The Ilana Omo Oodua has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to leave Sunday Igboho alone and name those financing terror in the country.
The leader of the IOO, who is a renowned historian, Prof. Banji Akintoye, said in a statement on Friday that the speech delivered by Buhari to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence anniversary had emboldened self- determination agitators to continue in the struggle.
He said that Igboho and other self-deternination agitators were not doing anything that violated the law while also asking the President to name the National Assembly member whom he accused of financing Igboho.
Akintoye said, “The entire speech of Buhari symbolises hopelessness and chaos. It was a declaration of war against the peace-loving people of Yorubaland. Our message to him is that we shall not be intimidated.
“We shall remain loyal and committed to our struggle for an Independent Yoruba Nation. We shall be undaunted. No oppressor has ever triumphed over the people. In this struggle, we shall continue to be legitimate and peaceful.”
Akintoye also asked Buhari to name the National Assembly member who he accused of sponsoring Sunday Igboho.
He said the President should leave Igboho, who is pursuing a noble cause, alone and rather name the sponsors of herdsmen, Boko Haram and those killing, maiming and kidnapping Nigerians.
“Buhari has further exposed himself as the President of the North, and not that of Nigerians. He has succeeded in emboldening us more to fight on in the agitation for self-determination for the Yoruba people.
“It is a total nonsense that Buhari is bothered about a Sunday Igboho who is engaged in a lawful agitation, endorsed and confirmed now by a court of competent jurisdiction, United Nations and African Union Declarations on Peoples and Human Rights while he (Buhari) looked away on the murderous activities of the Fulani herdsmen terrorists and Miyyetii Allah in the South and Middle-Belt territories.
“Mr President said an unknown sitting member of the Nigerian National Assembly is involved in the funding of Sunday Igboho. That’s an absolute mendacity. The Yoruba people from villages to villages to the Diaspora are contributing their hard-earned resources to oil and sustain the agitation.
“Our appeal to Buhari is to, as a matter of urgency, name the invincible National Assembly member so that the Yoruba people can celebrate him because he is supporting a noble struggle. If indeed such a National Assembly member exists unknown to us in Ilana Omo Oodua, we say very expressly that he is a hero that has chosen to stand by a legitimate, legal and constitutional agitation. Therefore, Buhari is merely groundstanding.
“As Buhari named the unknown National Assembly member, our utmost appeal to him is to help Nigerians in naming those funding murderous Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists oppressing, maiming, killing and raping his people in the North and the people of the South and Middle-Belt with impunity.”