.Seek punishment for perpetrators, sponsors
.Akintoye disowns invaders, violent struggle

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, condemned the invasion of Oyo State House of Assembly in its entirety.

Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, said that those who took the sad step did not act in the interest of the Yoruba they alleged to be representing.

It would be recalled that some people, who claimed to be Yoruba nation agitators, stormed the premises of Oyo State House of Assembly on Saturday, April 13, 2024.

The invaders and a video clip making the rounds claimed that a purported ‘Democratic Republic of the Yoruba’ had been created out of Nigeria.

But Afenifere stated that there is no such group as the Democratic Republic of the Yoruba.

Ajayi said that how the invaders embarked on their misconceived mission indicated that they did not apply sense whatsoever.

He, therefore, urged a thorough investigation to ensure that the perpetrators face the full wrath of the law.

Also, a group, under the aegis of the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM), has condemned the attack, describing it as an “act of terrorism.”

In a statement, yesterday, by its Executive Director, Nelson Ekujumi, in Lagos, the group urged the security agencies to dig deeper into the activities of the terrorist association called Yoruba nation agitators who have assaulted and undermined national security and are warming up to be in the mould of Indigenous People of Biafra/ Eastern Security Network (IPOB/ESN$ and Boko Haram.

The group, which warned that Nigeria as a country could not afford to allow the threat to national security by another terrorist group in the name of Yoruba nation agitators, urged punishment for the miscreants before they develop into monsters.

Meanwhile, the Yoruba leader, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has disowned those who called themselves Yoruba Nation agitators and invaded the Oyo State Government Secretariat, Ibadan.

In a voice-note made available to The Guardian, yesterday, Akintoye said the behaviour of the so-called agitators was insane.

Akintoye said that those going violent about the actualisation of the Yoruba nation wanted to destroy the struggle, saying that the agitators have nothing to do with the real Yoruba struggle.

”There is no need for us to go violent. We are not part of the violence that anyone is propagating. Everything we do must be peaceful. All our acts are peaceful,” he said.

Relatedly, Chairman of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Wale Oshun, yesterday, said the group that attacked the Oyo State House of Assembly was neither here nor there.

In another reaction, Yoruba Oodua Union (YOU) has distanced itself from the incident but insisted that whether a Yoruba man is the president or not, the current system of governance in Nigeria is unacceptable, skewed in favour of a particular ethnic group over the others and is retarding growth and development.

A founding member of YOU, Sam Agbetuyi, who spoke with The Guardian, yesterday, said the Federal Government or Oyo State government should do everything possible to investigate where the acclaimed leader of the perpetrators of the crisis, in the person of Abiola Onitiri, lives and why the action.

However, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, yesterday, ordered a tighter security measures around government structures in the state to prevent suspected Yoruba nation activists from taking over reigns of governance in the state.

The governor gave the security directive following invasion of Oyo State Government Secretariat last weekend by suspected members of the self-determination group.

In a move to forestall a repeat of the Ibadan incident, Adeleke directed his Special Adviser on Security Matters, Samuel Ojo, to ensure immediate mobilisation of joint security teams to secure the State Government Secretariat and others.

A statement by Spokesperson to the Governor, Olawale Rasheed, noted that in line with the governor’s directive, security men and women were deployed on identified locations to ensure the Oyo State incident is not repeated in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.