A Second Republic Senator and Historian, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has alerted governors in the South-West as well as leaders of religious institutions for take precautions against a possible attack by insurgents and terrorists.
Akintoye, leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, the umbrella body for Yoruba self-determination groups, said in a letter addressed to the governors that the terrorists were ready to strike any moment from now.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by his media aide, Mr Maxwell Adeleye the elder statesman urged the government to begin to make moves to scuttle the planned attacks by the criminals.
Akintoye in the statement also advised the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners’ Chapel; and other church and Islamic leaders to protect their churches and mosques from being attacked.
He also called on Yoruba youths to be more vigilant and prevent the influx of terrorists into the region.
Akinyoye said, “A combination of Fulani terrorists, Boko Haram and ISIS, have occupied Niger State, which is immediately north of Yorubaland, thereby providing for themselves very easy access into Yorubaland through the Yoruba parts of Kwara and Kogi states.
“Then recently, the US issued a statement that ISIS had infiltrated Southern Nigeria from the sea, meaning that the coast of Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states have been infiltrated.
“Our situation has thus become desperate and requires desperate actions from our state governors. I feel obliged to devote much attention to the study of our Yoruba nation’s vicissitudes in these terrible times and from such studies, I am hereby raising an informed alarm to the governors of our states.
“I humbly and passionately urge our governors to come together to give the needed response to the danger that threatens to engulf Yorubaland in, most probably, the next few days.
“It is very well known that the signature action of these foreign terrorist organisations is to first destroy prominent assets of the society that they attack. That could mean that major public and private buildings in Lagos and Ibadan, particularly the hugely symbolic Cocoa House in Ibadan, would be their immediate targets.
“Owners and custodians of significant edifices in Yorubaland are strongly advised to establish formidable security for their edifices. These include bridges, important public and private buildings, churches and such eminent church estates as the Redeemed, Winners, Deeper Life, Mountain of Fire Church camps and the unique Synagogue building of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, and even our most prestigious central mosque buildings in Lagos, Ibadan and our other cities.”
