Yoruba group, YAF vows to resist troublemakers in South West

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

A group, Yoruba Appraisal Forum, has given a stern warning to all those fomenting troubles under the guise of fighting for the freedom of the South-West to desist or risk the wrath of its millions of members across the region.

YAF wants to state clearly that the quit notice to some Nigerians by some individuals in the South West, which resulted eventually in the recent violence, was uncalled for, unnecessary, unconstitutional, and illegal.

YAF vowed to resist any persons, groups, and their collaborators pretending to be protecting the common interests of the people of the South-West to further destroy the economic and social wellbeing of the people in the Southwest.

National Coordinator of YAF, Adesina Animashaun, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday titled, “Yoruba Appraisal Forum will resist vendors of violence in the South-West. Enough is enough!” warned that it would no longer tolerate any individual or group of persons in Yorubaland to carry out any violent plot in the region under the guise of hunting for criminals.

He was speaking against the backdrop of the recent violence in Ibarapa, Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State, and pockets of violence in Ondo state.

Stating that it foresaw and warned of the recent crisis, the YAF said “we were not taken by surprise because we warned about such impending violent occurrences several times last year and even in January this year. But unfortunately, we were not taken seriously by the authorities and security agencies”.

The Forum noted that the masterminds of the recent violence in Ibarapaland had “a more sinister objective of destabilizing the Nigerian nation for the selfish political end of their sponsors and paymasters, but merely covering up their agenda with the cloak of fighting for Yoruba freedom.

“Intelligence reports at our disposal have indicated that the masterminds of this violence are bent on throwing Nigeria into chaos to hasten the collapse of governments at both the state and federal levels to enable them to execute their evil plans in Nigeria”.

It, therefore, charged the police and other security agencies “to unmask both the local and foreign sponsors of these agents of violence” and take appropriate and urgent actions “to deal decisively with these individuals who are bent on fomenting trouble in the South-West”.

The YAF said it is saddened by the fact that the South-West had yet to recover from the huge losses it suffered during last year’s #EndSARS protests in which individuals and governments lost properties worth trillions of naira in addition to the invaluable lives of Yoruba and people of other ethnic nationalities killed.

Consequently, the body warned that its members would not hesitate to “confront those planning another wave of violence in any part of the South-West under the guise of hunting for criminal elements because it’s an ill-wind that will blow no one any good.”