Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland, and other prominent voices from the South-West region have insisted that the self-determination agitation for the creation of the Yoruba Nation must continue irrespective of the challenges faced.
The Yoruba leaders expressed their thoughts in a webinar organised by Yoruba One Voice, a diaspora group, who issued the communique on the event on Sunday.
The communique quoted Adams as saying that other like-mind groups both within and outside the shores of Nigeria to join the quest for the liberation of the Yoruba race.
The Aare Ona Kankanfo also urged the international community to support the call for the Yoruba self-determination agenda.
“With the success recorded today, YOV had made history, as the largest Yoruba diaspora organization seeking the Yoruba nation self-determination agenda. And with this, I have the conviction that we will definitely achieve this lofty dream,” he said.
Prof. Salawu Akeem Segun from the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, was also quoted as saying that: “There is nothing bad in seeking self-determination,” adding that “the idea is a process that must mature in time”.
The Yoruba diaspora group in the communique demanded an immediate referendum be supervised by the United Nations on the right to self-determination by the Yoruba Nation.
The communique read: “We urge Yoruba people all over the world not to relent in the irrevocable campaign for Self Determination for Yoruba people.
“That the Yoruba Nation resolve to forge ahead with renewed zeal for the Right to Self Determination as entrenched in Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on People’s Right.
“Immediate referendum to be supervised by the United Nations on the right to self-determination by the Yoruba Nation.”
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