YUF Call For Deployment Of Military Personnel To Affected Areas

Yoruba and Ijaw leaders, yesterday in Lagos, restated calls for the restructuring of the polity saying only the implementation of the relevant sections of the 2014 National Conference report could douse tension in the country.

The leaders made the call at the end of a meeting between the ethnic groups following recent killings at Lagos and Ogun communities, which police authorities attributed to Ijaw militants.

A communique jointly signed by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader of the Yoruba delegation and Chief Albert K. Horsfall, leader of the Ijaw delegation, noted that
“The Ikorodu incidence underlines the urgent need for state police, the restructuring of Nigeria and the need for the review and adoption of all past National Conferences including but not limited to the relevant sections of the reports of the 2014 National Conference reports.”

Horsfall who read the communique, said: “Informed by the need for peaceful co-existence and sustainable development of Ijaw and Yoruba nations, this meeting was initiated by elders from both nations to address issues of mutual interest for peace and well being of two great civilizations.”

According to him: “In the past few months, there have been some developments which are of utmost concern to the two nationalities, some of these issues include but not limited to recent spate of violence in some Yoruba territories, the social and economic state of the Nigerian nation and the future of the people of the two nationalities in the context of the emerging trends in the country.”

He added: “It is in the interest of both nations, who have lived together in their territories for over 6000 years, long before Nigeria as a country was established, to work together, explore areas of cooperation for the race and wellbeing of the two nationalities.

“The recent cases of militant attacks in Ikorodu and other places linked by the police to the militants of Ijaw extradition are quite unfortunate. The meeting rejects the Ogun State police Commissioner’s account and therefore requests the police to furnish the public with convincing details of the people that carried out the attacks including their names. This issue should not, however, be allowed to fuel discord and communal violence between the Yoruba and Ijaw nations.”

Meanwhile, the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) has also called for full investigation into the crisis to unravel the persons and motives behind the attacks.

The forum in a statement signed by the Chairman and Secretary General Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Gbonigi and Senator Anthony Adefuye, also called for the arrest and persecution of all persons involved in the attack including their sponsors.

YUF further called for full investigation into the role of security agencies before, during and after the attacks as it suggested immediate beefing up of security situation in the affected communities.