BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A traditional ruler in Osun State, Olowu Of Owu-Kuta, Oba Makama Oyelude, has advised Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, to turn himself in for arrest and drop the agitation for Yoruba Nation.
The Department of State Services had declared Adeyemo wanted and asked him to surrender himself for arrest at any security agency office after raiding his residence in Ibadan and killing two of his supporters.
Fielding questions from journalists on Sunday, Oba Oyelude, who described rising agitations for secession in the Southern Nigeria as “dead on arrival,” called on Adeyemo to leave his hideout and surrender himself for arrest before it would be too late.
The paramount Yoruba king of Owu kingdom admonished secession agitators to dialogue with the Federal Government, arguing that “no one dare face the Federal Government and succeed.”
He said, “I am not part of agitations for secession by separatists and unpatriotic Nigerians and I can’t be part of it. Even though Nigerian doesn’t favour all, we shouldn’t secede. Without consultations, you cannot be talking of secession and that’s why even the Obas are not discussing it.
“They (agitators) will find it difficult seceding because it’s dead on arrival. Federal Government is the father of the nation and separatist movement is not a cheap struggle; it is like you are waging arms against the State. Sufferings, hardship and internal bickerings will greet regions that secede.”
“Nobody dares face the Federal might and succeed. I will advise the agitators to dialogue with the Federal Government. They have had ample opportunity to do so. Sunday Igboho can give himself voluntarily to the Federal Government rather than they going to fish him out like Nnamdi Kanu. There is no place for him to hide,” the monarch declared.
Oba Oyelude said he was supporting calls for restructuring of the country and devolution of power to the federating units until recently when he discovered that State Governors refused to allow Local Governments to enjoy autonomy.
He said the State Governors had stifled the Local Government operations and rendered the tier of government redundant. He therefore urged State Governors to allow Local Governments to operate independently, stressing that an organised Local Government was a panacea to the nation’s security challenges.
