The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) has distanced itself from the secessionist call being championed by a Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
Sunday Igboho had recently said Yoruba is no longer part of Nigeria, calling on people of the ethnic group residing in the north to go back home.
However, the Secretary-General of the YCE, Kunle Olajide, said Igboho does not represent the Yoruba people in his call for secession.
TheCable on Wednesday reports Olajide as saying that Nigeria would be stronger if it remained as a unit.
He said the Yoruba people had invested so much in Nigeria’s formation and unity, and it would be unwise for them to seek secession.
Olajide said: “It is his (Igboho’s) personal desire but the present circumstances in our nation do not favour and will not make it achievable, and the fact that Yorubas have invested so much in the unity of this country and in the making of Nigeria. The tribe cannot choose to opt out without any adequate plans.
“I am not aware that the Yoruba nation or citizenship has given a mandate to anybody to desire their extinction from this country. So it is not a decision that can be taken by an individual or a group of individuals.
“Anybody who is familiar with the history of Nigeria will know that we have been together for over 100 years, even before the British came and we have Yorubas all over the country just as we have other Nigerians everywhere.
“It is not something that you can declare by fiat. In any case, our diversity in this country and our population are our strengths. Fragmentation and dismemberment of this country cannot be in the best interest of anybody.”
Meanwhile, Olajide said the Yoruba people are angry over the “ethnocentric nature” of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He, however, noted that the ethnic group remains part of the country.
Olajide urged Igboho “and some of those who believe in him to exercise patience”.
Igboho had also said Yoruba monarchs and elders were behind him in his quest for secession.
But the YCE secretary-general said there was no platform where the traditional rulers met with Igboho.
Olajide maintained that while Igboho has a right to pursue whatever objective he desires as a “full grown adult”, he cannot speak for the entire Yoruba people.
“Igboho is a full-grown adult, he is not a teenager so it will be wrong to believe that he does not know the country he is in,” he said.
