The unexpected invasion of the Government Secretariat of Oyo State and declaration of sovereignty by a group of people claiming to belong to the Democratic Republic of the Yoruba last Saturday shocked many Nigerians home and abroad. The sudden invasion, carried out by the people dressed in camouflage and bearing arms and other weapons temporarily destabilised areas around Agodi Area of Ibadan where the government secretariat is situated.
It was learnt that the people, who acted as the military arm of the claimed Republic, marched into the secretariat, pulled down the state flag and hoisted a flag on which there was an inscription: “Democratic Republic of The Yoruba.”
However, a combined effort by security agencies including tactical units of the police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Operation Burst, Amotekun and the State Security Services, faced the invaders. A gun duel ensued which led to the scattering of the invaders and the arrest of 29 among them.
Some of them, according to information gathered, ran into the bush in surrounding areas of the secretariat. Others ran into the Agodi Gardens while some also jumped the fence of the University College Hospital (UCH), ran through a football field close to the fence and hid in an uncompleted building in front of Florence Abiola Ajimobi Alaanu House within UCH premises.
It was learnt that a police team which got a hint of this stormed the building where bullet proofs, arms, camouflage uniforms and other items were recovered. Two of the agitators sustained bullet wounds.
The Yoruba Nation agitators, Nigerian Tribune gathered, started their infamous move in a house at Fatusi Area along Olunde-Ayegun Road in Ibadan. Two weeks before the act, the Nigerian Tribune learnt that two containers on trucks were driven into a house where several bungalows were constructed. The owner of the house, a female, is said to be based in France, but was said to be in Nigeria at that time.
A credible source disclosed that some residents who saw the container trucks asked her about the contents and were told that they were imported accessories meant to be used in the buildings.
Prior to the day the invaders struck, it was said that some carpenters were brought to work on the buildings, probably to divert people from the real activities going on inside the apartments.
A credible source, who was within the area on Saturday, said that at about 7:30 am, he saw some people in camouflage around a vehicle.
“As I got close to the people, I noticed the insignia on the uniform. I also saw those wearing the camouflage with pump action rifles. I moved close to the place and saw a Hummer bus, a car and motorcycles coming out of the premises.
“After they left, I entered the premises with some other landlords and noticed carpenters working on roof fixing. I approached those seen to ask what was happening and they pointed at the premises where the armed men just departed from.
“The landlords summoned the brother of the owner of the house. The brother, who is visually impaired, was asked what was happening, and how the residence accommodated those seen with guns, cutlasses while dressed in camouflage.
“The visually impaired man asked the young man who leads him around and that one confirmed what was seen by others. The man burst into tears, saying that he was not informed of what was going on.
“We later learnt that the owner of the residence was deeply involved and a leader of the group. We met two men and a woman who reported that there were still two people inside. They were called out and asked how they got to the house, and they replied that they were called to the state by their leaders.
“They asked the landlords if they had heard the news, saying that they had distributed letters even to Governor Seyi Makinde, and they all know that Yoruba nation had seceded and was no longer part of Nigeria since November 2022. They started saying that nothing could be done to them as they had right to stay wherever they wanted.
“The landlords then told them that it was not acceptable for them to come to the community and not report to the landlords association on their mission,” the source narrated.
On Saturday, after the agitators were dislodged and some of them arrested, it was gathered that a driver was sent to pack away the exhibits kept in the house. However, the driver was apprehended.
He was said to have informed the police that he was asked to take the exhibits to a house at Boluwaji for safekeeping. The house was found to be a duplex where some of the agitators also lodged before they went to the secretariat.
After the police got a search warrant on Saturday, they were said to have stormed the house along with Amotekun Corps and vigilante men belonging to Oluyole Security Surveillance Team (OSST) where they recovered guns, live cartridges, camouflage uniforms, insignia of office, chairs on which were inscribed the insignia of the Democratic Republic of the Yoruba and charms, among others.
Also seen were new parts of motorcycles, leading to the discovery that the motorcycles the agitators rode to the secretariat were brought to the Fatusi house in pieces and assembled there.
Operatives who also stormed the Boluwaji residence alleged that the announcement made by Mrs Modupe Onitiri-Abiola and the swearing in of the interim leader of the Oduduwa Republic were most likely done at the house in Boluwaji. The insignia of office was also found in the house.
Parading 21 suspects on Monday, the state Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat, briefed journalists that the police got information at about 8:55am that some men dressed in military-like camouflage and armed with pump action semi-automatic rifles rode on motorcycles, moving into the main city from Olomi axis of Ibadan.
“At about 0915hrs (9:15am), the hoodlums, later known as Yoruba Nation Agitation Group, were trailed to the state secretariat, moving on the flyover towards the premises of the Governor’s Office. They hoisted their flag at the House of Assembly, proclaiming the creation of a Democratic Republic of the Yoruba.
“With police reinforcement, the miscreants were warned to disperse but turned violent and opened fire on the police and a detachment of Amotekun Corps also present.
“The police responded and were joined by Operation Burst patrol teams and personnel of other security agencies who suppressed the treason and dealt with the agitators in line with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),” the police commissioner stated.
The police commissioner said that an Amotekun Corps personnel was shot by the agitators, with nine pellets removed from his body. “We pursued those who ran into the bush. We also arrested two of them that sustained injuries during gun duel with the police,” the CP added.
Recovered from the suspects were five English pump action semi-automatic rifles, two wooden double-barrel guns, camouflage uniforms, torchlight, chairs with insignia of office, bulletproof vests, among other items.
Declaring the act as criminal, unpatriotic and a clear case of treasonable felony and terrorism, CP Hamzat said that the suspects would be sanctioned through purposeful prosecutions.
In an interview with one of the arrested agitators, 69-year-old Malomo Ismaila Malomo, who said he is a commercial driver, stated: “My friend, with whom I live at Idi Iroko, Ogun State, introduced me to Yoruba nation. We started a meeting with him and some people in UK and other countries.
“One of them is called Mikky, another one is Black Lion. We have been having series of meetings through the social media.
“After some time, they told us that the amalgamation (sic) had given us certificate of Yoruba nation, and that by the special grace of God, Yorubas are going to establish their nation.
“On Friday (April 12), I left home to engage in my lawful business when my friend called me and said that we were called to come to Ibadan. I asked if money for transportation had been sent and he said yes. That was how we came to Ibadan.
“Mikky addressed us when we got to Ibadan and said that an interim government would be sworn in for Yoruba nation, asking us to proceed to Oyo State secretariat. When a car the group intended to use broke down, I was told to convey the people with my vehicle, even when I told them I use it for my family.
“Some of us rode bikes and carried guns. Those in my vehicle wore camouflage as uniform. I was under the bridge at Secretariat when I saw police who started beating us.”
Admitting the agitators committed an offence by invading the secretariat, he said that what made them to go with others was because they were told that an interim government had been declared and the interim leader would address them there.
“Even, we were told that Mama Onitiri would be there. We were told to wait until the arrival of others. I was not paid anything but was told that with the new Yoruba nation, our children would get jobs, and I have seven children. I feel embarrassed.”
Another suspected agitator, Adeyemo Peter, aged 75, said: “I am from Iwere Ile, a furniture maker and member of Agbekoya group. I was coming from somewhere with one of my children and stopped at Oritamerin to buy food. We were told that Yoruba nation had been declared. We decided to see for ourselves and even sought for information on it from a police officer.
“That was how the police officer asked me to be arrested. In the area we live, some papers were distributed to notify people about declaration of Yoruba nation. They were given to me and I took them home.”
Another agitator, 55-year-old Alabi Ogundeji, who claimed to be a lecturer at Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, said in an interview: “Our leaders have taken necessary steps needed to be taken.
“First, we have embarked on a referendum. The 500 petitions all the Yoruba signed served as a referendum. After that, our leadership went to all the Yoruba speaking states and even served official letters written by our leaders and the authority of United Nations. We were given our own certified copies signed by the people concerned.
“After that was a proclamation, then declaration, then occupation, then notification to the world that Yoruba nation has become an indigenous nation. It is out of Nigeria completely, from November 20, 2022, and all those mentioned were duly served. We went to Secretariat to celebrate a new nation that was born.”
He denied taking arms and ammunition to Secretariat, but admitted that he was arrested in front of the state secretariat. He also confirmed that the uniform he claimed the police forced him to wear carried the insignia of “my Yoruba nation.”
However, the management of the College of Education he claimed to be a staff of denied having him as a lecturer. In its reaction on Tuesday, the management, in a statement by its Registrar, J.A Araoye, said that none of its lecturers bears the name on its staff list.
Another suspected agitator, Ademola Adeniyi, told journalists that he was at the secretariat gate with others who arrived from different places to wait for their leaders who said that they would be there to address them. “We started hearing much noise from inside the secretariat and the security agents outside held us,” he explained.
When asked whether what the agitators did was in accordance with the Nigerian law, one of those arrested, who gave his name as Adeniyi, replied: “I will not lie to you. I know nothing about Nigerian laws.”
The only female suspect, Ayanwale Rofiat, aged 25, who hailed from Igboora, said that the camouflage they wore was distributed among those who gathered at the house they were lodged in.
“We were promised free education, drop in market prices of goods and many good things,” she said.
On Wednesday, a total of 29 suspected members of the group of agitators were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court at Iyaganku, Ibadan, on a seven-count charge. When the charges were read, the pleas of the arraigned suspects were not taken.
The magistrate ordered their remand in prison, while the case file was directed to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
The case was adjourned until August 1 for hearing.
Also, the state Ministry of Lands and Housing reportedly took bulldozers to the two residences used by the agitators for hibernation and demolished them.
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