The Yoruba ethnic community in the 19 Northern States has said that it has nothing to do with the calls for Oduduwa Republic.
President of the Yoruba Welfare Group Worldwide, Abdlhakeem Adegoke, told newsmen in Kaduna on Sunday during a peaceful protest: “We don’t believe in the existence of a Republic inside a Republic”.
Flanked by other officials of the Group in the Northern States, Adegoke added: “We are talking on behalf of all the Yoruba in the 19 Northern States that we the Yoruba in the Northern States hereby dissociate ourselves from any Republic inside a Republic”.
He recalled that many Yoruba people were born and bred in the North and had intermarried with northerners with whom they had been enjoying cordial and harmonious relationship over time.
“We believe in the oneness and indivisibility of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he stated, declaring, “We are not part of any Oduduwa Republic declared by our kinsmen in the Southwest.
“We want the entire world to realise the secret behind those who are agitating for Oodua republic.
“If truly they really want Oduduwa Republic they would have insisted that Hausa, Igbo and all other none Yoruba should leave Yoruba land, but as long as they insisted on Hausa Fulani alone they are not really sincere with their agitation.
“The number of Yoruba in the North is more than three States in Yoruba land. Our investment in the North is more than N5 trillion. What do they prepare for us to come and do at home?”

By AbdulGafar Alabelewe