The North East Solidarity Forum has appealed to President Muhammadu
Buhari to caution the Yoruba Council of Elders
(YCE) and other groups from the North-West zone their recent threat
for self-determination and secession.
The group described as treasonable felony the
secession threat by the groups, following the kidnap
of former Secretary to Government of the
Federation, Chief Olu Falae.
In a communiqué it issued on Wednesday after their
meeting, the North East Solidarity Forum accused
the Yoruba elders of inciting the general populace,
especially the people of the South West region of the
country to violence and bloodshed.
Apart from the YCE, the group listed other North
West groups that needed to be cautioned to include
the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), the Oodua
Foundation, Afenifere, the Oodua Peoples Congress
(OPC), the Coalition of Yoruba Autonomy (COYA), the
Oodua Democratic Coalition (ODC), the Ominira
Yoruba Apapo, and the Agbekoya Organisation.
The group said the ethnic dimensions and utter
recklessness attributed to the kidnapping of the
former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation by the elders in the region that are
supposed to work with the government of the day
and the security agencies to unravel the remote
causes of the kidnapping with a view to bringing the
culprit to justice must stop.
The communique made availabLE To me
reads in part: "We have gathered here today to
critically examine the recent unguarded and
unwarranted vituperations that emanated from the
Summit of Yoruba Elders in Ibadan, Oyo State and
wish to state unequivocally that the threat to
secession in the South West must not be taken
lightly nor ignored by the Federal Government.
"It must be properly investigated by the security
agencies and all actors in the summit must be
brought to book".
In the communique signed by its Co-ordinator
General, Usman Abdulkadir the group reminded
Nigerians of the situation of Boko Haram that has
ravaged the North East and the various kidnapping
taking place in different parts of the country.
The group wondered whether the Yoruba Elders
would have threatened to secede if the kidnappers
of Chief Olu Falae were an Igbo or from other tribes
in Nigeria.
The communique stated: "We believe the threat of
secession by the Yoruba Elders has a hidden
agenda which must be unravelled urgently by the
security agencies because of the weighty nature of
their statement
"We know that if any region is to make such call, it
should have been from the North East due to the
ruin the region has witnessed in the last four years.
"A call for the breaking of Nigeria by a section of
any individual or groups is a treasonable felony and
there is no exception to what happened in Ibadan,
the Oyo State capital.
Urging the president to caution the Yoruba elders
and others groups, the North East group said,
"While we condemn kidnapping or any act of
criminality by any indidual in the country and in any
part of Nigeria, we want to use this opportunity to
call on President Muhammadu Buhari to use all
available means to protect the unity, oneness and
integrity of this great country Nigeria.
"Nobody is above the law and no tribe or ethnicity
can threaten our corporate existence without being
called to account for their misdemeanours. The YCE
should not be an exception".
