The Chairman, Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), Prof Banji Akintoye, on Monday, said all is now set for the Million-Man Freedom March scheduled to hold opposite the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, the United States of America from 14th to 24th September, 202I.
NINAS is the umbrella body for self-determination groups in the South and Middle Belt of Nigeria with Ilana Omo Oodua representing the Yoruba Land, Lower Niger Congress representing the South-South and South-East and Middle-Belt Renaissance Movement representing the Middle Belt Region.
Akintoye affirmed this in a statement made available to the media by his Communications Manager, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, saying the protest was meant to show to the world the sponsored genocide being perpetrated by murderous herdsmen in the name of grazing in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria.
He said the people of the South and Middle-Belt, through the rally, would be showing to the world the crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and other criminalities being aided by President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration in the country.
Besides, the renowned historian disclosed that the indigenous people within the NINAS Territories shall also be demanding for the conduct of a regional referendum to enable the people to decide on their nationhood, just as he described the 1999 Constitution as a fraud against the people of South and Middle-Belt.
The elder statesman, while demanding that the 1999 Constitution, which he described as fraudulent, must go down, said this should happen before the 2023 General Elections.
Speaking further, Akintoye said the March would be used as an opportunity to expose to the world, how a tiny minority of people had hijacked the assets of the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria through the 1999 Constitution which he said was enacted without the consent of the people, positing that land belongs to the people through the grace of Almighty God and, therefore, the South and Middle-Belt people totally rejected the illegitimate and imposed 1999 Nigerian Constitution that hijacked their right to Self-determination and assets.
“The land belongs to the people through the grace of Almighty God. We the Indigenous people of the South and Middle-Belt totally reject the illegitimate and imposed 1999 Nigerian Constitution that hijacks our self-determination and assets.
“We want an end to the ethno-religious killings in Nigeria. We want the government of Nigeria to stop funding terrorism against us. What is happening today in Nigeria is state-sponsored terrorism.
“The herdsmen you see in the South and Middle-Belt today are different from the nomadic herdsmen we grew up to know. The current ones are imported members of ISIS, Al-Quaeda, ISWAP and Boko Haram Terrorists being masqueraded as bandits,” he said.
The elder statesman said NINAS would also use the opportunity of the rally to demand that the world leaders declare Miyetti Allah a terrorist group, declaring that it was dangerous to the safety and peace of the South and Middle-Belt people to call Miyetti Allah a trade Union.
According to him, Miyetti Allah is a terrorist group being supported by the current Fulanised government of Nigeria with a mission to overrun the indigenous people and take over the ancestral lands for their Fulani people.
“By the grace of God, we shall be demanding from the world leaders to declare Miyetti Allah as a terrorist group. It is dangerous to the safety and peace of the South and Middle-Belt people to call Miyetti Allah a trade Union, it is a terrorist group being supported by the current Fulanised government of Nigeria with a mission to overrun the indigenous people.
“The agenda of these government-backed terrorists killing and maiming our people in the South and Middle-Belt is to take over our ancestral lands for their Fulani people. You see that it is either Buhari is talking about Cattle Colony today or RUGA tomorrow or Grazing Reserves next tomorrow. He appreciates the Fulani cows than human dignity,” Akintoye said.
“The Fulani people have even said it openly on Television that all the land in Nigeria up to the Atlantic Ocean belongs to their great-great-grandfathers. They said the oil in the South belongs to them because the majority of the landmass in Nigeria are in the North,” he added.
Akintoye, therefore, called on the indigenous people of the South and Middle-Belt living in the United States of America and Canada to come out in their large numbers to join the Freedom March as it kick-off tomorrow in solidarity with their ancestral land.
