By Hameed Akintunde Alo
A coalition of pan Yoruba groups have released to the public a declaration calling for a sovereign nation for the people of the South West. In a 2-page document which catalogue the history of Nigeria and the place of Yoruba people in it, the 21 groups said it would launch a campaign for Yoruba self determination.
The document which appeared to have been produced in 2016 was released to the public today. The groups stated We assert that we are descendants of Oduduwa, our progenitor, and that we are an indigenous ethnic nationality with our own distinct history, culture, spirituality and cosmogony;
• Fully conscious of our rich and enviable history, the level of political sophistication, artistry and government, of the pains and travails of our forebears, of their travails and triumphs, in pre-historic peace and war times;
• Realizing that we have our own values, our civilization, history and ancient systems of government; our beliefs and our distinct values and aware of the avoidable tribulations and anguish of the moment,
• Aware that against the wish and aspirations of our ancestors and our leaders of the ancient times, the Yoruba were forcefully amalgamated with other nationalities in Nigeria without the prior, free and informed consent of our people.
• Aware that this forceful amalgamation which is now over a century old, is against the law of nature and creation, and against any form of religion, belief and tradition known across the world;
The groups further stated “That we shall explore the support of all descendants of Oduduwa, all her ancestral, traditional, religious and cultural institutions and by the power and will of our progenitor for the quickest realization of a sovereign Oduduwa Nation;
• That we shall use all legal means and all methods that are legitimate, acceptable and known to international laws and conventions to ensure the realization of our own sovereignty and self determination within the shortest time possible;
The full text of the charter in listed below

The O’odua Freedom Charter
• Self-determination groups across Yoruba territories, on behalf of our people in the towns and villages, in the farmstead, on the sea shores and in the valleys and rolling hills that dot our vast lurch green forests, come together this day to adopt what is hereby referred to as the Freedom Charter;
• We assert that we are descendants of Oduduwa, our progenitor, and that we are an indigenous ethnic nationality with our own distinct history, culture, spirituality and cosmogony;
• Fully conscious of our rich and enviable history, the level of political sophistication, artistry and government, of the pains and travails of our forebears, of their travails and triumphs, in pre-historic peace and war times;
• Realizing that we have our own values, our civilization, history and ancient systems of government; our beliefs and our distinct values and aware of the avoidable tribulations and anguish of the moment,
• Aware that against the wish and aspirations of our ancestors and our leaders of the ancient times, the Yoruba were forcefully amalgamated with other nationalities in Nigeria without the prior, free and informed consent of our people.
• Aware that this forceful amalgamation which is now over a century old, is against the law of nature and creation, and against any form of religion, belief and tradition known across the world;
• Conscious that this dreadful marriage of inconvenience has no basis in law, is neither supported by any local or international convention that is known to mankind;
• That our forebears expressed their displeasure and opposition to being forcefully merged into one garrison political, cultural and sociological whole with alien tribes and customs, but that this opposition was ignored by colonial powers;
• Knowing that in 1957, when the people of the South- West obtained self rule, the other Nigerian nationalities were still under British rule;
• Convinced that the period of self rule in the Yoruba Nation between 10th century and the 19th century, and between 1953 and 1965 were years of self assessment even in peace and war times, a period of affection and remarkable achievements;
• Convinced that Nigeria has viciously trampled upon our heritage, brought pains, anguish, indignity in the face of the international community, through the orchestrated acts of state-induced repression, high-tech crimes, brigandage, insecurity of lives, an unending culture of violence, the subjugation of the tradition of robust debate and other iniquities of the country itself, all of which run contrary to the cherished values of the Yoruba people;
• Certain that Nigeria remains a curse on our people, rather than a blessing, the country has been a patriarch and throughout her past and present, has been administered through a brutal political machinery, a system which has brought dishonor to us the children of Oduduwa in the comity of nations, in which we naturally belong but are made to be priced only through the unalterable filthy prisms of the Nigeria state;
• That Nigeria does not, cannot and will not bring the best out of us, but rather our worst, and that our well being has been diminished by other means including but not limited to false population figures, lopsided creation of local governments and states, the delineation of wards, right to choice of political representation, lopsided defence structures, skewed manipulation and seizure of natural and artificial resources, including those given to us by God;
• That the so called democracy in Nigeria is a shame and a sham, it will never guarantee our right to freely choose our best representatives and even if we do, the space for our voices is controlled and manipulated by the hegemonic Nigerian structure;
• That whereas, we as a people, since 1914, have voiced our resentment against this artificial creation, demanded for our sovereignty and self-determination, but such democratic demands wrongly categorized as treason and treated with death and shooting of our children, the young and the elderly inclusive, closing all presented avenues for democratic debate on the future of our long suffering people;
• That all the structures, form and content of the Nigerian nation, her political structure, her constitution are without our free input but rather imposed on us forcefully;
That we the self determination groups, on behalf of the Yoruba, Istekiri and all children of Oduduwa, nation make the following declaration, herein referred to as the
ODUDUWA FREEDOM CHARTER
1. We solemnly resolve, That we shall organize ourselves, mobilize our women, artisans, students, cobblers, professionals, the jobless, defenseless peoples, the poor, the privileged, the farmers of the countryside, the toil worn population who know they do not have a future in a traumatizing country towards the realization of the sovereignty of our people and of all our territories;
2. That we hereby assert our right to self –determination as stated in the United Nations, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (Article 27) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, as affirmed by the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD and the convention 167 of the International Labour Organization, ILO which assert the inalienable rights of indigenous people to control and manage their resources;
3. That we shall explore the support of all descendants of Oduduwa, all her ancestral, traditional, religious and cultural institutions and by the power and will of our progenitor for the quickest realization of a sovereign Oduduwa Nation;
4. That we shall use all legal means and all methods that are legitimate, acceptable and known to international laws and conventions to ensure the realization of our own sovereignty and self determination within the shortest time possible;
5. That we shall build a new nation founded on public trust, free from corruption, spurred by respect for the sanctity of human life, the dignity of mankind, democracy and respect for international laws and obligations.
6. That every inch of our territory, our, culture, history, language, spiritual values and the totality of our being and essence as a people will be defended with the last pint of our blood;
7. That this Freedom Charter is for the dignity of Yoruba people all over the world, for the attention of the Regional and International communities and to serve as a strong notice of our desire to self determination;
8. That we make this declaration with the firm and resolute resolve, with our strongest voices, propelled by the facts of our history and the right to self determination, strengthened by the certainty of the glorious future that lay ahead of us, and overwhelmed by the confidence and knowledge that GOD is with us and will neither fail our righteous cause nor the truth of our assertions and the purity of the rock on which we stand and make this sacrosanct.
FREEDOM CHARTER.
This declaration by all Yoruba self determination groups is made this day February 04, 2016, on behalf of all descendants of Oduduwa in our ancestral fatherland located in the Nigerian states of Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Delta (Itsekiri), Kogi, Akoko Edo, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, and Ogun. May God help us.
SIGNED
1) Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC)
2) Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM)
3) Oodua Youth Movement, (OYM)
4) Oodua Revolutionary Movement, (OREM)
5) United Self Determination Groups of Oodua, (USEPO)
6) Oodua Koya
7) Coalition of Yoruba Liberation Groups, (COYL)
Ilaje Parapo Alliance
9) Itsekiri Nationalist Movement, (INM)
10) Oodua National Congress, (ONC)
11) Covenant Group, (CG)
12) Oodua Democratic Coalition, (ODC)
13) Agbekoya
14) Ilorin Talaka Parapo
15) Okun Nationalist Coalition, (ONCO)
16) Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC)
17) COYA
18) Eso Oodua
19) Oodua Students Revolutionary Coalition, (OSRC)
20) Egbe Apapo Oodua, (EAOD)
21) Yoruba Indigenous Peoples Movement, (YOIPEM)

They are tired of leaking
Northern ass

surveillance should come before action
look before you leap