Yoruba Nation: Why I Left Nigeria For Benin Republic – Akintoye

Leader of the Yoruba self-determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has revealed the reason he left Nigeria and fled to Benin Republic.

In an interview with BBC News Yoruba on Tuesday, the Emeritus Professor said he left Nigeria due to reports that the Muhammadu Buhari government is planning to arrest and assassinate him.

Akintoye stated that some Yoruba elders advised him and Prof. Wale Adeniran to leave Nigeria to avoid getting killed.

He stated that his group has not been violent neither did it get involved in the shedding of blood, adding that his group has a strong conviction that Nigeria is not for Yorubas.

Akintoyed stated his only crime is championing the cause for the secession of the Yoruba Nation and not preaching the violent breakup of the country.

“Many people had reached out to me to express their concern that the government might arrest me too. I have done nothing wrong, I speak my mind as a Nigerian. So long I do not instigate violence.

“I wrote a book on how Yoruba can achieve sovereignty — without shedding blood. We only have a strong conviction that Nigeria is not for us, Yorubas. Nigeria is a declining country because there is no orderly purpose for Nigeria anymore.

“Intelligence reports I constantly get indicates that although they will not arrest me; they can assassinate me. ‘They can storm your place in the night to kill you’, people warn me about this.

“To avoid getting killed was the reason why some Yoruba elders held a meeting and advised me and Prof. Wale Adeniran to leave Nigeria,” he said.