People in Yoruba-speaking areas of Kwara and Kogi states have requested for a boundary adjustment which will accommodate their desires and interests to be grouped with their kiths and kins in the present South-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
The view formed part of the communique issued by the Kwara South Consultative Forum (KSCF), at a conference themed: “Kwara Yoruba and the national conference, at Omu-Aran, in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, at the weekend.
The communique, signed by chairman and secretary of the organisation, Sir Chief J. A. Aderigbe and Mr Simeon Daramola, respectively, said their demand was hinged on Section 8 (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
The communique read thus: “It is in the best interest of the Yoruba people of Kwara State to request for a boundary adjustment, which will accommodate the desires and interests of the Yoruba of Kwara and Kogi states to be appropriately grouped with our kiths and kins in the present South-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria, with whom we share common boundary, culture, tradition, folklores, artifacts, mores, among others.
“Yoruba people of Kwara State reject vehemently their minority status in the North, where they have been permanently disadvantaged, especially in seeking limelight political offices and key economic advantages, as we are like bat (neither animal nor bird) in the North, where as a result of our language and culture we are regarded as Yoruba and as a result of demographic partition, the South-West regard us as northerners. We have the greatest chunk of our people in the South-West Nigeria.
