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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Agitations for the establishment of a so-called “O’odua Republic” received a boost on Wednesday, with Yoruba group O’odua Women Advocacy Initiative (OWAI) joining other notable groups in calling for a Yoruba breakaway country.
The group, in a statement by its president, Erelu Modupe Martins, said the call for self-determination was imperative because of the systemic failures of the present government in various sectors.
She insisted that the situation in the country had reached a point where there is no better option for the group other than to back the formation of an O’odua Republic.
‘With the present situation in the country, we don’t need a soothsayer to tell us that Nigeria had for a very long time drifted from the original plans of its founding fathers,’ she said.
‘Our economy is in distress, while the FG keeps borrowing billions of dollars with nothing to show for it. The security situation in the country is highly disturbing with Boko Haram and bandits taking over the North, as criminals and killer herdsmen also taking over the sSuth and the entire nation.
‘The political milieu has been monetised along political and social lines. Many of our politicians today are selfish and they have mortgaged the future of the country. So, what do you expect?
‘People like us, women of great conviction, have raised our voices against injustice done to the Yoruba nation. We had earlier sought restructuring. But with the situation in the country today, we have made up our mind and have decided to give our all to clamour for self-determination and the actualisation of O’odua Republic.
‘There is no doubt that Nigeria is at a crossroads.The future looks bleak and the hope for better days is gone. As a group that is committed to a better future, we cannot continue to stand the prolonged structural deficit and injustice that has since reigned supreme in this country.’
