Yoruba Nation not threat to peace in South West, Igboho replies DHQ

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Against the backdrop of the recent assessment of the nation’s security situation by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Abuja, the Yoruba nation activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Igboho, on Sunday, took a swipe at the director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Edward Buba, for listing Yoruba self-determination movement as a threat to the peace in the South West.

He contended that the Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu should disregard such misleading security report as released by Buba, saying it is mischievous and targeted at blackmailing a peaceful organisation seeking the entrenchment of a better society and good governance.

It is recalled that while addressing defence correspondents in Abuja, on Friday on the activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN), against insurgency between January to December 2023, Buba, had claimed that security threats in various geopolitical zones differ, pointing out that the major threat in the South West remains the Yoruba nation agitators.

However, in a personally signed statement forwarded to journalists, Adeyemo described the position of Buba as uninformed, misleading, and a product of mischief aimed at giving a dog a bad name with the ulterior motive of hanging it.

He restated that the agitation for Yoruba nation was lawful and constitutional, stressing that it predated the advent of Tinubu’s presidency.

The statement reads: We are conscious of the noble efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to tackle terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of criminalities. But we take exception to the wrong and baseless position of the director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, for identifying the Yoruba nation agitators as a major threat to the peace in the South West.

“This is not only far from the truth, but a flimsy excuse, which showcased the failure of the military to tackle the menace of insecurity, which threatened the peace in Nigeria, most especially during the immediate past regime of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Apart from the ignoble and vicious attacks on some states in the North, most especially in the North East, by the Boko Haram terrorists, bandits were controlling some local governments in some parts of the North during Buhari’s administration, collecting levies and other forms of revenues unhindered. The military could not do anything tangible to stop this act of threat against the territorial integrity of the nation.

“Despite colossal sums of money in foreign currencies released to the military to procure arms and ammunition, including fighter jets, our nation still remained under the siege of marauders and rampaging terrorists, killing Nigerians in thousands and turning innocent citizens to refugees in their country.

“Some parts of the South West, namely Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo were almost sacked by herdsmen, attacking farmers, killing them and raping their wives and daughters during Buhari’s administration. The security agencies failed to rein these vicious individuals. Rather, some so-called repentant Boko Haram terrorists were granted amnesty and recruited into the Nigerian Army.

“On July 1, 2021, some agents of the Department of State Security (DSS), backed by the military invaded my residence in Ibadan to kill me at midnight all because we were agitating for Yoruba nation peacefully. Two of my aides were brutally murdered, while others were fatally injured.

“Security agents also shot dead one of our supporters in Ojota area during a peaceful protest despite the fact that we obtained Police permit. As a movement guided by the laws of the land, we sued the Federal Government under Buhari for the unlawful invasion of my house and the damage caused by the DSS and secured a judgment against the government up to the Court of Appeal. This judgment, which ordered the payment of compensation running into billions of naira was not obeyed.

“Recent sad stories of the Nigeria Army deploying drones to mistakenly drop off bombs on worshippers, numbering over 85 in Tudun Biri villages of Kaduna State and the latest Christmas eve attack on some communities in Plateau State, by bandits where about 200 people, mostly women, and children were cruelly murdered are critical issues our military must address.

“Instead they are chasing shadows and wrongfully accusing Yoruba nation movement of threat to peace in the South West. This is just a figment of their own imagination, which should should not be ignored the discerning Nigerians and other relevant stakeholders,” the statement concluded.

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