By ADAMU ABUH, Abuja

A coalition of Yoruba groups, under the aegis of Yoruba Appraisal Forum, has cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged abuse of the Amotekun security outfit in the South-West geopolitical zone of the country.

The Convener of the group, Comrade Adeshina Animashaun, in a letter to President Buhari argued that there was the urgent need to check what he termed the excesses of the security outfit to check imminent bloodshed in the region and Nigeria at large.

It alleged that in the name of Amotekun, some individuals in the South West had been exploiting the overstretched deployment of the police, due to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, “to sustain unprovoked attacks and intensify the provocation of other Nigerians.”

The coalition claimed that the attacks on Nigerians of other ethnic nationalities living in the South West, especially those from the North, would soon be deliberately further heightened by those planning to use Amotekun for their selfish agenda of dismembering Nigeria.

The Coalition, which had been in the forefront of agitation against the operations of Amotekun, argued that the renewed call on the President to stop the South-West security outfit became imperative due to recent developments indicating that the forces behind it had been taking further steps by internationalising their plan to dismember Nigeria.

It claimed that the current attacks on the non-Yoruba in the region were 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 machine being planned to be used by the forces that have hijacked it to pursue their hidden agenda, gain sympathy and obtain funding from international bodies such as the UNPO to ultimately dismember and secede from Nigeria.

It maintained that contrary to claims by those sponsoring Amotekun, it was not established to provide security for the people of the South West.

It noted: “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 Nigerian nation,” the Coalition said.

It further stressed that the President must act now to prevent the threat Amotekun’s operations would pose to human lives and property of all residents in the region, including the Yoruba, especially now that a group, Yoruba World Congress (YWC), has dragged the region into the membership of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO).

The coalition, whose members had about 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, said that their latest letter to the President to wield the big stick against the regional security outfit followed the rise in the attacks and killing of other Nigerians residing in the region in recent times.

It alleged 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 had been accepted as the 45th 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.”

It added: “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 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.” (The Guardian)

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