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Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Yoruba Koya Movement, has declared Wednesday, June 12 as a national day of protest against the killings and kidnappings across Yoruba speaking states including Kogi and Kwara States.
The rally tagged June 12 Otoge rally, supported by a Yoruba Intelligentsia group, Voice of Reason (VOR) and 26 other socio-cultural and self-determination groups, will hold in the capitals of Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Kogi and Kwara States respectively.
The rally, according to a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Lagos by the National Director of Organization and Publicity of the group, Mr. Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye, is aimed at presenting the “Yoruba Charter of Demands” to the Federal Government and to also present a public petition to the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over what it termed “the ongoing genocide in Southern and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria.”
The statement read in part: “The rally is being organized to reawaken the people of Yoruba speaking states to be conscious of the agenda of some ethnic warlords and reactionaries outside their domain to capture their land and enslave them while masquerading as visitors; to enjoin all governors in Yoruba speaking states to integrate towards economic, social and political development of Yoruba land and to encourage them to make the security of lives and properties of their people utmost priority.”
The statement further stated that the rally is meant to encourage Yoruba legislators both at State and National Assemblies to endorse, support and move motions that will signify where the Yoruba nation stands.
The rally, billed to commence at 9am, will hold simultaneously in Gani Faweyinmi Park, Lagos; Ibadan Military Cenotaph, Opposite Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State; Pansheke Roundabout, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Fajuyi Roundabout, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, Osun State; Alagbaka Roundabout, Akure, Ondo State; Kabba Township Stadium, Kabba, Kogi State and Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Ilorin, Kwara State.