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Name sponsors Boko Haram, herdsmen – Yoruba group tells Buhari
OBINNA EZUGWU
Yoruba self determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua, has berated Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, over his independence anniversary speech, noting that the president has once again, shown that he is for the North and not the rest of Nigeria.
The group in a statement, on Friday by Maxwell Adeleye, its Communications Secretary, on behalf of its leader, Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, asked the president to tell Nigerians those sponsoring Boko Haram terrorists and herdsmen, while wondering why he would be talking about those sponsoring “legitimate” quest for Yoruba nation while ignoring those funding the murderous activities of the terror groups.
Recall that Buhari had in his speech, said that his government had conducted investigations revealing the financiers of agitators in the Southeast and Southwest.
The president had said, “The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly.
“Fellow Nigerians, the past eighteen months have been some of the most difficult periods in the history of Nigeria. Since the civil war, I doubt whether we have seen a period of more heightened challenges than what we have witnessed in this period.”
However, reacting to the assertion, Ilana Omo Oodua said the president has only further exposed himself as the President of the North, and not that of Nigerians, noting that he has “succeeded in emboldening us more to fight on in the agitation for Self-Determination for the Yoruba people.”
The group said it is “a total nonsense that Buhari is bothered about a Sunday Igboho who is engaged in a lawful agitation, endorsed and confirmed now by a court of competent jurisdiction, United Nations and African Union Declarations on Peoples and Human Rights while he (Buhari) looked away on the murderous activities of the Fulani Herdsmen Terrorists and Miyyetii Allah in the South and Middle-Belt Territories.
“Mr. President said an unknown Sitting Member of the Nigerian National Assembly is involved in the funding of Sunday Igboho. That’s an absolute mendacity. The Yoruba people from villages to villages to the Diaspora are contributing their hard-earned resources to oil and sustain the agitation.
“Our appeal to Buhari is to, as a matter of urgency, name the invincible national assembly member so that the Yoruba People can celebrate him because he is supporting a NOBLE STRUGGLE.
“If indeed such a National Assembly member exists unknown to us in Ilana Omo Oodua, we say very expressly that he is a hero that has chosen to stand by a legitimate, legal and constitutional agitation. Therefore, Buhari is merely grandstanding.
“As Buhari name the unknown National Assembly Member, Our utmost appeal to him is to help Nigerians in naming those funding murderous Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram Terrorists oppressing, maiming, killing and raping his people in the North and the people of the South and Middle-Belt with impunity.
“The entire speech of Buhari symbolises hopelessness and chaos. It was a declaration of war against the peace-loving people of Yoruba Land. Our message to him is that we shall not be intimidated. We shall remain loyal and committed to our struggle for an Independent Yoruba Nation.
“We shall be undaunted. No Oppressor has ever triumphed over the people. In this struggle, we shall continue to be legitimate and peaceful. It is amandla awetu, nothing shall discourage us”
Yoruba Nation.”