The Yoruba Liberation Command
(YOLICOM) says it is time for the Yoruba nation to exit Nigeria - The group
states that Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of
political leaders - The YOLICOM says it is in support of the Nnamdi Kanu-led
Indigenous People of Biafra for self actualization irrespective of whatever
hate speech he has been accused of Amid agitation for Biafra Republic in the
southeast, a southwest group, the Yoruba Liberation Command (YOLICOM) has
declared secession from Nigeria.
The group which made the declaration in Lagos
on Thursday, July 27, sought the creation of Oduduwa Republic, Vanguard
reports. The spokesperson for the group, Opeoluwa Akinola, at a press
conference held at Ogba said it was time for the Yoruba nation to exit Nigeria
which he said was being dominated by the Fulani north. The group rejected the
calls for restructuring, noting that Nigeria will never be genuinely
restructured by the present crop of political leaders. It said: “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.” The group says what the South-Western Yoruba region needs
now is Oduduwa republic.
The group also said it is in support
of the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra for self actualization
irrespective of whatever hate speech he has been accused of. It said it wants
an end to marginalization of some regions in the country and sought for a
relation with the Biafra nation by the Oduduwa republic. The full statement
released by the group read: “You will recall that since 1914, when Nigeria was
amalgamated at gun point, the country has been thrown into one turmoil or the
other. For over a century, Nigeria has failed to meet the international
benchmark of socio political and economic development.
“The only references to Nigeria’s
grandeur were the striking achievements of the then three regions of South
West, South East and the North. Since the collapse of federalism and the three
tiers founded to a large extent on the civilisations and values of the ethnic
configuration in the country, Nigeria was remained in the tunnel of misery,
pangs and pains, including the fact that the country was plunged into an
avoidable civil war that took now fewer than I million lives.
“Since the end of the war, millions
of Nigerians as individuals and collectively as a society, have continued to
wage and fight wars of survival characterised by extreme hunger and lack of the
essentials of life like housing, good water, shelter, health and drinkable
water. It has been most traumatic for the Yoruba Nation, which, between 1953
and 1966, raised one of the most advanced political economies in Africa and in
the entire black world, parring on the same level with many countries in Europe
by the standard of the time. “The Yoruba educational, cultural and political
institutions were not only some of the best in Africa, the then Western Region
gave hope to the entire black world with the highest Human Index development in
Africa by the rating of the UNDP. The destruction of the regional system of
government has turned Nigeria into a unitary state dotted with a savage vulture
of corruption, ineptitude, inefficiency, moral degeneration, deaths, violent
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 is 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. “Since 1914, the recurrent
question has been: Should Nigeria remain one or not? Should the bottled up
energies free s and liberate themselves from the shackles of misery, the
fetters of iron and the muddy mess of agony or they should remain in eternal
slavery? The question has come up again in the past few months with various
groups making demands. “You will agree with me that the self-determination
groups in Nigeria are the engine of our history today.
We have the largest population with
which all the members of the main political parties in Yorubaland combined
together cannot equal. Our members are not in these movements for personal
gains like we have in the political parties. Our members are in these
organisations to make sacrifices and if necessary lay down their lives for the
Yoruba nation. “We wish to announce to this important gathering, that we in
YOLICOM representing some of the finest leaders of self-determination groups
from across the Yoruba nation, has weighed the options extensively. For the
past three months, we have been consulting with all the Yoruba
self-determination groups, meeting poor and malnourished Yoruba people, talking
to our people in the villages, towns and on the hills and mountains in the
rural communities of Yoruba nation.
“In the light of the foregoing, and
in response to the occurrences in Nigeria of the past few months, including but
not limited to the releases, utterances and comments certain groups
representing the Igbo nation in Nigeria, IPOB (The Indigenous People of Biafra,
(IPOB) Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra,
(MASSOB) among others to the effect that they desire to leave Nigeria and cease
to be called Nigerians; and certain groups representing the (AREWA) people of
Northern Nigeria, to the effect that the Igbo people should vacate the
territory of Northern Nigeria before October 1st, 2017.
“That we support the aspirations of
the Igbo Nation irrespective of the unfortunate hate speeches, infantile savage
utterances of a certain Nnamdi Kanu, who appears to have singled out Yoruba
Nation for ridicule and revulsion. We take solace in the fact that we work with
many large-hearted, better-exposed, principled and consciousness Igbo leaders
who have a richer sense of history and understands better the complex nature of
nation building and who also realize that importance of alliances, networking
in statesmanship and international friendship and solidarity. We look forward
to a viable and mutual relationship to the future Igbo nation, based on cordial
respect within the framework of international best practices. “We observe the
panic measures of the government which has been to attack proponents of
self-determination and even exterminate them.
We also note the setting up of a
committee to handle the issue of restructuring as led by the Governor of Kaduna
state, Mallam El Rufai." OUR DECLARATION “The Yoruba Liberation Command
(YOLICOM), the core of the authentic representatives and defenders of the
values, rights and demands of the Yoruba Indigenous people, rejects the
deceitful and self-serving tactics of the Nigerian political leadership, an
extension of the Fulani oligarchy.
We now make the following
declarations: “That what we want as a people of Oduduwa Republic. We have no
apology for this. That the Yoruba people wish to see an end to the over 100
years of bitter acrimony, ethnic rivalry, savage killings, blackmail of the
Yoruba nation by some recalcitrant ethnic groups, herdsmen killings, forcing
millions of our people to stop going to farms and the excruciating burden of
coming from a country with the stigma of terrorism. “That our people have
endured for a century the misery of Nigeria, her destruction of our values and
the inestimable cultural genocide inflicted on our heritage by the rogue
Nigerian country.
It is time for the Yoruba Nation to
exit from this axis of evil. That we totally reject the idea of RESTRUCTURING
as proposed by the Nigerian state and the political elite. 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. “That even
if the country will be restructured, it will still 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 NA 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.
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, 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 civilization and values. “By here policies and material
relations, the Nigerian state with her ruinous gene, is breeding a disastrous
crop of younger generation of people in Yoruba land. This is unacceptable to
us. That any referendum at this time will swing on the side of the corrupt and
irresponsible political class who continue to use ill-gotten public wealth to
bribe, influence and manipulate elections and all institutions of politics and
economy.
“Democracy itself has become an
element for all forms of crooks and criminals to seek legitimacy to continue to
abuse the people and steal their resources in the most brazen, inhuman,
primitive and callous manner. A developed country can never emerge out of the
charade of elections, form and content of Nigerian version of representative
government. “That we hereby and here, display the proposed flag of the Yoruba
nation as a symbol of mobilization of our long suffering people out of the huge
slum and prison called Nigeria, a country built and sustained by corruption,
blood shedding, malicious damages and total contempt for humanity.
That the entire proposed Yorubaland
Nation lies almost completely within the trough encompassed by the River Niger,
to the North and East, River Volta to the West and the long stretch of the
Atlantic Ocean to the South. This geographic space more or less roughly
describes the totality of the area occupied by Yoruba people over the extent of
our known history. “This includes stretches of land from the West at the
borders of Togo, through Benin Republic to the Delta end of Warri in the creeks
of the Niger delta (between Longitude 2°30′E and 6°30′E).The upward sweep
commences from the Atlantic ocean coastline up to the immediate westerly bend
of the Niger river, (below the confluence) (between Latitude 6°N and 9°N).
That we assert our right to
self-determination as espoused in Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which recognizes Indigenous peoples’ right
to self-determination, which includes the right “to freely determine their
political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
development.” “Article 4 affirms Indigenous peoples’ right “to autonomy or
self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs,”, and
Article 5 protects their right “to maintain and strengthen their distinct
political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions.”. Article 26
states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and
resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or
acquired,” and it directs states to give legal recognition to these
territories. “We in YOLICOM totally agree with the desire and demand of the
Igbo to vacate Nigeria. It is within their inalienable rights to so demand. We
shall do all within our powers to assist and encourage the Igbo to achieve
this. “In the same vein, we agree that the Arewa groups are within their rights
to demand that all Igbo should vacate their territories within the time frame
given. As the deadline approaches, we see the threat being actualized. We also
see the quit notice is also directed against the Yoruba people.
There are about 6.5 million Yoruba
in the 17 Northern States minus Kwara and Kogi states. “We only urge the
international community to recognise that this expulsion order, however, has automatically
grouped every other southerner, or non-Muslim northerner, together in the
order, because there is no verifiable way to differentiate between the Igbo and
the Yoruba, between the Igbo and the Ibibio, Efik, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Ijaw or
the Northern Yoruba of Kwara and Kogi. The Igbo do not carry a mark on their
heads identifying them as such.
Therefore this is an expulsion order
to all Southerners and people of the Middle Belt by the core north of North
West and North East. By this order, the North has automatically asked its
people resident in the south to vacate the south of Nigeria and go back home to
the North. “Southerners, and especially Yoruba people resident in any part of
the North are advised and encouraged to come back home, to Yorubaland where
they are guaranteed one hundred percent protection of their lives, limbs and
properties. It is important you do not fall victim to the wholesale slaughters,
massacres and all the horrendously horrible things the Hausa-Fulani are known
for if we are to judge by past experience. In the confines of Yorubaland, they
dare not try any of these crimes because they know we have the antidote to
their madness.
We hereby repudiate, repeal and
destroy the amalgamation proclamation of 1914, bringing the peoples of Nigeria
together by fiat has come. “We hereby assert the right of the Yoruba people to
self-determination. This desire will be pursued using all local and
international instruments until the Sovereign Nation of Oduduwa Republic is
realized within the shortest time possible. “We urge Yoruba people from all
over the world to prepare for this battle which will be waged with all the
power and energy within our disposal. This is the only way out of the political
and economic quagmire we find ourselves as the Yoruba Nation. “We call on the
United Nations, (UN) to immediately put the machinery in motion for the
immediate dissolution of Nigeria. Set the captives free. If Nigeria fails to
heed this advice to dissolve the unholy and cruel union, the perpetrators and beneficiaries
of the parasitic nation will have themselves to blame.
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