We”ll Judge you by the Company you keep, FG warns Southwest agitators
By Ogundele Olanrewaju
The Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), the umbrella body for self-determination groups in the country, yesterday, resumed their protest at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, United States.
Members of the self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, representing Yorubaland; Lower Niger Congress, representing the South-South and Southeast; and Middle Belt Renaissance Movement representing the Middle Belt Region were seen displaying placards with different inscriptions as they marched to the UN headquarters.
They chanted anti-oppression songs and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to resign. They were also seen chanting ‘We want the Yoruba Nation now, declare Independent Biafra now’!
While some of the protesters wore white outfits, others wore black, holding Yoruba Nation and IPOB flags. They also held pictures of young people killed in Nigeria.
But the Presidency has faulted Yoruba nation agitators for ‘keeping association’ with the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in reaction to the protest at the UN headquarters.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, yesterday, the Federal Government also threatened to judge the Yoruba Nation agitators by the company they keep, saying that no one will take them seriously.
Part of the statement read: “For Nigerian diaspora groups to use the world’s largest platform – the United Nations General Assembly – to garner attention to their causes is not unexpected, it was, however shocking, to see ‘Yoruba Nation’ advocates yesterday unequivocally throw their lot in with IPOB. IPOB is a designated terrorist organisation. It has now publicly revealed a 50,000 strong paramilitary organisation.
“It regularly murders security services and innocent civilians, with a significant uptick of violent attacks this year. And it is currently attempting to hold Nigerian states hostage with orders to stay at home under threat of terror. Without a doubt, Nigerians and the entire world will judge the Yoruba nation by the company it keeps.
“No one can take seriously this organisation if it continues its IPOB association. When their allies systematically trample human rights, it raises sober questions about their claims to uphold the values of the UN. The cooperation is a worrying development, once parsed with Yoruba nation’s increasingly violent rallies in Nigeria.
“Actions and associations speak louder than words. Yoruba Nation’s talk of human rights promotion must therefore be ignored,” the statement said.
The Presidency, thereafter, appealed to the UN to discountenance their demand. President Buhari will address the 76th Session of the high-level General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, September 24.
A provisional list of speakers showed that Buhari would be the second speaker on the day. The President would deliver his address around 9:00 a.m. (about 2:00 p.m. Nigerian time) to other world leaders during the morning session.
