In the wake of the lingering agitation for the breakup of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Pan Yoruba group, O’odua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC) has called on Yoruba people to prepare for their own sovereign nation, “Oodua” Republic.
The call comes barely a week after a Coalition of Northern Youth Groups threatened the people of Ndigbo to leave the North within three months.
It further described the threat by the northern groups as “pain and misery on the Yoruba people due to distort of the development plan of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for the South West”.
A statement on behalf of the coalition signed by Micheal Popoola, Oluwole Suleiman and Mrs Aduke Fadahunsi, on Sunday, called on Yoruba people in the territories of the Hausa-Fulani North to be guided by a strong sense of history and the fact that they will not be spared by those who claim to be their hosts.
The statement further emphasized on the need for the creation of Yoruba sovereign nation, Oduduwa Republic.
ONAC consists of 18 Pan Yoruba groups including the Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC), Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM), Oodua Republic Coalition, (ORC), Yoruba Revolutionary Congress, (YORC), Oodua Muslim-Christian Dialogue Group, (OMDG), Yoruba Students Nationalist Front, (YOSNF), Oodua Hunters Union, (OHUN) and 11 other groups.
The statement read: “Today, we make the historic declaration that Yoruba people are ready for our own Oduduwa Republic. We have watched events these past days. The cloud is getting thicker.
“The poisonous rain appear ready to fall. It is time for the Yoruba people to be ready to defend our homeland from being seized by local imperial elements and their collaborators.
“We assert Yoruba self-determination and sovereignty. We shall work for it. We will actualize it.”
The group stated further called “on Yoruba people all over the world to prepare for a sovereign nation for the people of the South West. We are over 50 million and far more than the population of 140 countries in the world.”
“Yoruba will be the third biggest nation in Africa and about the 28th biggest nation in the world. We are big and knowledgeable enough to be a sovereign nation. We assert the Yoruba self-determination without any further delay.”
“The position of Northern youths asking Igbo to quit the North, the outright demand for Arewa sovereignty by the Northern Elders Forum, (NEF), and the legitimate demand for Biafra by Igbo, the call for a Niger-Delta Republic “It is time for the Yoruba people to stand for Oodua Republic without any further delay.”
“Yoruba people this time will not support any attack on Self determination.We shall mobilise the masses and prevent Yoruba people from being used for any attack on the long suffering indigenous peoples of the South East and the South- South”
ONAC said the quit notice was not against the Igbo alone but also against the Yoruba since “Igbo is not written on the forehead of residents in the North.”
