Banji Akintoye, historian and former senator, has raised an alarm, alleging that terrorists have invaded and encircled the South West Geo-political zone of Nigeria.
In a letter personally written by him to all South West Governors, the leader of the apex Yoruba self-determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua, urged the leaders to be vigilant and ensure that their fatherland is not captured by foreign invaders.
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Akintoye, according to a statement made available to Newsmen on Wednesday by his Communications Manager, Maxwell Adeleye, alleged that the new midnight curfew announced by the Nigerian government to curtail the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria looks suspicious with clandestine motives.
The octogenarian urged Yoruba people, especially the younger generations to wake up and be extra-vigilant, alleging that the previous Covid-19 lockdown from March to May 2020 was used to import terrorists from the North to the Southern parts of Nigeria.
He advised some top religious organisations in the South West to beef up security around their premises.
The statement read in parts: “This is an alert from Ilana Omo Oodua to the Yoruba people at home and in the Diaspora. The situation that has developed in Nigeria in recent days calls for the uttermost vigilance of the Yoruba nation, and every Yoruba man, woman, and child.
“There is a danger that if we don’t mount that high level of vigilance today, very serious pains can be inflicted upon us as a nation and on countless numbers of citizens of our nation.
“A few days ago, precisely, Saturday, the 8th of May, I sent a very desperate letter to the six Governors of the Yoruba Southwest. The letter reads as follows:
“Your Excellences, the Governors of the Yoruba Southwest. This is a very desperate message from me to the State Governors of our Yorubaland in the face of the impending escalation of the ongoing invasion of our homeland.
“A combination of Fulani terrorists, Boko Haram and ISIS have occupied Niger State which is immediately north of Yorubaland, thereby providing for themselves very easy access into Yorubaland through the Yoruba parts of Kwara and Kogi States.
“Then, recently, the US has issued a statement that ISIS has infiltrated Southern Nigeria from the sea – meaning that the coast of Lagos, Ogun, and Ondo States have been infiltrated.
“Our situation has thus become desperate and requires desperate actions from our State Governors. I feel obliged to devote much attention to the study of our Yoruba nation’s vicissitudes in these terrible times, and from such studies, I am hereby raising an informed alarm to the Governors of our States.
“I humbly and passionately urge our Governors to come together to give the needed response to the danger that threatens to engulf our Yorubaland in, most probably, the next few days.
“It is very well known that the signature action of these foreign terrorist organisations is to first destroy prominent assets of the society that they attack. That could mean that major public and private buildings in Lagos and Ibadan, particularly the hugely symbolic Cocoa House in Ibadan, would be their immediate targets”.
