Olasupo Ojo, the Coordinator of Legal Affairs, Yoruba Self-Determination Movement Worldwide, including Sunday Igboho’s arrest, Olasupo Ojo, has faulted the Federal Government’s opposition to the creation of a Yoruba Nation.
He lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari, supported the self-determination of Palestine but ordered the arrest of Yoruba Nation agitators.
Olasupo said this during PUNCH Online programme, The Roundtable, on Wednesday.
The lawyer said, “Yoruba has a presence in several countries. If you see that monarchs rose up in defence of Sunday Igboho, it is to tell you the influence of the nation.
“Everybody knows that we are tired and entitled to having our country. Yoruba in Benin Republic are aware and in support of this. When they heard that a peaceful campaign for the Yoruba Nation has challenges in Benin Republic, they rose up because they see him as their own child.
“Incidentally, it is on record that General Buhari also clamoured for self-determination of the northern people in the past. It is also on record that he is advocating for the self-determination of Palestine. He is not opposed to those, but when it comes to the Yoruba Nation, you say unity is non-negotiable. Is it everything that is non-negotiable in life? You cannot force two people to remain together.
“He is telling us that Nigeria is held together by force. When he said the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable, what is the definition of that unity? who agreed to be united?
“What is the foundation of the unity? Who destroyed the unity? Efforts have been made for negotiation. Enough damage has been done. Nigeria’s unity has been destroyed. Every nation within Nigeria is free to determine whether they want to remain with others or be independent.”
While speaking at the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform in September 2015, in New York, the president had urged the United Nations to grant the State of Palestine self-determination to make it a recognised sovereign nation.
The president had said, “We need to remind ourselves of the principles that led to the founding of the United Nations. Among those are peaceful co-existence and the self-determination of peoples. In this context, Mr President, self-determination of Palestinian people and those of us in Sahara (region), those nations that have been energized by United Nations have qualified for these alienable rights must now be assured of it without any further delay or obstacle.
“The international community has come to fill its hopes on the resolve of the Palestinian issue through the two states solution which recognizes the legitimate right of these states to exist in peace and security,” Buhari had said.
