The Yoruba community in 19 Northern states have distanced themselves from agitations for the creation of Oduduwa Republic out of the present Federal Republic of Nigeria.
There have been increased agitations for the secession of the South-West region from the country.
But speaking on Sunday, the president of the Yoruba Welfare Group Worldwide, Abdlhakeem Adegoke, told newsmen in Kaduna during a peaceful protest that Yoruba people in the North do not believe in Oduduwa Republic.
He alleged that the agitations for the independence of the Oduduwa Republic have a political undertone.
Adegoke said: “We are talking on behalf of all the Yoruba in the 19 northern states that we hereby dissociate ourselves from any Republic inside a Republic.”
He claimed that many Yoruba people were born and bred in the North, and had mixed, mingled and intermarried with the northerners with whom they had been supposedly enjoying cordial and harmonious relationship over time.
He said: “We believe in the oneness and indivisibility of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We are not part of any Oduduwa Republic declared by our kinsmen in the South-West.
“We want the entire world to realise the secret behind those who are agitating for the Oodua Republic. To start with, 99 percent of them are those who benefitted from former president Goodluck Jonathan’s government.
“If truly they want the Oduduwa Republic, they would have insisted that Hausa, Igbo and other non-Yoruba should leave Yorubaland, but as long as they insisted on Hausa Fulani alone, they are not sincere with their agitation.
“Secondly, in Yorubaland today, we have many facts to prove to the entire world that what they are doing is political. Looking at the situation on the ground in Yorubaland today, politically, it is only the All Progressives Congress and others, and in their agitation, there is no single APC member with them.
“The number of Yoruba in the North is more than three states in Yorubaland, our investment in the North is more than five trillion naira, what do they prepare for us to come and do at home?”
Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho), during a town hall meeting, had called on all Yorubas in the North to return home.
“Some say Yoruba people are not united, we are! If you want to try us, touch one of us. Any king that says he is not with us, should make a video and make his claim. Yoruba citizens in Hausa land, come back home, this suffering is enough.”
This is even as Popular Yoruba Historian, Banji Akintoye and Igboho declared the sovereignty of the Yoruba nation.
Akintoye had urged all Yoruba patriots to work together for the independence of the Yoruba nation, urging the young ones not to involve violence but peaceful deliberations.
“We have declared sovereignty now but we must work together. We have just talked about what the Yoruba nation is suffering from in Nigeria. There should be no reason why we cannot all work together to extricate ourselves from this rubble that Nigeria has become.
“My advice to young people is to gather together, speak to leaders hesitating about Nigeria, there is no reason for any Yoruba person to be talking about restructuring or a new constitution or resource control, the game is up. We have seen enough of Nigeria; we have decided our status in the world today. We have moved forward, let us move smoothly without any violence, don’t fight anyone. There should be no war, we are going to have a separate Yoruba conference very soon.”
Igboho, who also spoke at the conference, said the South-West states were no longer under Nigeria.
His comment followed others he had made in the past such as there is no basis for one Nigeria as insecurity continued to spread to Yoruba land.
In the video, he encouraged Yoruba people living in other parts of the country to return to the South-West region.
Igboho said the Yoruba kingdom was united in the latest agitation and had the backing of all its traditional leaders. He challenged any Yoruba ruler who did not support him to openly refute his claims.
