The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere, has condemned the invasion of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Ibadan, on Saturday.
According to a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, Afenifere stated that those who took the said step did not act in the interest of the Yorubas whom they alleged to be representing.
It would be recalled that some people who claimed to be Yoruba nation agitators stormed the premises of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Agodi Secretariat, Ibadan, regarded as political capital of Yorubaland, on Saturday, April 13, 2024.
However, a video clip making the rounds claimed that a purported ‘Democratic Republic of the Yoruba’ had been created out of Nigeria.
Afenifere stated that there is no such thing as Democratic Republic of the Yoruba.
“Yoruba is an important component of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And as is well-known, there cannot be a sovereign republic within an extant sovereign republic.”
At the moment, Yoruba are indigenous in Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States and in parts of Kwara, Kogi, Delta and Edo State of Nigeria, just as they are found in some other parts of the world.
The organisation conceded that, there is a lot of dysfunctionality in the way Nigeria was being run saying, that has not just begun though, as it is a cumulative thing inherited from previous administrations.
“But solutions to the shortcomings do not lie in violent divisions. Rather, what we should strive for, is how the perceived wrongs in the country can be righted.”
Afenifere is of the strong view that President Bola Tinubu administration is taking steps to rejig Nigeria in a manner that would make the country become one that every citizen, would be proud of soonest.
“Restructuring the country is a sure way of accelerating this, the group said.”
Afenifere strongly believes that when Restructuring is effected with constituent entities allowed to be in control of their own affairs, Nigeria will become beneficial to everyone. “This is why we are relentless in our agitation for Restructuring!”
Roundly dismissing the invaders of the House of Assembly in Ibadan, Afenifere stated that the manner by which they embarked on their misconceived mission clearly indicated that they did not apply sense whatsoever.
“How can a person or group of persons think that invading a State House of Assembly is tantamount to the creation of a Federal Republic? Genuine Yorubas normally think things through before they take actions, especially a fundamental action such as forming or declaring a nation. Yorubas don’t act that way, Afenifere said.”
