MONDAY: 13th September, 2021: Prof. Banji Akintoye, the Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), has said all is set for the million-man freedom march scheduled to hold at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America from 14th to 24th September, 2021.
Akintoye said the essence of the protest is to show to the world the alleged “genocide” being perpetrated by murderous herdsmen in the name of grazing in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria.
The renowned historian, in a statement on Monday, said the people of the South and Middle-Belt “will be showing to the world the crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and other criminalities being aided by the Buhari led government of Nigeria”.
He also stated that the indigenous people within the NINAS Territories will also be demanding the conduct of a regional referendum for people to decide on their nationhood.
Akintoye, who was a member of the Nigerian senate between 1979 to 1983, describing the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as a fraud against the people of South and Middle-Belt, said, “The March will be used as an opportunity to expose to the world, how a tiny minority people have 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.
“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 a 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.
“By the grace of God, we shall be demanding from the world leaders to declare Miyyeti Allah as a terrorist Group. It is dangerous to safety and peace of the South and Middle-Belt people to call Miyyeti 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.
“We the Indigenous people now say enough is enough. Therefore, as the World Leaders are meeting for the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, we want to use the opportunity to demand for a United Nations Supervised Referendums in our regions so that the indigenous people can decide on what they want for their nationhood.
“First, the fraudulent 1999 Constitution must go down. And this should happen before the 2023 General Elections”, he said.
Prof. Akintoye urged 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 kicks off tomorrow in Solidarity with their ancestral land.
