrest of Ighoho. This was contained in a statement made available to journalists by its Secretary-General, Dr. Steve Abioye, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

“The Coalition of Yoruba self-determination groups receive the news of the attack on the house of the leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye with utter sense of disappointment.

“Prof. Banji Akintoye is an elder statesman who has paid his dues in ensuring a better society and general well-being of Yorubaland, and even Nigeria, before he made a detour to Yoruba secessionist agenda as a result of the refusal of the northern establishment to accept restructuring of Nigeria.

“In as much as the coalition is not linking the Federal Government to this dastardly act of cowardice, it is our belief that the state should ensure that thorough investigation is carried out to convince Nigerians that government knew nothing about it and the perpetrators brought to book,” the statement stated.

The Coalition stressed that the only way secessionist agitations across Nigeria can be nip in the bud is for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to begin the process of putting machinery in motion to either bring back the pre-1966 Constitution, which the founding-fathers of Nigeria agreed upon and which enabled each region of Nigeria to be autonomous of the centre to an appreciable degree or to revisit Jonathan’s national conference report.

The group added: “Federal Government needs to be told the gospel truth that silencing Nnamdi Kanu or Igboho or Akintoye or Dokubo is not the way out of separatist agitation as more of such people will still emerge in the society except the government does the needful of genuine restructuring based on people’s constitution.”