Yoruba people in Kogi and Kwara states have expressed their desire to be part of the Southwest geographical zone.
In a communique issued after a meeting held on Monday in Ado-Ekiti under the auspices of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), the group resolved to ensure “a new state would be carved out of Kogi and Kwara States”.
The communique noted that: “A joint Technical Committee shall be set up to pursue the realisation and actualisation of these objectives we have set for ourselves as a people, as we work towards the weaving together of Yoruba people in Nigeria under a true federal structure.
“The creation of states by the Military Government in 1991 that led to the creation of Kogi and Kwara states disadvantaged us, the Yoruba nationality, in both states. The Yoruba people in Kwara became weakened and our people in Kogi became a minority.”
This political arrangement, they said, is a systematic marginalisation of the Yoruba.
The group advocated for a provision for referendum and boundary adjustment in the amended constitution by the National Assembly to allow for restructuring of the six geographical regions so that any ethnic group not satisfied will be able to identify with any region it wishes.
“We therefore call on all Yoruba peoplein Nigeria and Diaspora to rally round us, their kith and kin in Kwara and Kogi States, in our struggle for self-determination. Our development as a Yoruba nation is not complete if it does not cut across all our people, despite false geography and erroneous boundaries,” the communiqué said.
The meeting held under the chairmanship of ARG’s Chairman,Hon. Olawale Oshun and an chieftain of Afenifere in Ekiti State, Papa Awoloju.
