The O\u2019odua Nationalist Coalition ,(ONAC) has called on Yoruba people to
\nprepare for their own sovereign nation in the face of the lingering
\nproblems and conflict built around the national question that has stunted
\nthe growth of Nigeria for over a century.<\/p>\n
This conflict has again reared its head, 50 years after a civil war that
\ninflicted pain and misery on the Yoruba people apart from distorting the
\ndevelopment plan of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for the South West.<\/p>\n
ONAC is made up of 18 Pan Yoruba groups including the Oodua Peoples
\nCongress, (OPC), Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM), Oodua Republic
\nCoalition, (ORC), Yoruba Revolutionary Congress, (YORC), Oodua
\nMuslim-Christian Dialogue Group , (OMDG), Yoruba Students Nationalist
\nFront, (YOSNF), Oodua Hunters Union, (OHUN) and 11 other groups. The
\nstatement was signed by Micheal Popoola, Oluwole Suleiman and Mrs Aduke
\nFadahunsi on behalf of the coalition.<\/p>\n
The group called on Yoruba people in the territories of the Hausa-Fulani
\nNorth to be guided by a strong sense of history and the fact that they
\nwill not be spared by those who claim to be their hosts. We advise them to
\nbegin to make alternative plans for the inevitable upheaval being promoted
\nby the Fulani oligarchy.<\/p>\n
The group said the North has always been the aggressor because of the
\nregion\u2019s loss of power and the unhidden desire to make Nigeria the
\nirreversible extension of the Fulani emirate. What we see is violent
\nconflict of civilisations which can only be resolved when each region go
\nher own way. In the bid to keep Nigeria as one country, millions of people
\nhave been killed and the lives of children wasted, the future pauperized
\nand the potentials of Yoruba young men and women bottled or chained with
\nfetters of iron.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we make the historic declaration that Yoruba people are ready for
\nour own Oduduwa Republic. We have watched events these past days. The
\ncloud is getting thicker. The poisonous rain appear ready to fall. It is
\ntime for the Yoruba people to be ready to defend our homeland from being
\nseized by local imperial elements and their collaborators. We assert
\nYoruba self-determination and sovereignty. We shall work for it. We will
\nactualize it,\u201d ONAC said in the statement issued at the
\nweekend.<\/p>\n
The groups said the Yoruba people have suffered unprecedented hardship in
\nthe form of human and material destruction since 1960 when the country
\nattained independence.
\n\u201cOur leaders beginning from Chief Obafemi Awolowo were jailed on trumped
\nup charges. 28 leaders of Yoruba were imprisoned unjustly. Chief M.K.O
\nAbiola was murdered. The industrial bases built by Awolowo were destroyed
\nby the military rookies appointed to control the South West region, our
\nculture destroyed and the future of our young people put asunder. Today,
\nmany Yoruba people have become scavengers across the world fleeing from a
\nhostile, bloodletting and malicious country that hold no promise of good
\nand abundant life for the long suffering and exhausted population.<\/p>\n
The group stated further \u201cwe call on Yoruba people all over the world to
\nprepare for a sovereign nation for the people of the South West. We are
\nover 50 million and far more than the population of 140 countries in the
\nworld. Yoruba will be the third biggest nation in Africa and about the
\n28th biggest nation in the world. We are big and knowledgeable enough to
\nbe a sovereign nation. We assert the Yoruba self-determination without any
\nfurther delay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pan Yoruba group said with the position of Northern youths asking
\nIgbo to quit the North, the outright demand for Arewa sovereignty by the
\nNorthern Elders Forum, (NEF), and the legitimate demand for Biafra by
\nIgbo, the call for a Niger-Delta Republic \u201cIt is time for the Yoruba
\npeople to stand for Oodua Republic without any further delay. Yoruba
\npeople this time will not support any attack on Self determination.We
\nshall mobilise the masses and prevent Yoruba people from being used for
\nany attack on the long suffering indigenous peoples of the South East and
\nthe South- South”<\/p>\n
ONAC said the quit notice issued by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum,
\n(AYCF) and the Northern Elders Forum, (NEF) was not against the Igbo alone
\nbut also against the Yoruba since Igbo is not written on the forehead of
\nresidents in the North.<\/p>\n
ONAC stated \u201c This is not the first time we have called for Oodua
\nRepublic. In April 2015, we organized a massive rally demanding for Oodua
\nRepublic. But today, this demand has become even more crucial than any
\nother thing.<\/p>\n
SIGNED<\/p>\n
Oluwole Suleimann<\/p>\n
Michael Popoola<\/p>\n
Mrs Aduke Fadahunsi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The O\u2019odua Nationalist Coalition ,(ONAC) has called on Yoruba people to prepare for their own sovereign nation in the face of the lingering problems and conflict built around the national…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n