Oduduwa Republic: Yoruba Groups Declare Secession From Nigeria, Demand Own Nation

Amid agitation for Biafra Republic in the people of the southeastern Nigeria, a coalition of Yoruba groups, Yoruba Liberation Command, YOLICOM, has declared that the Yoruba people are ready to secede from Nigeria to form Oduduwa Republic.
Speaking on Thursday, July 27, at a press conference held at Ogba in Lagos , spokesperson for the group, Opeoluwa Akinola, said it was time for the Yoruba nation to exit Nigeria and have Oduduwa Republic because according to him, Nigeria was being dominated by the Fulani north.
The groups said although they were not agitating for war, they are equal to the task if the need arises.
Akinola emphasised that Yorubas were forced into Nigeria in 1914 by the British and that the best time for the peaceful dissolution of the unwanted marriage is now.

He said: “Nigeria has become a burden on Yoruba people. We suddenly have been exposed to unimaginable threats of violence, wiping off entire families through clubbing to death, kidnapping of women and adults, savage killings, kidnap of school children and rape of infants.
“Stealing of public wealth and the public display of the stolen wealth, with arrogance by the criminals, the complete annihilation and confrontation of the poor people by the Nigerian state and many other ills that were hitherto strange to our long lasting ancient civilisation and values,” he said.
Akinola further noted that “the destruction of regional system of government has turned Nigeria into a unitary state dotted with savage vulture of corruption, ineptitude, inefficiency, moral degeneration, death, violence crimes and now violent religious extremism.

“The so-called democracy is nothing but the imposition of individual will through an orchestrated mass corruption where the poverty of the voters are exploited for electoral gains by politicians seeking political offices.
“Democracy is not about the interest of the few elected people and their cronies. Democracy is now government of the party for the party leaders and by the party members.
“We take solace in the fact that we work with many large-hearted, better-exposed, principled and consciousness Igbo leaders who have richer sense of history and understand better the complex nature of nation building and who also realise the importance of alliances, networking in statesmanship and international friendship and solidarity.”

The group agitating for Oduduwa Republic rejected the calls for restructuring, noting that Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders.
“We totally reject the idea of restructuring as proposed. It is an attempt to restructure Nigeria on their own terms and not on the terms of the people. Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders who are themselves beneficiaries of the same skewed system.
“Even if the country will be restructured, it will pass through the National Assembly, which was created during the era of military rule of the Fulani to ensure an upper hand for the Fulani North.
“The National Assembly is an organ of the Fulani and their agents, so also is the Nigerian military, which has continuously been used to repress, intimidate and humiliate Nigerians”, he added.

Meanwhile, governors from the northern region of Nigeria have cautioned pro-Biafra activists and those calling for restructuring to refrain from conducts that could risk the unity of Nigeria.
The governors gave the caution on Thursday, July 27, at a joint meeting of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) and traditional rulers at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna state, Guardian reports.
Shettima, who was represented by the governor of Katsina state, Aminu Masari, at the two-day meeting which began on Thursday, said the hate speeches being propagated by groups such as IPOB and MASSOB are inimical to the unity of Nigeria.