Deborah Akinyosoye
Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, has expressed that if Nigeria is unable to function as a united country, the different ethnic groups should be permitted to go their separate ways.
In a video shared on Thursday, Igboho, seen at a UK airport, blamed corruption and insecurity for why many Nigerians no longer take pride in their citizenship.
He added that Yoruba youths, enriched by global exposure, are eager to transform the Yoruba nation into a modern, prosperous society like those in Europe.
His words: “Even inside the airport, there is no security. They can steal your belongings inside your bag (in Nigerian airports). All these are the things dissuading people from being proud of the country, Nigeria.
“Things like that make us sad to identify ourselves as Nigerians. This is why we advocate for separation. If Nigeria is not working as a country, it is better we go our separate ways.
“Our (Yoruba) youths will transform Yoruba nation. Most of them have travelled across the world and they have learned a lot. If they come back to Yoruba land, the knowledge will help them build it and transform the nation like those in Europe.”
This is not the first time Igboho has called for the breakaway of Yoruba people from Nigeria.
In April 2024, Igboho, alongside Pro Banji Akintoye and Ola Ademola from the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, wrote a letter to President Tinubu, urging him to establish a negotiation team to discuss the Yoruba people’s exit from Nigeria.
The letter reads in part: “We are acting for and on behalf of our 60 million Yoruba people of the Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States, respectively, plus the Yoruba Local Government Areas of Kogi and Kwara State, and plus the Itshekiri homeland of Delta State, all together constituting the Yorubaland in Nigeria, hereby most humbly place our crowning request before Your Excellency as follows:
“That the Nigerian Federal Government shall, within the next two months, but not later than June 15, 2024, 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.
“That the Nigerian Federal Government shall invite the United Nations, African Union and the Economic Community of West African States, to send observers to the negotiation meetings.”