The Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, Prof Banji Akintoye, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, alleging the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government of sponsoring a counter-protest.
Self-determination groups in Nigeria, Yoruba Nation and Biafra agitators, have insisted that the Nigerian Government cannot halt their protest at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Friday (tomorrow).
The Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, Prof Banji Akintoye, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, alleging the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government of sponsoring a counter-protest.
The indigenous people of the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria under the aegis of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-determination (NINAS) had staged what it tagged, “Million-Man Freedom March” on September 14 and 15 opposite the UN Headquarters in New York to protest “crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and other criminalities” being aided by the Buhari led government of Nigeria.
NINAS is also asking for the conduct of a regional referendum so that the indigenous people can decide on their nationhood.
The group also described the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as a fraud against the people of South and Middle-Belt, saying “it was enacted without the consent of the people."
“The Grand Finale of the NINAS Million-Man Freedom March holds on 24th September, 2021, the day President Muhammad Buhari will be addressing the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly,” the agitators insisted.
Akintoye, in a statement made available to journalists through the NINAS Director of Public Communications, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, said no matter how the Nigerian Government tried to scuttle the NINAS Grand March, the will of the people shall prevail.
He said, “We refuse to be rattled. We shall not be intimidated. No Oppressor has ever triumphed against the collective will of the people. The people are the government and power belongs to the people. The people make the Constitution. The sovereignty belongs to the people. Our own strength lies in the hands of the people. Therefore, our March shall be people’s centered. It shall be peaceful as usual.
“All the people of the South and Middle-Belt in United States and Canada are urged to troop out in their large number to be present on Friday 24th September 2021 opposite the United Nations Headquarters in New York as we demonstrate and expose before the world, the rape of our ancestral land and hijack of our assets and sovereignty by the Fulani-Controlled Nigerian Government.
“I salute the Nigerian Mainstream media and International Media that have been covering the March to remain resolute and stand by the truth.”