Insecurity: ‘What South West, South East, South South must do to tackle ISIS threat’

By Patrick Okohue

A pro-Yoruba group, the Apapo O’odua Koya, (AOKOYA) has underscored the need for unity by geopolitical zones in the country to combat the treat of attacks by Islamic State of West Africa (ISIS).

“There should be unity of purpose between the Igbo, Yoruba and people of the South South. The fundamentalists are targeting Lagos and Port Harcourt as their most strategic towns. They want to take over the two cities and cut off the rest of Southern Nigeria.

The unfortunate thing is that they have active supporters in the Nigeria Armed forces. They also receive huge funds from two Islamic Nations,” AOKOYA said. The group in a statement at the weekend said the revelation by the United States AFRICOM official Dagvin Anderson has vindicated the AOKOYA revelation three years ago indicating that hundreds of armed cells built by alien armed groups are spread across Yorubaland.

Daily Times gathered that, AOKOYA in a statement signed by Col Abiodun Sowumi (rtd) and Ahmed Akorede on behalf of AOKOYA stated that, “AOKOYA was the first to reveal the presence of armed cells across Yorubaland. Our intelligence department revealed this reality and we alerted Yoruba Nation and the world. The revelation by the US intelligence through Anderson, only confirmed what we said three years ago.”

The group urged Yoruba people in towns and villages to organise and prepare for the inevitable confrontation with those who want to exterminate Yorubaland and turn the territories into ruin. “This has nothing to do with Christianity or Islam. It has to do with the survival of Yoruba people, our values and our civilisation.

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We have already been warned enough by reliable sources. If Yoruba people doubted AOKOYA intelligence report three years ago, there is no reason to doubt the US report. ISIS has penetrated Yorubaland. They have sleeping cells spread across Yorubaland and the entire South. We should not delude ourselves that we cannot be conquered.

The only way to avoid conquest is to make adequate preparations before it is too late,” Sowumi and Akorede. AOKOYA said the armed groups have been importing arms into Yorubaland hiding such in trailers bringing food to Southern States, adding that most of the bank robberies and raid of banks in Yorubaland were being perpetrated by Islamic terrorists working with armed Fulani herdsmen and Miyetti Allah.

According to AOKOYA, the Yoruba people need to work with South South and Igbo South East and forget the bitter rivalry. The group said the fundamentalists also consider pushing Nigeria into a mayhem during which they and their supporters in the Armed forces would stage a military coup in Nigeria and take over the country under the guise that democracy has failed in Nigeria and only a “revolution” will save Nigeria.

“We have enough networks across the world to confirm that military coup is one of the options being considered by the fundamentalists. This consideration for military coup by extremists is one of the reasons why their supporters in the armed forces sabotage the Army and make it difficult for the war against Boko Haram to succeed.

“They need crisis to continue in Nigeria for them to justify staging an Islamic extremist group whose coming will be received as Messiah by naive and ignorant Nigerians.” AOKOYA said what is going on in the North West and Kaduna is not banditry, but ISIS plans to assert a strong base in Northern Nigeria from where it hopes to spread to the entire country.

The group said Amotekun is not in a position to defend Yorubaland having being turned into an electoral project “Amotekun is fury without any teeth to bite. There is no operational centre as we speak. The uniform imposed on them is that of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria which was created by Fulani leaders. There is no training of personnel as we speak.

There is no operational plan. Those being recruited are mainly political allies who see Amotekun as just another job.

“We warned about this before now that Amotekun is about political opportunism and not about the protection of lives and property of Yoruba people. The people that designed Amotekun template have been sidelined. It has become another avenue for corruption and nepotism.”

The group said only Osun and Ekiti states appear to understand the real motive of Amotekun, but that the two states are being frustrated by lack of regional cooperation and integration by the other Yoruba states, adding that Amotekun in Oyo and Ogun states are coordinated by people who report directly to the Nigerian Inspector General of Police while Lagos has technically pulled out for the single reason that the political leadership does not wish to offend Fulani leaders.