By FOSTER OBI

A UK-based Yoruba nationalist, Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa, President, Young Yoruba for Freedom (YYF), who prefers to be called Oba Adeyinka Grandson, has given the Igbos residing in Southwest states 48 hours to leave or have themselves to blame.

In a new video which has gone viral, Bolarinwa said “all the Igbos in Yoruba land, we are giving you Friday 23, October 2020 to Sunday, October 25, 2020, to leave Yoruba land. From Monday the 26th of October 2020, we will close the roads, stop all vehicles across Yoruba land, and every Igbo national will be dealt with accordingly.

“What happened in Ore, Ondo State, in August 1967 is just a highlight of what we are going to do on Monday 26 October 2020.

“We are kind enough to give you 48 hours to pack your load and move to your own region peacefully. We will stop all cars, taxis and passenger vehicles and we are going to enter work places, business premises, security sites, and search everyone. Any Igbo who is found will be dealt with mercilessly.”

He said that the group had requested the Southwest Governors to stop the influx of Igbo in Yoruba land but since they refused, the group will deal with it in their own way.

The YYF promoted by Adeyinka Grandson has been marked by many as fanning embers of violence and tribal hatred in Nigeria.

In August 6, 2017, he was arrested by the Scotland Yard Counter Terrorism Command, London over his known social media attacks on Igbos and Fulani. He was arrested on charges of “stirring racial discrimination and “encouraging terrorism,” and was grilled for 9 hours. His house was searched following a warrant granted by the Westminster Court.

He has in a series of viral videos made a controversial call for organized violence in pursuit of ‘Oduduwa Republic’.

In one of his viral videos in April 2020, he threatened dissolution of Nigeria with chemical weapons to free Yorubas.

During general elections in February, he praised the violence against Igbos in Lagos and the burning of ballot papers in areas of Igbo and PDP strongholds.

He called for the killing of Igbos residing in Yoruba land for not voting candidates that top South West politicians wanted in 2019.

The group is generally perceived as not credible. On May 24, 2019, a group called Central Council of Yoruba Youths (CCYY) described the YYF as a faceless group over damning statements on former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The CCYY said, “This YYF headed by one Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa is one of such groups put in place by some people to fan embers of disunity in Yoruba land and Nigeria in general….The nebulous group is formed to implement the agenda of some unpatriotic Nigerians and we are exposing them for who they are.”

Responding to the threat, some Igbos interviewed by News Express said they would not take it serious while waiting for the Yoruba nation to make an official statement clarifying its position on it.

They said that the Igbo nation belongs to an indivisible nation called Nigeria, and will not be intimidated by any faceless group.

YYF President Oba Adeyinka Grandson