A Yoruba coalition group on Tuesday slammed the Nigeria Police over its allegations that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has hatched a plot to attack Lagos
The Lagos State Police command had in a press conference by its Commissioner, Odubu, made the allegation in Lagos
But the Yoruba Coalition Group in its response to the allegation wondered why the police has refused to confront the pronounced attack ovulation groups on the Yoruba nation, which they noted has led to loss of several life and property in the zone
While casting doubt in the police allegations, the pan-Yoruba groups cautioned the police to desist from as making such public allegations it could instigate ethnic crisis and pitch the Yoruba against their Igbo brothers
The groups in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by their leaders: Femi Ajibola (Oodua Nationalist Coalition, ONAC), Dr Kunle Oshodi, Agbekoya, Alhaji Taofik Adeyemi, (Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC) (Reformed) Chief Diran Obalola (Oodua Liberation Movement, OLM), Femi Agbana Yoruba World Congress, (YWC-Lagos State Chapter), Rasaq Arogundade, Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC-Reformed), Mrs Eunice Okunola, Oodua Women Coalition, (OWC), Pastor Goke Otunla, Network for Yoruba Alliance, (NENA), and Ahmed Korede Apapo Oodua Koya, (AOKOYA) noted, “While we cherish the responsibility of the police to do their work, we are concerned about the public declaration of the alleged IPOB plans to attack Lagos by the Nigerian Police
“We are worried that since the police already claim to be in possession of what appears to be a confidential information, the proper thing would have been to discreetly go after the IPOB members to arrest them unless the police is not sure of its information.”
The pan Yoruba groups also cautioned the public on interpreting the police statement, adding that the police statement carries the possibility of being dangerously misinterpreted as an Igbo plot against Lagos and Yoruba people.
“We are deeply concerned that the Police publicly declared allegations tempts the prospect of setting Yoruba in the South West against Igbos. This is very unfortunate at a time that state institutions are increasingly being turned to instruments for pursuing primordial ethnic interests. The Yoruba will work never to allow this to happen
“We are concerned that terrorists and armed herdsmen of Fulani extraction have openly been attacking, kidnapping, raping and killing Yoruba people in the South West but at no time did the police call a press conference to announce such plan after before or after each horrendous killings. There was also never a time the police linked such attacks to any ethnic group.
“Only recently, Yoruba in Mile 2 were attacked by these people, the police did not make any attempt to speak about the ethnic identity of the perpetrators yet we know they are largely from a section in the North.
“We are concerned that the police allegation risks setting a greater danger of ethnic conflict between Igbo and Yoruba people, conscious that this will benefit a certain group who think setting Igbo against Yoruba will meet the objective of scuttling the search for peaceful self determination by the two great civilisations
“We urge the police not to allow themselves to be used by the desperate Caliphate whose agelong dream is to divide the South and set the people against each other for its own narrow gains” the group added, while calling on Yoruba people to ignore the “conscious attempts to cause ethnic conflict between Igbo and Yoruba at this time that both ethnic groups need each other.”
They therefore called on the police to avoid what it described as dangerous ethnic profiling.
“Pan-Yoruba groups assure of our collective desire to sustain peaceful coexistence between Igbo and Yoruba and avoid any slide into ethnic conflict, an ill wind that blows no one any good. To this end, we shall set up a Committee to work out a platform to sustain ethnic harmony in Lagos.
“On police plan to attack agitators for Yoruba self determination, We urge the police have respect for international laws and should signify the basic democratic principle which is the right of a people to debate their political and economic future, ” the group noted.
Source: The Authority.
