Yoruba Appraisal Forum, a coalition of Yoruba groups, has again called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a decisive step to abolish Amotekun, the South West security outfit and curb imminent bloodshed in the region and Nigeria at large.
The group in a letter to President Buhari insisted that the goal of the outfit was nothing but sinister, stressing urgent need to curb excesses of the outfit before it becomes too late.
The Coalition stated that the alleged mishandling of the security situation in the South West since the outbreak of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in the country, underscored the need for the Federal Government to act with utmost urgency.
Comrade Adeshina Animashaun, Convener of the coalition in the letter, alleged that ” the real intention of those who have now hijacked the security outfit is the dismemberment of Nigeria in the nearest future”, urging him act fast inorder to save the country.
Read Also: Amotekun Spy Agency Not South West Police: Ekiti Chairman
Justifying his appeal to stop Amotekun, he pointed out recent pronouncement of Yoruba World Congress (YWC), a strong proponent of Amotekun, that it has been admitted as the 45th member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO).
The Coalition, which has been in the forefront of agitation against the operations of Amotekun, said its fresh appeal to stop the South West security outfit was borne out findings and developments indicating that the forces behind the security outfit had taken steps in internationalising their alleged sinister agenda.
Recall that members of coalition had two months ago carried out peaceful protests in different states in the South West against Amotekun, after petitioning President Muhammadu Buhari, leadership of the National Assembly, the service chiefs, the inspector general of police, the directors general of both the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency.
Comrade Animashaun noted that since the President-General of the Yoruba World Congress (YWC), Prof. Banji Akintoye, announced late last month that the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria ia now a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), violent attacks on other Nigerians living in states across the South West had been on the increase.
The coalition also noted that Akintoye had in his statement described the Yoruba membership of the UNPO as “a very important step in the collective quest of well-meaning Yoruba people to achieve the goal of dignity and self-determination.”
The wrote: “Your Excellency, we still maintain our stand on the urgent need to stop the Amotekun security outfit and the forces behind it from throwing the entire country into an unprecedented chaos, violence and danger.
“We make bold, Your Excellency, to state that our continued investigation of the security outfit has further underscored the conclusion that Amotekun is not for any noble cause. From the facts on the ground, the real intention of those who have now hijacked the security outfit is the dismemberment of Nigeria in the nearest future. Your Excellency, recent developments have further pointed to this fact about the Amotekun security outfit.”
It said that the current attacks on the non-Yoruba in the region which heightened during the current pandemic was deliberately carried out just to provoke other Nigerians in the South West to react and even retaliate in order for those behind such killings to have the grounds for unleashing violence on people of other ethnic groups throughout the region.
The coalition described Amotekun as the military arm with hidden agenda, geared to gain sympathy and obtain funding from international bodies such as the UNPO to ultimately dismember and secede from Nigeria.
“Your Excellency, as we said in our previous petition, it is now clear that Amotekun is nothing but the armed wing of the Yoruba groups planning secession of the South West from the rest of Nigeria.
“Your Excellency, the burgeoning situation has placed the whole of the South West on edge and this is why we are calling on Your Excellency to use your good offices to urgently take a decisive action against the Amotekun security outfit before it’s too late.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Your Excellency, Amotekun is a smokescreen and the Federal Government should urgently see beyond this cover. Amotekun is the armed or military wing of those clamouring for Yoruba autonomy and secession. Amotekun, as stated in our previous petition, is part of the game plan by some people in the South West to cause chaos and ultimately dismember Nigeria. It was not established to provide security for the people of the region.
“Your Excellency, we, therefore, demand that appropriate action should be taken urgently against the Amotekun security outfit to stop those who have hijacked it from achieving their devilish plans against the Nigerian nation.”
The coalition, therefore, urged President Buhari to urgently meet the governors of the six South West states with a view to impressing it on them the need to withdraw their support and stop the funding of Amotekun.
“Your Excellency, as we stated in our previous petition, we hereby advise that you urgently hold discussions with the South West governors on the concerns we have raised about Amotekun. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. We must not watch idly as the enemies of the country hide under the smokescreen of running a regional security outfit to engage in activities that are not only inimical to the people they claim to be protecting, but also injurious to the continued corporate existence of the entire Nigerian nation,” the Coalition said.
The Coalition urged the government to probe “the origin of this political militia with a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to unravel the underlying factors and original reasons for setting it up,” and curb the impending destructive effect of their agenda on the country.
NAN