Agitators for Yoruba secession fighting for personal benefits – Akeredolu
Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo State, has stated that agitators of Yoruba secession from Nigeria are fighting for their personal benefits.
“The reasons for the declaration of hostilities must not be fleeting fancies of disaffection engendered by perceived politics of exclusion for personal benefits”, said the governor in a speech given during the inauguration of Oladunni Odu as Secretary to the State Government.
“The noises generated by seeming inaction or passive indifference on the part of elected and appointed representatives of the Government at all levels appears to be responsible for the growing disaffection in the land.
“Why some have been measured in their reactions to these problems, others have been less diplomatic.
“It is not uncommon to find groups and individuals purporting to act or speak on behalf of the rest of us.
“While it is the right of citizens to discuss, agitate and even fight to right perceived wrongs, culminating in self-determination, this must be done within known and acceptable parameters
“All concerned must be ad idem, that is, agree to pursue the same objectives to achieve a desirable or desired end. There must be a common platform through which the demands, from the most mundane to the sublime, must be presented.
“There must be a general consensus, articulated and presented after rigorous engagements on the level of intellection as the agendum for action.
“Self-determination must be a collective programme of action. l state, unequivocally, as the Governor of Ondo State, elected by the people to serve them and protect their interests, that our people have elected to stay in the Federal Republic of Nigeria as constituted at present.
“We recognise that there are reasons to demand that certain anomalies be put right. We will continue to encourage dialogue as an effective tool in resolving disputes.
“We will also not shy from joining others to insist on socio-economic justice. We will, however, not subscribe to banditry and recklessness in putting forth our demands.
“Consequently, no part of the entire State, known and delineated as Ondo State, shall permit any gathering or agitation which may suggest, however remotely, that we are in support of unthinking rabble-rousing.
“We will not be led to assured annihilation by anyone or a group of people, still smarting from the electoral defeats of recent times and presumed exclusion from the process of decision-making.
“Our people are knowledgeable enough to determine their interest at any point. If and when they consider self-determination as an option, they will not depend on external promptings to act. “That is why we are different. That is why we are who we are. And that is the way it is going to be.”
Various indigenous Yoruba groups have made secession calls following the escalation of tension between Fulani herders and farmers in Southern part of Nigeria.
The crisis has continued to fuel agitation for an Oduduwa Republic, which some groups declared recently.
The imaginary republic is conceived to comprise the six Yoruba-speaking states and is being championed by self-avowed freedom fighter Sunday Adeyemo, otherwise called Igboho.
