A National Leader Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, Professor (Senator) Adebanji Akintoye, has written a public letter to President Bola Tinubu, urging him not to neglect the Yoruba in the midst of suffering in Nigeria.
The piece titled: ‘’ Public Letter To His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria’’, was made available to The Guardian by Dr Olatunde Hamsat in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Akintoye said it could never sound well that, while Nigeria is destroying Yoruba people from countless angles, Tinubu chose to ignore his people’s terrible suffering and distress, choosing instead to continue to immerse himself in the muddy politics.
He stated that the Yoruba are seriously concerned about certain directions in the operation of the authority of the Nigerian Police, the Directorate of State Security (DSS), and other federal security agencies, among us Yoruba people of the Southwest of Nigeria and of Kwara and Kogi States.
The Yoruba leader claimed that these federal agencies tend to view all Yoruba youths as insurgents or terrorists.
The letter reads in part: ‘’Your Excellency, President of Nigeria, and most eminent son of our Yoruba Nation today. We, your people and kinsmen, representing millions of your Yoruba people in Yorubaland in Nigeria and in the Yoruba Diaspora across the world, have the honour to address this letter to you.
‘’First, Your Excellency, we your people are seriously concerned about certain directions in the operation of the authority of the Nigerian Police, the Directorate of State Security (DSS), and other federal security agencies, among us Yoruba people of the Southwest of Nigeria and of Kwara and Kogi States. These federal agencies tend to view all Yoruba youths as insurgents or terrorists.
‘’They therefore often abuse the human rights of Yoruba youths – by arresting them without just cause, detaining them in police cells, and then forcing them to pay money for their release. It is obvious that the Nigerian Police and other security agencies believe that it is their duty to treat Yoruba youths in these unlawful ways in order to intimidate the youths and thereby compel the youths to abandon their quest for the Self-determination of their Yoruba Nation. The examples of these outrages against Yoruba youths are too many to be listed in this short fraternal letter, but we assure you, Your Excellency, that these human right abuses occur frequently and in all parts of Yorubaland. In fact, there have been instances in which DSS operatives, when they could not find a young man, arrested and detained his wife and child.
Your Excellency, in your exalted position as President of Nigeria and a major factor in today’s international order, you know very well that Self-determination is a right, an inalienable right, of all indigenous nations of the world. You know that these inalienable rights are enshrined in the laws of the International Community and spelt out in many important international Conventions and Declarations: United Nations Charter, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights. You know that Nigeria is a signatory to all of these International Laws, and that, therefore, all these International Laws are parts of the laws of Nigeria. The final meaning of all this is that peaceful acts by any Nigerian to assert and retrieve the self-determination of any Nigerian people do not contravene the laws of Nigeria.
‘’We proudly and confidently assert, Your Excellency, that all actions of the well-known mainstream of the Yoruba Self-determination Struggle have, at all times, been consciously and conscientiously peaceful. We respectfully remind you that when, in 2021, we, Yoruba people held mammoth self-determination rallies that drew out millions of participants, each of the rallies was peaceful and law-abiding, there was no injury to any person and no damage to any property, and the Police did not need to caution or arrest anybody. Similarly large and peaceful mass rallies were held by Yoruba Diaspora at the same time, in such important foreign cities as Washington DC, London, Paris, and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
‘’Indeed, we deserve to have your understanding, empathy and help. Your predecessor, President Buhari, worked closely with, and greatly helped, his Fulani people, even in the destructive Fulani agenda over Nigeria. Our esteemed father and brother, it can never sound well, and it can damage your name among your Yoruba people and among all reasonable humans, that, while Nigeria is destroying your Yoruba people from countless angles, you choose to ignore your people’s terrible suffering and distress, that you choose instead to continue to immerse yourself and your talents in the muddy politics of Nigeria, that you choose to continue to swallow the fiendish disrespect and barbarism of Nigerian politics, while ignoring your own people’s horrendous sufferings and tears.
‘’Moreover, our father and brother, it is utterly important to stop thinking that Nigeria can ever mend its numerous and mighty cracks. The cracks are fundamental; they are from the deepest roots; they are not amenable to amelioration. To make a bright mark on history, one needs to have the strength and courage to accept the manifest truth of situations.’’
