The National Leader of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, Professor Banji Akintoye, has renewed his call for the separation of the Yoruba nation from Nigeria, urging South West governors and monarchs to declare September 23 as Yoruba Unity Day.
In a statement marking the anniversary of Yoruba Unity Day, Akintoye claimed that suspected Fulani bandits have killed approximately 29,000 Yoruba people and continue to commit acts of violence, including rape and other atrocities against women. He emphasized that the ongoing threats to life and destruction of agricultural lands necessitate the Yoruba people’s separation from Nigeria.
He stated, “The only viable and sustainable answer to all this horrible situation is to separate our Yoruba nation from Nigeria, and to establish our own country where we shall be able to exercise our sovereignty to provide security for our land and people, and where we shall be able to run our economy decently in the way that we Yoruba know.”
Akintoye noted that while Yoruba Unity Day is being celebrated in Ile Ife and Ibadan, rural areas are under siege. He highlighted that the Fulani people are consistently attacking Yoruba communities, with estimated casualties reaching 29,000, and engaging in kidnappings, extortion, and the destruction of farms and villages.
He called on South West governors and traditional rulers to adopt Yoruba Unity Day as a public holiday, urging, “Obas, the fathers of our nation, should adopt this Yoruba unity day in their Councils of Obas in all our Yoruba States. I urge that our Governors, when they assemble in their Southwest Governors meeting, to adopt this Yoruba unity day for all our states.”
Encouraging other Yoruba individuals to join his self-determination struggle, Akintoye remarked, “We are seriously pushing for the separation of our Yoruba nation from Nigeria, and the Nigerian disaster is different. Our perception of the Nigerian situation is not self-centred. It is not emotional. It is intellectually sound and realistic. And it is accepted by at least 80 per cent of all our Yoruba at home and in the Diaspora. Objectively, there is good reason to fear now that the Nigerian situation could destroy our Yoruba nation.”
Regarding the establishment of the security outfit Amotekun, he expressed disappointment over its perceived ineffectiveness, stating, “There was some hope when our Governors created Amotekun some years ago to resist the Fulani rampages, but Fulani people in control of the Federal Government have contrived the impotence of Amotekun. The Fulani terrorists are also becoming increasingly audacious in crimes and barbarism in our main cities.”
He concluded by referring to the political climate, noting that “our kinsman who won election as President of Nigeria is being made to face ever-mounting harassment, including threats of military overthrow, threats of wholesale regional rebellion, and even a defiant declaration of war.”