Rogue Group asks Buhari to Scrap Amotekun
By Dele Ogunsua
Some individuals claiming to represent some Yoruba groups have called on President Mohammadu Buhari to scrap Amotekun, the budding Pan-Yoruba regional security outfit.
Findings by Irohinoodua revealed that the group was created perhaps with the specific objective of destroying the best of Yoruba.
In a media release, the group, Appraisal Forum, which claims to be a coalition of Yoruba groups asked President 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.”
Irohinoodua can authoritatively reveal that the group has the support of some money bags and political figures whose main aim is to serve external interests. Appraisal Group is the new frontier where funds will be provided to destroy one of the best ideas in Yorubaland in the 21st century.
Our reporter heard that the group whose leaders are known to be largely anti-Yoruba was invited to Abuja early January where a careful plan on how to thwart Amotekun was hatched.
One source told Irohinoodua “They have been paid a huge some of money. They have no ideas and are a bunch of rogues whose business is to look for money by all means possible.”
A reliable source in Abuja told Irohinoodua that the group has been paid a total of N10m to begin the anti-Amotekun campaign.
The source said the group’s botched rallies held in Lagos and Ekiti were sponsored by some politicians of Northern orgin in collaboration with some people in the South West.
“They are a group of treacherous elements who are motivated by profit and are ready to destroy Yorubaland for money”, another source who said he was once invited to their meeting held in Lagos December last year told Irohinoodua.
The letter addressed to President Buhari and signed by one Animashaun urged President Buhari to stop the process saying the goal of the outfit was “nothing but sinister”, and called for “urgent need to curb excesses of the outfit before it becomes too late.”
It is unclear what the group meant by “bloodshed” being associated with Amotekun.
The coalition 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,” but the group fell short of what “mismanagement” meant for Amotekun, an organisation that is yet to go into full blown.
The said Adeshina Animashaun who claims to be the “Convener” of the coalition in the letter wrote “the real intention of those who have now hijacked the security outfit is the dismemberment of Nigeria in the nearest future”, urging Buhari to act fast inorder to save the country.
The Publicity Secretary, of O’Odua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) Alhaji Muraina Okunola urged the South West Governors to arrest the “Convener” of the group.
He said “This is a grossly irresponsible person, a traitor, a betrayal who has no sense of history and depends on stabbing the Yoruba at the back for crumps.”
Animashaun in justifying his appeal to stop Amotekun, 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). He however failed to realise that UNPO is a global organisation with a United Nations, (UN) cover and the Yoruba is not the first Nigerian ethnic group to join the UNPO
Animashaun furter 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”. Okunola described his claims as “blatant lies and cheap propaganda for money” adding that Pan Yoruba groups will soon meet to determine how to counter Animashaun and “throw him into the thrashbin of history.” He said the Yoruba groups will also expose his sponsors
A reliable source within the security circle hinted our correspondent that the group is on the payroll of politicians, some renegade security operatives and some unscrupulous politicians.”
Animashaun said since Yoruba became a member of UNPO, “violence has been on the increase” but he failed woefully to cite any violence linked with Amotekun except to base his statement on mere assumptions and mudslinging.
A member of O’Odua Liberation Movement, (OLM) Mr Victor Agunbiade said the only way to protect Amotekun from “hawks and blackmailers” is to ensure adequate inclusion of genuine and progressive Pan Yoruba groups. He described Animashaun as a “traitor who can do anything for money.”
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.
Animashaun however could not establish the authenticity of his bogus claims except what appears a desperate move to scuttle a project that has received the blessing of majority of Yoruba people irrespective of class, faith or creed.