Popular Monarch Says Secession Agitation Dead on Arrival, Reveals what Yoruba Wants
- The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, has urged Yoruba people across the world to support any Yoruba person that emerges as a presidential candidate in 2023
- Oluwo said producing Nigeria's next president in 2023 should the priority for the Yoruba people
- According to the monarch, secessionist agitation is not the right way to go
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Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo Kingdom in Osun state, has dismissed the secessionist call by some agitators in the southwest.
Nigerian Tribune reported that the monarch also said calling for the formation of the Oodua nation is just a dream, adding that the project is dead on arrival.
Legit.ng gathers that the Oluwo disclosed this while addressing Yoruba leaders in Sokoto state on a three-day visit to the state.
Source: Facebook
He called on Yoruba people residing in the northern state not to panic on the call for secession by some groups in the country, The Sun also reported.
His words:
“If they ask you, people, to come down to your place in the South, what happened to your business and whatever you are doing here.
“All I am saying is that instead of calling a tribe criminal, what happened to some of the Yoruba people who are into crimes in this part of the country, do we now call all of you criminals?
“It is disheartening seeing people in Yoruba land chasing away Hausa/Fulani in the South not minding if such a person is a culprit or not.
“I came here to promote peace among every Nigerians irrespective of their state of origin or where they come from.”
What Yoruba wants
Instead of calling for secession, Oba Abdulrasheed said what the Yoruba people want is to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023.
He called on all Yoruba people living either in the north or any part of the world to use the next general election to elect a Yoruba man as president.
The monarch said:
“Any Yoruba son who emerged as a candidate for any political party irrespective of the political party should be supported by all Yoruba.
“It is the time for Yoruba to become president of the country and we must make use of the opportunity rather than calling for secession or Oodua nation."
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Meanwhile, the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) has distanced itself from the secessionist call being championed by Sunday Adeyemo, a Yoruba youth leader popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
Igboho had recently said Yoruba is no longer part of Nigeria, calling on people of the ethnic group residing in the north to go back home.
However, Kunle Olajide, the secretary-general of the YCE said Igboho does not represent the Yoruba people in his call for secession.
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Nurudeen Lawal is a Legit.ng journalist passionate about fact-checking/verification journalism. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature-in-English from Obafemi Awolowo University. As Politics Editor, Nurudeen mostly writes on Nigeria’s political and socio-economic developments. He has attended different workshops, conferences and training on fact-checking and digital reporting, among others. Learn more about him on Twitter, @Nurudeen Lawal_
Source: Legit.ng
