Police, Activists May Clash As ‘Pro-Yoruba Nation’ Rally To Hold Saturday In Abeokuta
Yoruba self-determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua, has vowed to hold its rally slated to hold in Abeokuta on Saturday (tomorrow) despite the warning by the police to stop it.
The spokesman for the group, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, in a statement on Friday said the rally would go ahead despite the threat by the police to stop it.
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He said the police lacked the power to stop self-determination rallies .
He described the police threat as a declaration of war against the constitutional rights of the Yoruba people, saying the group had held rallies without being violent.
He said the group has never been violent and would not use violence to achieve its aim.
He called on the Amnesty International, Human Rights Writers Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Bar Association, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, International Press Council, Socio – Economic Rights And Accountability Project and other groups to come out and monitor the rally.
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The statement read, “We read with total disbelief, a statement credited to the Ogun State Police Command that our pro-Yoruba nation 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.
“We at Ilana Omo Oodua consider the statement as a declaration of war against our rights to self-determination, peaceful assembly and speech as guaranteed by the United Nations and African Union Charters on Human Rights which Nigeria is a signatory to.
“We want to assure the police that we shall hold our demonstration very peacefully, lawfully and orderly tomorrow, and we warn that any attempt to stop the rally shall be challenged legally, logically and Internationally.”
