The leader of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has urged President Bola Tinubu to facilitate a conversation with the movement towards negotiating peaceful separation of Yoruba nation from Nigeria.
In a letter addressed to the President, Akintoye said the Yoruba people sought to build a sovereign state of their own where they could rebuild their lives according to their desires, culture and capabilities.
According to Akintoye, forcibly keeping Yoruba in Nigeria was tantamount to prolonging Yoruba people’s “abominable deprivations, insecurity and pains.”
It would be recalled that Akintoye had earlier told The PUNCH that about 60 million Yoruba people, both at home and in the diaspora, support the quest to establish the Yoruba Nation, as a sovereign country.
Akintoye recounted its several letters of request to leave Nigeria dating back to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari till the latest one dated May 25, 2025, addressed to President Bola Tinubu, which has yielded no conversation between the Presidency and the Yoruba nation movement.
“Mr President, please grant us, your Yoruba people, that which we have asked for in our separate letters to your predecessor, President Buhari, and to you. What we have asked is that you, as the President of Nigeria, should facilitate negotiation between representatives of the Nigerian Federal Government and of our Yoruba people to negotiate our Yoruba nation’s peaceful separation from Nigeria.
“This is to enable us to go and nurse the pains and wipe away the tears of our battered people and to go and build a sovereign state of our own, where we can rebuild our lives according to our desires, our culture and our capabilities, a country where we shall diligently provide abundant opportunities for all our people.
“Forcibly keeping us in Nigeria is only prolonging our people’s abominable deprivations, insecurity and pains. Please act on this without delay,” Akintoye said.
Akintoye claimed that the Yoruba people are embattled and harassed, alleging indiscriminate arrest of Yoruba youths which, he said, is aimed at intimidating the youths.
Asked about the next line of action to achieve Yoruba Nation after submitting the letter to Aso Rock, Akintoye promised to give further updates soon.
“Your Excellency, by the grace of god, you are one of the living fathers of our Yoruba nation today and, therefore, we, your people in the struggle for your Yoruba people deserve to have your attention. Indeed, we deserve to have your understanding, empathy and help.
“Your Excellency, as you would by now have perceived, the motivation for this letter of your Yoruba people to you is love – love for you as a talented Yoruba son whom God has graciously elevated in the world, love for all our Yoruba people, love for the integrity and dignity of our Yoruba culture, love and goodwill for all other peoples of Nigeria, love for our Yoruba nation’s strong attachment to freedom, orderly governance, high-quality development, progress, prosperity and peace.
“Eminent father of our embattled and harassed Yoruba nation, please accept the love that we bring in this letter, and our very best wishes for your good health, your security, and your success.
“Your egbon as ever, privileged to deliver this message from your people,” Akintoye said.
Akintoye has over time insisted on accomplishing the Yoruba nation.
“We are not going back. We must leave Nigeria, or our nation will perish.
“Don’t you hear our voices in the streets? Yoruba Nation now, no going back.
“We mean, the Yoruba people in Nigeria, roughly 55 to 60 million people. We want to establish a country of our own. There will be no Nigeria where we have our country. But if the rest want to continue as Nigeria, they are okay,” Akintoye stated recently. (Punch)
