OPC Warns Against Staging Biafra Protest In South West

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has warned Biafra
protesters not to move their campaign to the south
western part of the country as they would not stand by
and watch the region turned into ‘a theatre of war’.

There have been a lot of protests staged by some Igbo
people calling for an independent Biafra with the latest
being a violent protest in Onitsha that resulted in the
death of nine civilians and two police officers.
Daily Trust reports that in a statement made available by
the national coordinating council of the Yoruba group and
signed by Comrade Akinpelu Adeshina, in Ibadan on
Friday, December 4, the group said the heightened
security situation in the country necessitated the warning.

Part of the statement read: “We see the attempt to bring
the World Igbo Day celebration – in whatever guise – which
is normally celebrated on the 29th September annually to
the Yorubaland as a mischievous and diabolically crafted
attempt to cause chaos in and destabilize Yorubaland; and
this we will repulse and reject with everything at our
disposal.
“As much as we believe in the right of every person and
group to self-determination, we are of the firm belief that
this particular event is mischievously conceived and
earmarked to be hosted in any part of Yorubaland.
“It is true that the Yoruba are a liberal, peaceful and
accommodating people, yet we are no fools and should not
be treated as fools.
“The South West part of Nigeria is the most secure and
peaceful part of Nigeria today and should therefore not be
turned into a theatre of war or avoidable crisis.
“For too long, the Yoruba have accommodated all other
tribes and nationalities like good hosts. We have not
minded the odium and other atrocities committed against
our people, and on our ancestral land.
“During the last election campaigns, it was the height of all
insults when the Igbos in Lagos derided and mudsling our
highly revered traditional rulers, particularly the Oba of
Lagos. Never in history has it been recorded that a Yoruba
person or group crossed the Niger River into either the
northern or eastern part of the country to go and vilify,
desecrate or insult any of their paramount rulers for political
or any other reasons.
“The leeway to do business and own properties which the
Igbo and other nationalities enjoy in Yorubaland has not
been reciprocated for the Yoruba elsewhere, thus it would
only be fair to warn anyone or group that if our relationship
cannot be mutually beneficial, it should in no way be
injurious to us as a people.”

Meanwhile, governors of the 19 northern states of Nigeria
called on those agitating for a separate country to tread
the path of caution.