The Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) has urged the UN not to allow the Yoruba Nation agitators to present their petition at its 76th General Assembly.
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Chief Adesina Animashaun, on Tuesday in Lagos, YAF said allowing them would escalate insecurity and tension in Nigeria.
The 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 76) will open on Sept. 14.
The YAF addressed the petition to the UN, the European Union (EU) African Union (AU) and other countries across the world.
It said allowing such petition against the Nigerian Government would send the wrong signal to its citizens and worsen the nation’s insecurity challenges and secession agitations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Ilano Omo Oodua, umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, had petitioned the UN in July over its demand for a separate and independent Yoruba Nation.
Ilano Omo Oodua led by Prof. Banji Akintoye in July also endorsed a petition by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) urging the Nigerian Government to conduct a referendum.
YAF, however, said that resort of the group to present a petition against the Federal Government was only part of its strategy to legitimise plans for the dissolution of the Nigerian Federation.
“YAF will never support any plan that will destabilise the nation and will continue to preach peace and unity of Nigeria.