By Yoruba Nation Leader Urges President Tinubu to Negotiate Peaceful Separation
The leader of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, Professor Banji Akintoye, has called on President Bola Tinubu to initiate a dialogue with the movement to negotiate the peaceful separation of the Yoruba nation from Nigeria.
In a letter addressed to the President, Akintoye said the Yoruba people sought to build a sovereign state of their own where they could rebuild their lives according to their desires, culture and capabilities.
According to him, the continued integration of the Yoruba people in Nigeria only serves to prolong their “abominable deprivations, insecurity, and suffering.”
It would be recalled that Akintoye had earlier told the media that about 60 million Yoruba people, both at home and in the diaspora, support the quest to establish the Yoruba Nation as a sovereign country. He recounted several letters of request submitted by the movement to leave Nigeria, dating back to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and including the most recent one, dated May 25, 2025, addressed to President Bola Tinubu. According to him, none of these letters has resulted in any formal engagement between the Presidency and the Yoruba Nation movement.
“Mr. President, we respectfully ask that you grant us—your Yoruba people—what we have requested in our separate letters to your predecessor, President Buhari, and to you. We have asked that you, as the President of Nigeria, facilitate a negotiation between representatives of the Nigerian Federal Government and our Yoruba people, to discuss the peaceful separation of the Yoruba Nation from Nigeria.”
Professor Banji Akintoye
“This is to enable us to go and nurse the pains and wipe away the tears of our battered people and to go and build a sovereign state of our own, where we can rebuild our lives according to our desires, our culture and our capabilities, a country where we shall diligently provide abundant opportunities for all our people. “Forcibly keeping us in Nigeria is only prolonging our people’s abominable deprivations, insecurity and pains. Please act on this without delay,” Akintoye said.
He also claimed that Yoruba people, especially the youth, are being subjected to harassment and indiscriminate arrests—allegedly aimed at instilling fear and silencing the self-determination movement. When asked about the movement’s next steps after submitting the letter to Aso Rock, Akintoye said further updates would be announced soon.
“Your Excellency, by the grace of God, you are one of the living fathers of our Yoruba nation today and, therefore, we, your people in the struggle for your Yoruba people deserve to have your attention. Indeed, we deserve to have your understanding, empathy and help.
“Your Excellency, as you would by now have perceived, the motivation for this letter of your Yoruba people to you is love – love for you as a talented Yoruba son whom God has graciously elevated in the world, love for all our Yoruba people, love for the integrity and dignity of our Yoruba culture, love and goodwill for all other peoples of Nigeria, love for our Yoruba nation’s strong attachment to freedom, orderly governance, high-quality development, progress, prosperity and peace.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari
“Eminent father of our embattled and harassed Yoruba nation, please accept the love that we bring in this letter, and our very best wishes for your good health, your security, and your success.
“Your egbon, as always, privileged to deliver this message from your people,” Akintoye concluded.
Over time, Akintoye has remained firm in his commitment to achieving Yoruba independence.
“We are not backing down. We must leave Nigeria, or our nation risks collapse.
“Can’t you hear our voices in the streets? Yoruba Nation now—no going back.
“We mean, the Yoruba people in Nigeria, roughly 55 to 60 million people. We want to establish a country of our own. There will be no Nigeria where we have our country. But if the rest want to continue as Nigeria, they are okay,” Akintoye stated recently.
