By SODIQ OYELEKE
A diaspora group, Yoruba One Voice, has urged Yoruba people all over the world not to relent in the irrevocable campaign for self-determination for the people of the region.
The group also declared that the Yoruba Nation agitation should forge ahead with renewed zeal, saying that the right to agitate for the Yoruba Nation is entrenched in Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on People’s Right.
This was contained in the eight-point communique issued at the end of a webinar conference organised by the group, according to a statement on Sunday titled, ‘Yoruba Nation’ll forge ahead with self-determination agenda -YOV’.
The Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, and other speakers at the conference noted that regardless of the challenges being faced, the self-determination groups must continue their agitation for Yoruba Nation.
This is coming barely 10 days after operatives of the Department of State Services raided the Ibadan home of Yoruba rights activists, Sunday Igboho, and arrested some of his aides.
Apart from DSS declaring Igboho “wanted”, over 40 suspected agitators were also arrested during a Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos last Saturday.
Adams urged other like-mind groups both within and outside the shores of Nigeria to join the quest for the liberation of the Yoruba race.
While urging the international community to support the call for Yoruba self-determination agenda, the Yoruba generalissimo also hoped that there would light at the end of the tunnel.
“With the success recorded today, YOV had made history, as the largest Yoruba diaspora organization seeking the Yoruba nation self-determination agenda. And with this, I have the conviction that we will definitely achieve this lofty dream,” he added.
One of the guest lecturers, Prof. Ayodeji Agbonjinmi from the Faculty of Law, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, said the Yoruba had in Nigeria’s history became the victims of political instability in Nigeria.
Agbojinmi cited the past history and previous experiences of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the late MKO Abiola who was elected but never ruled.
Meanwhile, Prof. Salawu Akeem Segun from the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said, “There is nothing bad in seeking self-determination”, adding that “the idea is a process that must mature in time.
In the communique, the Yoruba diaspora group also for an immediate referendum to be supervised by the United Nations on the right to self-determination by Yoruba Nation.
“We urge Yoruba people all over the world not to relent in the irrevocable campaign for Self Determination for Yoruba people.
“That the Yoruba Nation resolve to forge ahead with renewed zeal for the Right to Self Determination as entrenched in Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on People’s Right.
“Immediate referendum to be supervised by the United Nations on the right to self-determination by the Yoruba Nation,” YOV said. (Sunday PUNCH)
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