YSG backs ACF demands seeking referendum

The Yoruba Summit Group (YSG) on Wednesday declared its support for Arewa Consultative Forum’s (ACF) demand seeking a referendum to determine Nigeria’s continued existence as a nation.

ACF Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu, had in a recent interview, said the North was not afraid of restructuring but preferred a referendum to determine the country’s continued existence, adding that various parts of the could go their different ways if Nigeria’s existence was no more desirable.

YSG threw its support in a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting and signed by Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, saying it aligned with the position of the ACF and other bodies and groups calling for a referendum.

This was as just as YSG noted that its past calls for restructuring were the panacea to the avoidance of chaos, anarchy and tyranny in the system.

According to the group, the referendum being called for should be one to be carried out much like internationally and safely “conducted plebiscite in all the six zones by the people who constitute these component parts whether they so wish to remain together or go their separate ways as it was done in both the Northern and Southern Cameroons on the 11th of February 1961.”

ALSO READ: Aftermath of #EndSARS: We’ll set up Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund ―Sanwo-Olu

The group, while noting that the Nigerian nation had mistreated everyone, said it was imperative that the territory that was known as Western Region under the 1963 Constitution, along with other peoples having affinities with the Yoruba Nation in Edo, Delta, Kogi and Kwara be organised in pursuit of a political identity and socio-economic welfare of all.

It posited that the quest was to think through and fashion out the pathway for the progress of the peoples of the region both at home and abroad, irrespective of political labels.

“It is imperative that the territory that was known as Western Region under the 1963 Constitution, along with other peoples having affinities with the Yoruba Nation in Edo, Delta, Kogi and Kwara be organised in pursuit of our political identity and socio-economic economic welfare of all.

“Notwithstanding any political labels, our quest is to think through and fashion out the pathway for the progress of our peoples at the homeland and across the world,” YSG said.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE