Yoruba socio-cultural group, Yoruba Koya Movement, has declared tomorrow as a national day of protest against the ongoing killings and kidnapping across Yoruba-speaking states, including Kogi and Kwara.
The “June 12 Otoge rally” is backed by a Yoruba intelligentsia group, Voice of Reason (VOR), and 26 other socio-cultural and self-determination groups.
It will hold in all state capitals of Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Kogi and Kwara states simultaneously.
In a statement yesterday, the group’s National Director of Publicity, Mr. Maxwell Adeleke, said the rally is aimed at presenting the “Yoruba Charter of Demands to the government of Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) and to also present a Public Petition to the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over the ongoing killings in Southern and Middle Belt Nations of Nigeria”.
The statement added that the rally is being organised to “reawaken the people of Yoruba-speaking states to be conscious of the agenda of some ethnic warlords and reactionaries outside their domain to capture their land and enslave them while masquerading as visitors and to enjoin all governors in Yoruba speaking states to integrate towards economic, social and political development of Yorubaland and to encourage them to make the security of lives and properties of their people utmost priority”.
“The rally is meant to encourage Yoruba legislators both at the state and national assemblies to endorse, support and move motions that will expressly indicate where the Yoruba stands,” the statement said.
The rally, billed to begin at 9am, will hold simultaneously at Gani Fawehinmi Park, Lagos; Ibadan Military Cenotaph, Opposite Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State and Pansheke Roundabout, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Other locations are, Fajuyi Roundabout, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, Osun State; Alagbaka Roundabout, opposite First Bank, Akure, Ondo State; Kabba Township Stadium, Kabba, Kogi State and Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Ilorin, Kwara State.
