The head of Ilana Oodua, Senator Banji Akintoye has appealed for a joint effort by all Nigerians to combat terrorism as he condemned the rise in terror attacks in the North and Middle Belts.
Senator Akintoye of the Third Republic claimed that “what is currently happening in Nigeria’s South and Middle Belt Regions is state-sponsored terrorism”.
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He urged the United Nation (UN) to designate some organizations as terrorist organizations in order to put an end to terrorism in the country. The octogenarian spoke on the intended Million-Man Freedom March from September 19 to September 24 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America.
He also spoke on the protest in London against what he described as lack of imminent solution to the security challenges in Nigeria.
Akintoye, who served as a Senator from 1979 to 1983, described the 1999 Constitution as a farce and said the protest in London highlights the opposition to Nigeria’s socio-political disarray.
Akintoye, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), has spoken out against open grazing and other armed herdsmen actions.
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He insisted that the zones should be free to examine the foundations for Nigeria’s peaceful coexistence.
According to Akintoye;
“The land belongs to the people through the grace of Almighty God. We the Indigenous people of the South and Middle-Belt totally reject the illegitimate and imposed 1999 Nigerian Constitution that hijacks our self-determination and assets.
“We want an end to the ethno-religious killings in Nigeria. The herdsmen you see in the South and Middle-Belt today are different from the nomadic herdsmen we grew up to know.”
“We the Indigenous people now say enough is enough. Therefore, as the World leaders are meeting for the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, we want to use the opportunity to demand for a United Nations Supervised Referendums in our regions so that the indigenous people can decide on what they want for their nationhood”.
He concluded in his statement that the illegitimate 1999 Constitution must be repealed. This should happen before the general elections in 2023.
