Popular Yoruba leader, Banji Akintoye, has claimed that the Nigerian government has recurited some political jobbers cum reactionaries masquerading as Yoruba Nation agitators to blackmail him to sabotage the Yoruba Nation struggle into a paralysing end.
Akintoye, who is the Leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua (IOO), said he was credibly informed that the political contractors have been paid in dollars and naira to fight him and his trusted allies.
This was contained in a statement he signed on Thursday made available to the press by the Secretary of the organisation, Maxwell Adeleye.
“These reactionaries celebrated the invasion of one of my lieutenants, Sunday Adeyemo Ighoho’s house by the Nigerian Government. They never wanted the young man to come out of the prison where the Nigerian Government is currently holding him in the Republic of Benin. The offence of Sunday Adeyemo is that he has become the face of the struggle, even more prominent than myself.
“They would grumble that they have been in the struggle for years, and someone who just joined the struggle is now a celebrated hero. I appealed to them to see this as a sacrifice and a battle for our children but they refused to listen.
“The last straw that broke their camel’s back was when they refused to release the organisation’s fund in their possession to be used to add to the funds we wanted to use to pay Ighoho’s lawyers in the Republic of Benin.
“We were held to ransom. I had to impose some disciplinary measures in the overall interest of our people which got them angry and ever since, these reactionaries have been threatening to ‘scatter the struggle’.
“They have started blackmailing me and one of my trusted aides for refusing to compromise. When their faceless campaign of calumny failed to materialise, they are now coming out openly to blackmail me in order to please their paymasters in Abuja and Lagos.
“A press conference is to hold by 2 pm today to blackmail me. They are being sponsored by the Fulani-controlled Nigerian Government. Njenje Media and other New Media platforms have been recruited to livestream it. They have invited some Nigerian journalists. We know their sponsors.
“But I am sure the Yoruba people will fight these locusts. We won’t be intimidated. Soon, they will know they are a tiny minority. The whole agenda is to demoralise me so that the Fulani-controlled Nigerian Government can jubilate while they smile to the bank but my mind is made up to fight to the end of my life.
“My appeal to the Yoruba people, especially, the Younger Generation, is to come out now and take over the struggle from these locusts. We must never return to Egypt. This is mainly your battle, not mine. I am challenging the Yoruba people below the age of 50 to take their destinies into their hands. Take over Now.”
