The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, led by Prof. Banji Akintoye and Chief Sunday Adeyemo (also known as Sunday Igboho), has penned an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, seeking a peaceful breakaway of the Yoruba people from Nigeria.
The letter, dated April 17, 2024, and signed by Akintoye, Igboho, and Ola Ademola, calls on the President to establish a negotiation team within two months to facilitate the exit of the Yoruba people from Nigeria.
The letter follows a recent incident where armed agitators attempted to hoist their flag at the Oyo State Government House, leading to the arrest and remanding of 29 individuals.
Akintoye and Igboho have publicly dissociated themselves from the violent action.
The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement alleges that the Fulani have been perpetrating widespread violence against the Yoruba people and other indigenous groups in Nigeria since 2015.
The letter states, “We have the honour to send to Your Excellency this important letter on behalf of the many millions of Yoruba people at home in Yorubaland in Nigeria and in the Yoruba Diaspora in almost all countries across the world.”
The group claims that the Fulani have been killing, destroying farms and villages, kidnapping men, women, and children, and extorting ransom from families of the kidnapped.
They also allege that the Fulani have been renaming seized villages as Fulani villages and forcing families into Internally Displaced People Camps.
The letter states that the Yoruba people are resisting the attacks but are facing unrelenting violence, leading to horrific instability and forcing many farmers to abandon farming altogether.
The group estimates that up to 29,000 Yoruba people have been killed by the Fulani since 2015.
The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement asserts that these actions are sufficient reason for seeking separation from Nigeria.
They believe that restructuring Nigeria will not address the issue, as the Fulani would still have citizens’ rights to enter Yoruba homeland with weapons and intent to harm.
Instead, they request that the Nigerian Federal Government agree to negotiate their proposal by June 15, 2024, and invite international observers from the United Nations, African Union, and ECOWAS to the negotiation meetings.
The letter concludes, “We are acting for and on behalf of our 60 million Yoruba people… hereby most humbly place our crowning request before Your Excellency as follows: That the Nigerian Federal Government shall, within the next two months… inform us Yoruba Self-determination Movement that the Nigerian Federal Government has graciously agreed to our proposal for negotiation and that they have set up a negotiation team that will meet and have a dialogue with our Yoruba Nation’s negotiation team.”
