A group, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum, YAF, has sent petitions to President Muhammadu Buhari and other levels of government on alleged plans by some people to foment violence in the Southwest part of Nigeria.
The Forum’s National Coordinator, Mr. Adesina Animashaun stated this during a motorcade it organised in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Southwest Nigeria to sensitise the people on security matters.
Mr. Animashaun said the government and security agencies needed to be on alert and take proactive steps to stop the violence happening in the Southeast from replicating.
He said that ”by its petitions to the President, South-West State Governors, Royal Fathers and other leaders of the country it puts all Nigerians and the various security agencies on alert about the impending danger being planned by some unpatriotic people in Yorubaland.
“YAF, therefore, warns that the indications are now very clear that if prompt action is not taken, these unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements will throw the South-West into an unprecedented wave of violence under the guise of fighting and agitating for Yoruba freedom, self-determination and independence.”
“It is, therefore, imperative for the Nigerian Government to nip the burgeoning insurrection now threatening to arise from the South-West under such a smokescreen, in the bud. Having another rebellion from the South-West would be one crisis too many for a country still struggling to combat the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, banditry and cattle rustling in the North West and North Central areas as well the current IPOB militancy in the South-East and South-South.
“The Nigerian Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies should take urgent steps to stop the Yoruba independence agitators and freedom fighters now before they set the entire country ablaze,” Mr. Animashaun said.
The Forum also condemned the violence in the Southeast.
Mr. Animashaun said; “The worsening insecurity in the South-East had become more worrisome to the people in the South-West because some unscrupulous elements had been making attempts to smuggle same level of violence into Yorubaland.
“YAF, therefore, condemns the violence and killings in the South-East, plans by some persons and groups in the South-West to replicate such wanton violence and killings in Yorubaland should be effectively be stopped by the government through the police and other security agencies.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
