Yoruba groups differ over Oduduwa republic

Two Yoruba groups yesterday differed over demand for the creation of Oduduwa Republic from the present Nigerian state.

While some leaders under the banner of the Ilana Omoodua Youth Initiatives, led by a Yoruba leader, Professor Banji Akintoye, insisted on having Oduduwa Republic for the Yoruba nation, another group under the auspice of Yoruba Welfare Group (YWG), disagreed with the position.

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The secretary of the Ilana Omooduwa Youth Initiatives, Dr. Akin Adejumo, who represented Professor Banji Akintoye at a Yoruba mega rally held at Mapo, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday, insisted that the breakup of Nigeria was imminent.

Adejumo said the nation was not working and there was need for Nigerians to go back to the drawing board and take a profitable decision for their people.

But the National President of Yoruba Welfare group (YWG), Comrade Abdulhakeem Adegoke Alawuje, yesterday insisted that those clamouring for Oodua Republic cannot decide for the Yoruba people.

Speaking with our correspondent in Lagos, the group blasted the secession advocates, accusing them of attempting to destroy the peace, love and harmony of Yoruba land.

Alawuje warned them to desist from such advocacy, saying, “We are issuing a last warning to those behind the political agitation to stop all this rubbish in our land. Yoruba land cannot be a testing ground for any form of criminal act.

“YWG is calling all traditional rulers in Yoruba land to call these people to order, because it will not favour all of us to start mobilizing against ourselves in the same region.