Nigeria: Military Intervention’ll Lead to Armed Resistance in South-West — AOKOYA Warns

Any military coup in Nigeria will lead to organized armed resistance in the South West A pan-Yoruba self-determination coalition, Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA), has warned against any military incursion into Nigeria’s politics as such a move be welcomed with armed resistance in Yorubaland.

The group, in a statement issued in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, 14th March, 2024 said it had noticed with dismay, statements of some Nigerian leaders aimed at preparing the mood of the country for a military coup. “We want to assure anyone contemplating a coup that there will be armed resistance to such a plot.

In the first one month of such a coup, there will be shock and confusion, but we want to assure such plotters that it will take less than one month before the Yoruba self-determination groups will organise armed resistance, not only to confront the plotters but to disorganise the country completely”, Col Abimbola Sowunmi (rtd) said in the statement issued after the group’s meeting at Ibadan on Sunday night.

The group, however, noted that the call for a coup by some politicians was expected, stating “Intelligence analysis indicated that former President Mohammadu Buhari set several obstacles and landmines with the aim of creating chaos that would bring back the military after his exit, the exact thing Shehu Shagari did in 1983 and Ibrahim Babangida did in 1993. “They are aware that given the balance of military infrastructure, the military coup will always favour the Fulani North. “Buhari created avenues for armed Fulani to invade Middle Belt and Southern forests. This is a Fulani agenda to take over the country. They created armed Fulani militia to checkmate Boko Haram in the scramble for Nigeria and also for Fulani armed men to be better placed to overrun Nigeria completely.

This was backed by draconian economic policies like the sudden removal of oil subsidy which he implemented before he handed over power and the printing of Naira notes, all aimed at plunging the post-Buhari years into economic and political turmoil and anarchy that would justify military intervention.” The group further claimed that the plot was backed by the mass kidnapping of children across the country to further fuel the conditions for military intervention.

AOKOYA noted that the country was passing through blood, death, misery and anguish, but warned that any coup at this time could only favour the Caliphate, even though the plotters might use a southerner as ring leader to delude the people.

“The military is currently controlled by the Fulani North. Even though the Chief of Army Staff is Yoruba, the commanding height, structure and superstructure, the distribution of arms and ordinance remains skewed in favour of Fulani. This is why the idea of a coup is being floated. But we want to assure them that this time, they will meet more than they bargained for.

We are not only going to launch armed resistance but their business interests and supporters will be attacked everywhere in Oduduwa territories from Lagos to Jebba, Mokwa, Lokoja and Warri. There will be unprecedented attacks on their human and material assets across Yorubaland and Nigeria. They will not be able to explain the torrents of drones that will bombard the military barracks and their assets everywhere in the country. We can assure them of protective and defensive violence”, the group said.

According to AOKOYA, former dictator Ibrahim Babangida’s recent statement that a coup was no longer possible in Nigeria was a false flag aimed at raising the prospect of military intervention. “Babangida said coup is no longer possible in Nigeria, but in concave intelligence analysis, he is in fact, bringing the debate about coup to the national conscience of Nigerians which is a very dangerous and treacherous calI.”

AOKOYA said the recent criticism by the Sultan of Sokoto and some Fulani leaders hiding under the harsh economy of the country was nothing, but a veiled attempt to instigate a military coup under the pretence that they were worried about the economic situation when in reality they supported all the ruinous and destructive mass killings and economic genocide of the Buhari regime.

AOKOYA pointed out that the voracious theft of public funds under Buhari was an attempt to use the stolen funds to create confusion and sponsor anarchy in the post-Buhari years.

“These Fulani leaders have no conscience. They are driven by base instincts and primitive accumulation of power. They cannot conceive power slip out of their hands for a second. They are jittery about state police and restructuring, yet they fail to realise that the reality of Nigeria’s break-up is inevitable mainly due to the historical injustice they have imposed on Nigerians since 1960, no thanks to British manipulation, to ensure Nigeria remains in the hands of the most backward and reactionary segment of Nigerian ethnic configuration”, the group stated.

The group’s position, it said, had nothing to do with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who it described as someone who already constantly treated the Yoruba with disdain and contempt, and viewed Yoruba self-determination with cruel hatred. “Our position has nothing to do with Tinubu who is a loyal agent of the Nigerian political hegemony. Our position is driven by the knowledge that any military coup at this time will undermine free speech, destroy the gains of the past years, stifle self-determination calls, and again hand over the political economy of Nigeria to the Fulani military class whose focus would be how to use Nigerian resources to further entrench their evil interest, complete domination of Nigeria and declaration of war on the rest of Nigerian ethnic groups, using state structure and resources to further this age-long dream of Jihad invasion of Yoruba forests and territories”, AOKOYA maintained.