North East Group task President Buhari to caution Yorubas

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 TRENDZ MEDIA 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”.