Police, Yoruba nation agitators clash at Abeokuta rally, 11 arrested

Police on Saturday arrested 11 Yoruba nation agitators who defied the police ban on the mass rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Members of Ilana Omo Oodua who had stormed the rally organised to drum up support for the actualisation of Yoruba Nation clashed with the police that insisted no official permit was granted for the event.

The group, under the leadership of a renowned Professor of History, Banji Akintoye, is the leading organisation agitating for the emergence of Yoruba nation.

The Ogun Police Command, in a statement by its spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, had banned the rally, on the ground that it was being planned to destabilise the state.

Media and Communications Secretary of Ilana Omo Oodua, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, however said the rally would go ahead, saying any attempt to stop it would be considered as a declaration of war against the rights to self-determination and peaceful assembly of the Yoruba people. The group said, “We read with total disbelief, a statement credited to the Ogun State Police Command that our Pro-Yoruba nation Nation’s rally scheduled to hold in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital tomorrow will not be allowed to hold. We want to believe the statement of the police is a joke. “However, if the Police was serious about the threat, we want to let the authorities in Ogun State know that our rally will go ahead as scheduled because the police have no power under the law to deny us of our rights to self-determination and peaceful assembly.”

The about 100 police at the venue of Saturday rally, the front of Alake of Egba’s palace, came with five Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and attempted to stop the rally which was resisted by the agitators. Adeleye said 11 of their members were arrested and taken to the police headquarters at Elewe Eran.

They were however said to have been released when members of the organisation mobilised and moved towards the police headquarters.

Adeleye said, “I am pleased to announce that policemen in Ogun State have obeyed the will of the people of Yoruba nation. The people have triumphed.

“As the policemen saw the surging crowd of Yoruba men and women moving towards Eleweran Police Headquarters in drove, they quickly released our comrades protesting for Yoruba self-determination. I can confirm that we have rescued all the arrested comrades.”

One of the arrested protesters, Iyanda, told journalists they were picked up as they were about starting the rally.

The rally, led by the Secretary-General Of Ilana Omo Oodua, Mr Opeoluwa Akinola and the Ogun State Coordinator of the organisation, Mr Taofeek Olawale, literally shut down the Abeokuta metropolis for several hours as the protesters danced around the city, singing Pro-Yoruba songs.

They lamented the ordeal of the Yoruba people within the Nigerian federation. Addressing the crowd at Pansheke Junction, Akinola said, “Yoruba land has been encircled and subjugated. It started immediately after the independence of 1960 and got worse when the Fulani elements introduced the federal character principle in 1967.

“The oligarchies ruling Nigeria to the jugular killed Abiola. They ran the tenure of Obasanjo for him. They have taken over our economy. They control our ports and borders. The entire security architectures are in their hands.”

The police speaking through DSP Oyeyemi accused the agitators of launching unprovoked attacks on the security operatives.

He said the agitators attacked the police headquarters in the state and some policemen on duty.

He also said the 11 people earlier arrested for unruly behaviour at Alake palace were later released on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun.

He said, “We just woke up early in the morning and saw some group of people in front of the Alake palace conducting themselves in unruly manners. And don’t forget that one of them had issued a threat to the Alake before, so, our men went there to challenge them and they were unable to give a satisfactory answer.

“Eleven of them were arrested and the Commissioner of Police directed that they should be released, we profiled, screened and released them. Despite that we released them on the order of the Commissioner of Police , these people still went  as far as Police Headquarters Eleweran to launch an attack on  Police.

“Though we have already dispersed them, they still attacked our men at Moore Junction. They attacked policemen who were on their lawful duty; they attacked them for just no reason.

“We are sounding a note of warning to them. They are trying to provoke law enforcement agents, they should be warned that we are law enforcement agents, we are holding our peace because we are following the rules of engagement and we don’t want to engage in an unnecessary show of force with some people.

“They should not take our civility for a licence for them to be attacking our men, it will no longer be tolerated.

“We are still collating the result of their unruly behaviour and I will make that one available .”