Yoruba Self Determination Movement, YSDM, has advised President Bola Tinubu and stakeholders in the Nigerian project not to allow a civil war before allowing the Yoruba nation to separate from the country.
YSDM made the appeal while addressing a press conference at Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat, Iyaganku in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Wednesday.
YSDM Deputy National Leader, Comrade George Akinola, while addressing journalists, advised Tinubu not to allow Nigeria to disintegrate before allowing Yoruba ethnic group to secede.
Akinola while renewing the call for Yoruba self determination, explained that the Yorubas have had enough suffering in Nigeria.
He added that allowing them to stand on their own will put a stop to the problems facing the ethnic group.
Akinola faulted the 1999 Constitution, explaining that the group has challenged its credibility in court.
Akinola explained that the Yoruba ethnic group is angry and fed up with Nigeria.
He added that their major request from the Nigerian government is to allow the Yoruba ethnic group to become a sovereign nation.
Akinola stated, “What we want is a sovereign independent Yoruba nation. Our sovereignty must be total. That is what we stand for. The 1999 Constitution does not have any input from any Yoruba person. They said ‘we the people of Nigeria’. Who are the people? We were not carried along.
“Many villages have been deserted as a result of insecurity. We will set up a commonwealth Yoruba nation. None of the people in Nigeria sat down, the military just called few of them to write the Constitution. There are cases in court that challenge the Constitution. We have challenged it in the court.
“Tinubu is our brother. If Tinubu succeeds in winning the 2027 election, what happens after his tenure is over? It does not stop us from pursuing our goal.
“Since the principle of federalism has been bastardised in Nigeria, it behoves on the ethnic nationalities forced into the Nigerian project to use whatever instrumentality at their disposal to extricate themselves from the impossible union, fight for their identity and establish guarantees on indigenous rights for such matters of direct relevance to them.
“Yoruba people are angry and fed up with Nigeria. What we desire most, at this time, is to become a sovereign nation.”