The unexpected invasion of the Government Secretariat of Oyo State and declaration of sovereignty by a group of people claiming to belong to the Democratic Republic of the Yoruba last Saturday shocked many Nigerians home and abroad. The sudden invasion, carried out by the people dressed in camouflage and bearing arms and other weapons temporarily destabilised areas around Agodi Area of Ibadan where the government secretariat is situated.
Another suspected agitator, Adeyemo Peter, aged 75, said: “I am from Iwere Ile, a furniture maker and member of Agbekoya group. I was coming from somewhere with one of my children and stopped at Oritamerin to buy food. We were told that Yoruba nation had been declared. We decided to see for ourselves and even sought for information on it from a police officer.
“That was how the police officer asked me to be arrested. In the area we live, some papers were distributed to notify people about declaration of Yoruba nation. They were given to me and I took them home.”
Another agitator, 55-year-old Alabi Ogundeji, who claimed to be a lecturer at Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, said in an interview: “Our leaders have taken necessary steps needed to be taken.
“First, we have embarked on a referendum. The 500 petitions all the Yoruba signed served as a referendum. After that, our leadership went to all the Yoruba speaking states and even served official letters written by our leaders and the authority of United Nations. We were given our own certified copies signed by the people concerned.
“After that was a proclamation, then declaration, then occupation, then notification to the world that Yoruba nation has become an indigenous nation. It is out of Nigeria completely, from November 20, 2022, and all those mentioned were duly served. We went to Secretariat to celebrate a new nation that was born.”
He denied taking arms and ammunition to Secretariat, but admitted that he was arrested in front of the state secretariat. He also confirmed that the uniform he claimed the police forced him to wear carried the insignia of “my Yoruba nation.”
However, the management of the College of Education he claimed to be a staff of denied having him as a lecturer. In its reaction on Tuesday, the management, in a statement by its Registrar, J.A Araoye, said that none of its lecturers bears the name on its staff list.
Another suspected agitator, Ademola Adeniyi, told journalists that he was at the secretariat gate with others who arrived from different places to wait for their leaders who said that they would be there to address them. “We started hearing much noise from inside the secretariat and the security agents outside held us,” he explained.
When asked whether what the agitators did was in accordance with the Nigerian law, one of those arrested, who gave his name as Adeniyi, replied: “I will not lie to you. I know nothing about Nigerian laws.”
The only female suspect, Ayanwale Rofiat, aged 25, who hailed from Igboora, said that the camouflage they wore was distributed among those who gathered at the house they were lodged in.
“We were promised free education, drop in market prices of goods and many good things,” she said.
On Wednesday, a total of 29 suspected members of the group of agitators were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court at Iyaganku, Ibadan, on a seven-count charge. When the charges were read, the pleas of the arraigned suspects were not taken.
The magistrate ordered their remand in prison, while the case file was directed to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
The case was adjourned until August 1 for hearing.
Also, the state Ministry of Lands and Housing reportedly took bulldozers to the two residences used by the agitators for hibernation and demolished them.
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