A group, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum, (YAF), has raised the alarm over alleged plans by those championing and agitating for secession of Yoruba land from the rest of Nigeria to cause violence and chaos in the South-West and other parts of the country with the ultimate objective of truncating the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
The YAF National Coordinator, Adesina Animashaun, raised the alarm at a press conference in Lagos yesterday.
Citing recent utterances by the leaders of the agitators that the group would achieve the secession of Yoruba land from Nigeria in a few months’ time, YAF said the statement should be taken seriously as indications of the violence the group could be planning in the region.
According to the Forum, “It is a known fact that the agitators for the phantom Yoruba ‘nation’, who are known to be sponsored from within and outside Nigeria, have a sinister and very dangerous agenda towards the country, particularly as it concerns the 2023 general elections.
“There are plans by these groups of ‘Yoruba nation’ agitators to cause violence and mayhem during the political campaigns that kicked-off on September 28, 2022.These groups have lined up various rallies and protests in all the six South-West States to coincide with the political parties’ campaigns with the sole aim of disrupting the political process, instigating violence and chaos, and truncating the conduct of next year’s general elections.
“The major aim of this is to create panic, fear and anarchy and ultimately scuttle the forthcoming elections in many States of the federation and destabilise the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari”, it stated.
The Forum also stated that they have already been mobilised to carry out these acts of violence in an unprecedented manner. “Several groups of similar Yoruba ‘nation’ agitators have already been raised across the South-West States, and they are to be reinforced by some other hoodlums. Notorious cult groups, such as Eye and Aiye, are also part of the plot to cause violence, killings and chaos in the South-West, ahead of the 2023 general election”, the group further stated.
