76th UNGA: YAF raises alarm over planned violent protest by YWC, others

*Alleges mobilization by ESN, Niger Delta militants, Benue, Plateau militias to destabilize govt

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

Ahead of commencement of the 76th United Nations General Assembly [UNGA] meeting, on Tuesday in New York, United States of America, the Federal Government has been alerted of planned violent protest by agitating groups anchored by the Yoruba World Congress (YWC).

The Yoruba Appraisal Forum [YAF] which raised the alarm on Monday alleged a coordinated plan by the YWC to instigate and mobilize a number of self-determination and civil society groups contracted to initiate the planned violence and confrontation with the security agencies.

The YAF further alleged that the YWC is co- opting aggrieved groups such as the Eastern Security Network [ESN], the armed unit of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB]; some aggrieved Niger Delta militants and members of some militia groups in Benue and Plateau states in the plot to instigate violence across the country with the objective of effecting a violent change of government in Nigeria.

In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday, signed by its National Coordinator, Adeshina Animashaun, the Forum claimed that the YWC planned to submit “some fabricated documents and other fake materials to the 74th UNGA holding in the US to discredit the President Buhari-led government and then return to the country to instigate violence and chaos”.

The Forum claimed that ahead of the summit, the YWC had “planned to storm tomorrow’s opening session of the UNGA by the Yoruba nation agitators, who had plans to bombard the UN with “fabricated documents and documentaries,” was being coordinated by the leader of the Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof Banji Akintoye.

YAF had in July petitioned the United Nations, its five permanent members, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and other powerful countries across the world over a plan by the Akintoye-led Ilana Omo Oodua, to present a petition against the Nigerian government at the 76th General Assembly of the UN.

The Forum, which in the petition urged the UN and the five Super Power countries to bar Ilana Omo Oodua and its allies from attending the UNGA to present its petition against the Federal Government of Nigeria, had stated that “the ultimate objective of this plan by the group is to achieve nothing salutary or beneficial to the people of Nigeria but to further their evil design to undermine and bring down the country and the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, out of sheer malice over the forthcoming 2023 general elections.”

“Ilana Omo Oodua had earlier announced plans to attend the 76th UNGA scheduled for September to present a petition to the global body over its demand for a separate and independent Yoruba Nation.

“But YAF, which is equally a coalition of Yoruba self-determination groups, had also alleged in its own petition to the UN, which was copied to the five Super Power countries, EU and AU that contrary to Ilana Omo Oodua’s claim that the UN General Assembly would be an opportunity to explain the rationale behind the Yoruba nation agitation to world leaders, the group’s plan “is to use the platform of this global body to get undeserved sympathy and secure support from unsuspecting countries across the world, which are largely uninformed about the true situation of things in Nigeria”, the statement read.

The Forum further claimed that upon their return from the UNGA meeting, members of YWC, along with the armed groups collaborating with it, intended to engage in the kind of violence fashioned after the Arab Spring.

YAF accused the YWC and its allies of stockpiling arms and ammunition to execute its alleged plan to eventually confront the Federal Government in its bid to achieve its “evil objective” of breaking up the Nigerian state under the guise of fighting for an independent Yoruba nation.

The Forum said, “We are aware that these groups (YWC, Ilana Omo Oodua and allies) and individuals behind the recent violence in different parts of the South-West of Nigeria have a more sinister objective of destabilising the Nigerian nation for the selfish political end of those bankrolling them. They are only merely covering up their agenda with the cloak of fighting for Yoruba freedom and self-determination.

” Their plan now is to take their self-imposed agitation for independence and self-determination to the next level, which would involve outright widespread violence fashioned after what the IPOB/ESN are now doing in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.

“It is very clear that the masterminds of this violence are bent on throwing Nigeria into total chaos to hasten the collapse of governments at both the state and Federal levels to enable them to execute their evil plans for Nigeria, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

YAF also tasked the international community “to assist Nigeria’s security agencies to unmask both the local and foreign sponsors of these agents of violence in our midst and punish them accordingly.”

The Forum added that it’s imperative that the international community joins hands with the UN to support the “Nigeria Police and other security agencies to take appropriate actions against these unpatriotic elements to nip the YWC and Ilana Omo Oodua’s evil plans for Nigeria in the bud,” adding that they “must act now and waste no time in putting these hoodlums pretending as freedom fighters and Yoruba Nation agitators in the South-West of Nigeria in their proper places.”

YAF further warned that if the UN and other countries “fail to assist the Federal Government, the Armed Forces and other security agencies to enable them to act appropriately against these unpatriotic elements, everybody in Nigeria and the West African sub-region will suffer for any such inaction.

“The threat to the Nigerian nation by these unpatriotic elements is real! The nationwide chaos, violence and destruction of property and human lives that would result if their dangerous plot is allowed to crystalize are best imagined than experienced. Something must be urgently done to checkmate the emerging scenario in the South-West of Nigeria”, the group warned.

YAF further enjoined the UN “to disregard the disguised devilish plans of the masterminds of this evil plot against the government and good people of Nigeria. They are unpatriotic elements who lack the characters of true Nigerians.

“They do not speak for or represent the majority of the Yoruba in Nigeria and should, therefore, be disregarded in their attempt to use the UN platform to achieve their devilish aims and objectives. They’ll only use the platform of the distinguished world body to feed their ego and feather their own selfish political nest in their bid to prove their continued relevance and influence as fighters for Yoruba freedom and independence”.