THE Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, YSDM, has served President Muhammadu Buhari notice of their decision to assert their right to self determination.
The letter which was dated August 6, 2022 and signed by Professor S. Adebanji Akintoye (Nigerian Senator 1979-83) and chairman, Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, was made available to Realnews on Friday, August 12.
The letter was written for and on behalf of the Indigenous Yoruba people of Yorubaland south of the Middle Niger River in Nigeria.
The full letter reads:
“Dear Mr. President:
“The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement (YSDM) respectfully write this letter to you for and on behalf of the indigenous Yoruba people of the southwest of Nigeria, inclusive of the Yoruba citizens of the six states of the Yoruba southwest zone ( Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States ) and the Yoruba citizens of parts of Kogi, Kwara and Delta States, all south of the Middle Niger River in Nigeria.
“The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement is a movement comprising well over one hundred Yoruba Self-Determination organizations based at home in the Yoruba homeland in Nigeria and abroad in most countries of the world. The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement collaborates the said many Yoruba Self- Determination organizations in the highest services of the Yoruba Self- Determination agitation and struggle.
“Mr President, the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement now serves you notice of the decision of the Yoruba people to assert their right to self- determination, which right of self-determination is an inalienable and unquestionable right of every indigenous nation in the world, and which right is enshrined in many international instruments that provide for the system of order of the modern world. Upon asserting this right of self-determination, we Yoruba nation shall be free to determine our political status, pursue our economic, social and cultural development according to policies chosen independently by us, and to live under the government independently chosen and ordered by us.
“In short, in the light of the worsening and painful plight of our Yoruba people in Nigeria (as detailed below), an overwhelming majority of the coalition of Yoruba social, cultural, community, and non-governmental organizations have resolved to pursue self-determination for a sovereign Yoruba nation. In further pursuit of the decision, over five million members of our Yoruba adult population have, within a short time, signed the Petition to affirm without equivocation their support for creating an independent Yoruba Nation-state.
“Consequently, Mr. President, this letter, on behalf of all our Yoruba people: 1. Formally gives you notice of the decision of the overwhelming majority of our Yoruba nation and people to exercise our right to self-determination to have our independent and sovereign country separate from the country of Nigeria.
“2. Formally informs you that we desire to commence this process of self- determination officially so as to establish our independent and sovereign country as soon as possible, hopefully in constructive dialogue with the Government of Nigeria.
“3. The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement is committed to a peaceful approach to achieving our objectives through negotiation with the Government of Nigeria. We hope this process will lead to the establishment of a sovereign Yoruba nation-state expeditiously, and lead to a mutually agreed and peaceful outcome.
“Mr. President, we, Yoruba, have taken our time to consider various options available to us as a civilized people in today’s civilized world. We have arrived at the most reasonable conclusion and the most sustainable option in the best interest of our people.
“Throughout the past sixty years of independent Nigeria, we Yoruba, having attained to a considerably higher level of modern education and other modern developments than all other Black African nations before the coming of European colonialism and the amalgamation of hundreds of peoples to form the country of Nigeria, have patriotically and consistently made positive efforts to impact the lives of the other nationalities of Nigeria with our high standards.
“However, our efforts have not yielded any much of good results for our people or for the other different ethnic nations, owing to serious divergences in cultural and value orientations, amounting to a clash of cultures. Yoruba people have now decided to manage their own affairs and to command unencumbered control over their lives and destiny. The Yoruba are denied the opportunity to exercise their God-given rights in a Nigeria that is dragged down by a ponderous, ineffective and bloated central government that is regularly burdened by contentious religious involvements, by a powerful culture of public corruption, and by the headstrong efforts of one ethnic nation to subjugate the others.
“Mr. President, you might be aware, given your military service history, that in a memo in early February 1969, only nine years after Nigeria’s independence, the IC (Intelligence Community advising the US Government on the Biafran war) aserted that ‘further disintegration of Nigeria was likely’ and that the Western World might have to live with a ‘loose confederation’ or ‘formation of several completely independent countries’. What we Yoruba have now chosen is formation of our own independent Yoruba country separate from Nigeria.
“Mr. President, it is essential to remind you as the president of Nigeria that during the discussions leading to the independence of Nigeria from Britain in
“the late 1950s, Yoruba leaders at the time strongly advocated for the inclusion of a secession clause in the constitution, but they were overruled by the colonial administration. Thus, right from the onset, the doubt about the different nationalities co-existing in one country was very clearly expressed. Present-day Nigeria amounts essentially to something like forcing the nations of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium together as a country and expecting such a country to function optimally.
“You would remember also, Mr. President, that all the persons who served at the top of Nigeria’s affairs in the formative years of the 1950s and 1960s expressed serious doubts about the wisdom of keeping the many peoples of Nigeria as one country. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the then foremost Yoruba leader and one of the foremost negotiators of a federal system for Nigeria, wrote at the time that “Nigeria is a mere geographical expression – – -” and that “if a member of a Federation became predominantly anarchistic, the other members of the Federation should, if they disagreed with such, be able to discontinue their association with the country.” Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the man who, as Prime Minister, headed the Nigerian federal government in the years immediately before and after Independence, said on a number of occasions before and after Independence, “Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian peoples themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs, and do not show themselves any willingness to unite. Nigerian unity is only a British intention for Nigeria”. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa also once said during a visit to the University College Ibadan in 1964, that the toughest part of Nigeria’s insurmountable problems was the fact that the three largest Black African nations (the Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo, each of which should be a separate country) were being forced together in one country. Even Sir Ahmadu Bello, the foremost leader of Northern Nigeria before and after Independence, once described the Amalgamation of 1914 as “the mistake of 1914”. In August
“1966, General Yakubu Gowon who had, only a few weeks before, become Nigeria’s Military Head of State, made the following very deep statement: “Suffice it to say, putting all considerations to test – political, economic, as well as social – the basis for Nigeria’s unity is not there”.
“Even till today, Mr. President, the same kind of wisdom concerning Nigeria continues to be expressed with emphasis by leading Nigerians. For instance, Professor Ango Abdullahi, former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, generally respected as the foremost intellectual from Northern Nigeria, said the following in a public interview in 2017, “If Nigerians are tired of staying together, they should be prepared to accept divisions instead of remaining in agony and disappointment with one another. – – – We are always talking that the Nigeria state is not working and asking how can we make it work. And if the best option is to call for separate countries, why not?” In 2020, Alhaji Mohammed Mahdi Shehu, Chairman of Dialogue Group, Kaduna, said that the 1914 Amalgamation was done “out of mischief without taking into consideration the peculiarities of Nigeria” and that since independence in 1960 Nigeria has stumbled from one form of calamity or tragedy to another. He added that, obviously, not even an angel can ever unite Nigeria. He added, “It is better for Nigeria to break into smaller, smaller, countries – – – to save properties, lives, relationships and posterity. – – Let us go to the negotiation table, break the Kola, and distribute the country to everybody’s peace. If we do not do it now, the future generations will curse us”.
“Mr. President, we Yoruba people have now painfully, and upon very careful and deep thinking, concluded that the false hope of unity promoted by the British colonial officials and imposed on all of us at Independence has not been achievable in the past sixty years of Independence. Rather, not only has unity proved impossible to achieve, outright anarchy has taken over. We Yoruba therefore seek to discontinue our association with Nigeria, and to do so in an orderly and peaceful manner.
“As you know, Mr. President, we, the Yoruba, are a well-defined and universally recognized indigenous nation or distinct ethnic group with substantial cultural and linguistic homogeneity. It is a well-known fact that we Yoruba have a rich history of accommodating foreigners and strangers in our homeland and extending to them the respect and protection required of civilized peoples, without prejudice to our rights over our territorial space and culture.
“Throughout our history in Nigeria, we have always respected and advocated for fundamental freedoms and human rights for all Nigerians and all Nigerian peoples. We are known worldwide for religious tolerance. Because we are an ancient civilization with solid modern achievements in education today, and a people with an old tradition of accepting and interacting smoothly and productively with various peoples throughout our history, we can live harmoniously with ethnic and cultural diversity in the same country. But we have painfully concluded that sustained attacks by one ethnic group on us and other ethnic groups in the same country, and a plan of conquest and subjugation by one ethnic group against the other groups in the same country, represent a conclusive negation of the existence and legitimacy of Nigeria. We can no longer bear the pain and indignity of living in constant fear and mourning, like a conquered and subjugated people, in our homeland.
“We can no longer continue to watch as we face the probable extermination of our people through the unprovoked and persistent aggression by another ethnic group with which we are living together in the same country. We have been attacked by heavily armed marauders and militias, who have been invading our homeland for many years from the Northern part of the country of Nigeria to which we belong. These marauders have relentlessly killed our people, destroying farms and villages, raping and killing our women, kidnapping our people, and extorting large amounts of money for ransom. There are no official numbers for our Yoruba people who have been violently killed in these atrocities (because the government shows no real concern about the killings), but a rough estimate of 29, 000 is now generally circulating among us, an estimate which many of our people believe to be too low. (t is important that even the Sultan of Sokoto has once said that the killings across the country are being “under-reported”). These atrocities have forced an estimated majority of our farmers to abandon farming altogether – a development that is now pulling our nation down into a devastating famine, and into unimaginable poverty.
“Our people know for sure that the Nigerian government does manifestly command the power and resources for stopping or measurably curtailing the atrocities of the marauders, and our people have therefore concluded that the Nigerian government’s total failure to stop or curtail the atrocities is proof of the government’s collusion with the marauders. Indeed, various proofs of such collusion abound on a regular basis – in police officers’ pointed tolerance of public possession of guns by the marauders and bandits, in police releasing the marauders and bandits even after they have been apprehended while killing and destroying, in government’s discriminatory demands that non-Fulani citizens should surrender to the authorities all guns (even guns that are licensed) while the marauders publicly carry guns, in government’s continual efforts to use legislation fraudulently to grab land for the Fulani across Nigeria.
“We have most painfully watched as our traditionally prosperous Yoruba nation is being impoverished. Unhappily, a significant percentage of our people have become street beggars and scavengers, a practice alien to our cultural heritage.
“Nigeria has become so grossly insecure that even you, Mr. President, cannot travel the roads in various parts of Nigeria with complete confidence that you will be safe from attacks by terrorists and bandits along your way. Recently, your motorcade on a journey from the Nigerian capital city of Abuja to your home state of Katsina was ambushed by terrorists and bandits, and some cars in the motorcade were damaged while some persons in the cars were killed.
“According to countless reports, the villages and small towns surrounding Abuja have all been taken over by terrorists and bandits, thus making Abuja a very unsafe city. In fact, Mr. President, some group of terrorists or bandits is widely reported to have threatened to kidnap you! In short, Mr. President, in the past seven years, Nigeria has enabled terrorists and bandits to acquire so much clout and confidence that Nigeria is now incapable of controlling them or their activities, as a result of which some foreign countries are now classifying Nigeria as a “state sponsor of terror”.
“All that we have stated so far are enough to make us Yoruba decide to separate our Yoruba nation from Nigeria. For clarity, we Yoruba people firmly hold the position that the following drastic distortions of the Nigeria state sufficiently and incurably negate, vitiate and finally eliminate the oneness, the unity and the legitimacy of the Nigeria state – namely, the stubborn and unrelenting moves by one section of Nigeria to destroy the carefully negotiated federal base upon which Nigeria was established in preparation for Independence; the ultimate foisting on Nigeria, in the place of the federal structure, a structure that is essentially unitary (over the all-pervading and intense protests by the peoples of the other sections of Nigeria); the establishment of the Sharia legal system by the same section of Nigeria in defiance of the Nigerian constitution and over the objections of the other sections of Nigeria; the consequent institution of a jihadist and violent Islamic tradition and society by the same section of Nigeria, to the detriment of the non- Muslim peoples and citizens of the other sections of Nigeria; the blood-spewing storms of radical Islamic violence that continually arise from the Sharia states and sweep over Nigeria, generating various grades of fundamentalist terrorist groups, and producing the circumstance whereby Nigeria becomes classified as the country where most Christians are massacred in the world; the repeated and unrestrained public proclamations by the same section of Nigeria that they intend and purpose to conquer and subjugate, or even exterminate, the peoples of the other sections of Nigeria; the very manifest criminality of the same section of Nigeria in their actions of invading the other sections of Nigeria and killing, maiming, destroying, raping and kidnapping since 2015; the fact that these devastating acts of invasion have gone on for nearly eight years (2015- 2022) and are still escalating; the failure of the Nigerian federal government to take obvious and firm steps, under the laws of Nigeria, to curb or stop these criminal acts by the said section of Nigeria; the neglect by the federal government of Nigeria of its duty of protection for the peoples of the sections of Nigeria that are being thus brutalized and devastated; the Nigerian federal government’s acts of impunity since 2015 in insensitively converting the Nigerian federal establishment to an exclusive possession of the section of Nigeria that is engaged in the adventure of conquering and subjugating the peoples of the other sections of Nigeria; the federal government’s unrelenting maneuvers to grab land for the would-be conquerors and subjugators in the homelands of the peoples of the other sections of Nigeria; the federal government’s acts of throwing open the northern borders of Nigeria and suspending legal entry requirements for non-Nigerians for the purpose of facilitating easy influx of the ethnic kinsmen of the would-be conquerors and subjugators so that the incoming masses may assist the acts of conquest and subjugation; the Nigerian federal government’s prohibition of the teaching of History in schools, with the manifest objective of robbing our Yoruba children and youths of the knowledge of our nation’s history; the well known spite for Western education in certain influential Nigerian circles and the consequent degeneration of educational standards across Nigeria, a matter of grave concern to us Yoruba people; the prolonged federal government’s closure, for years now, of the vital western land border of the Yoruba homeland, for the easily obvious purpose of hurting or even paralyzing the economy of the Yoruba nation; and countless other acts by the Nigerian federal government to help the would-be conquerors and subjugators to achieve their purposes – which other acts have led many key citizens of Nigeria to state publicly that federal officials are complicit in the acts of killing and destruction by the would-be conquerors and subjugators. We Yoruba people solemnly and unalterably reject any arrangement that would subject us to continued membership of Nigeria.
“Even much worse, Mr. President, you and we do know that, consequent upon, and beyond, all these serious distortions and devastations, a bloody and generalized war is now imminent in Nigeria. As these would-be conquerors and their allied terrorists continue to unleash their devastations on indigenous peoples across Nigeria, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (president 1999 – 2007), has publicly alerted the world that war has become inevitable, and is imminent, in Nigeria. According to countless additional sources from all parts of Nigeria, including statements and threats by terrorist and bandit groups, this final war will be triggered by a massive invasion of Abuja by a combination of terrorist and bandit forces, followed by claims by these forces that they have taken over the authority of the Nigerian federal government, and followed by a general demand that the peoples in all parts of Nigeria should surrender their homelands, and that since the indigenous peoples will not surrender their lands to the Fulani and their terrorist allies, the war will spread all over Nigeria for years to come and lead to massive refugee floods from Nigeria into most parts of West Africa, generating massive disruption, poverty and human suffering across West Africa .
“Meanwhile, in what we Yoruba believe to be the preparation for this final Fulani aggression in our Yoruba homeland part of Nigeria, tens of thousands of heavily armed Fulani mujaheedin, reinforced by Boko Haram, ISWAP, Al Qaida and Al Shabaab terrorists, have occupied countless locations in our Yoruba forests and are being supplied there with food and weapons by air from hidden sources in Northern Nigeria. Truck-loads of Fulani mujaheedin youths, accompanied by tons of weapons, are being frequently transported from Northern Nigeria for hiding under various guises in our Yoruba cities and towns. Incidents of killing and kidnapping are becoming more daring, more widespread and more frequent in our Yoruba homeland. Fears are growing among our people that the Nigerian Armed Forces are complicit in these armed preparations on the Yoruba homeland, since these terrorists operate openly and with total impunity all over our homeland.
“Mr. President, we know you are aware of the following international instruments that affirm the right of our Yoruba nation – and the right of every people in the world – to self-determination:
“a. The United Nations Charter of 1945 which states that the purposes of the United Nations include “to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples….” b. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 in Article 1, common to both covenants, which states that “all peoples have the right to self-determination. Under that right, they can freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development”.
“c. The United Nations Declaration on The Rights of Indigenous Peoples,2007, which states as follows:
“Article 3
“Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination; by that right, they freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.
“Article 4
“Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.
“d) Article 20 of the AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS which states as follows:
“All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and pursue their economic and social development according to their chosen policy”.
“It is of great importance that Nigeria is a signatory to these international instruments and that this right of self-determination of peoples has been domesticated and incorporated, and enacted as an Act of the Nigerian National Assembly, in the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Moreover, Nigerian Courts have pronounced upon the same right of self-determination of peoples in Nigeria as an inalienable right to which any people in Nigeria, such as the Yoruba people, are entitled.
“Thus, we, the Yoruba as an INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, are entitled to exercise our inalienable and unquestionable Right to self-determination, to determine our nation’s political status in the world, free to choose to live under a government of our own, and free to pursue our economic, social and cultural development according to policies chosen by us, independent of others.
“In April 2020, the Yoruba nation was admitted as the 45th member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, UNPO. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is an international membership-based organization established to empower the voices of unrepresented and marginalized peoples worldwide and to protect their fundamental human rights.
“The peoples represented within the UNPO membership are all united by one shared condition: they are denied equal representation in the institutions of national or international governance. As a consequence, their opportunity to participate on the national or international stage is limited, and they struggle to realize their rights to civil and political participation fully and to control their economic, social and cultural development. In many cases, they are subject to the worst forms of violence and repression- which is our story today in Nigeria.
“Mr. President, we are conscious of the requirements for statehood under international law, and we are happy to inform you that we are qualified to assume sovereign statehood on the following grounds:
“1. PERMANENT POPULATION: In the recent official population statistics of Nigeria, we, the Yoruba, are listed as a distinct nation with a population of 30 million. This is proof that we are recognized as a people with a permanent population, which is stated as thirty 30 million persons, in Nigeria We Yoruba have always disputed the figure of 30 million for our population. However, that does not matter here. What matters is that the official records of Nigeria establish definitively that we Yoruba are a distinct people with a well-known permanent population.
“2. DEFINED TERRITORY: The geographical territory of our Yorubaland, the Yoruba homeland territory which we Yoruba have inhabited since time immemorial, before the creation of Nigeria, is well known and is well defined in Nigeria as shown in the attached map.
“3. GOVERNMENT: We, the Yoruba, are prepared to implement our Interim Government as soon as possible. We are ready to unveil the Interim Government at the dialogue with the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To announce the Interim Government unilaterally now will contradict our peaceful approach to realizing our right to self-determination and sovereign statehood.
“4. CAPACITY TO ENTER INTO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: The emergence of our Interim Government at the dialogue, as pointed out in 3 above, will signify to the international community the emergence of our sovereign state. It will enable our envisioned Yoruba State to enter into international relations with other sovereign states that are already expectant of relations with our imminent Yoruba sovereign state.
“The above demonstrates our resolve to achieve our sovereign statehood peacefully, devoid of violence or conflict. Mr. President, we hope you will appreciate and reciprocate our peaceful and law-abiding stance and approach, as demonstrated abundantly in this letter.
“Mr. President, we remind you that on two or three different occasions in 2015-2017, on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, you affirmatively and persuasively stated that self-determination is an inalienable right of every nation in the world and that it is immoral to deny any nation its right of self-determination. When you were asked about the Nigerian situation regarding a major ethnic group agitating for self-determination, you answered that if that ethnic group would pursue its agitation by peaceful means under a peaceful organization, then the Nigerian state would be obliged to negotiate with that group.
“Mr. President, we therefore dutifully draw your attention to the fact that since we launched our agitation for our Yoruba nation’s self-determination in the year 2019, we have unfailingly pursued the agitation through peaceful means. Our people have established over one hundred self-determination organizations, each solemnly committed to contributing in peaceful and law- abiding ways to our self-determination agitation. We have created the YORUBA SELF-DETERMINATION MOVEMENT (YSDM) as a worldwide machinery for orderly, competent, and effective collaboration of our organizations in this noble project. Moreover, a 35-page manual to instruct our people in the peaceful ways and means for our self-determination agitation, with the title, WE YORUBA NATION CHOOSE THE NOBLE PATH TO OUR NOBLE GOAL: MANUAL FOR THE YORUBA SELF-DETERMINATION STRUGGLE, was published in February 2020.
“Further, in pursuing our resolve to promote our self-determination struggle peacefully and with respect for the law, we have held many peaceful mass rallies in every state of our homeland in Nigeria. The first and smallest of these rallies was held in our Ibadan city in Oyo State on April 17, 2021, and it attracted as many as 1.3 million of our Yoruba citizens; and the largest one on record was held in our Ado-Ekiti city in Ekiti State on June 5, 2021, with about 2.1 million of our people participating. The Yoruba people in the Diaspora have held similarly peaceful mass rallies in many countries of the world, and a million-man rally in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
“At these mass rallies at home and abroad, our people have conducted themselves peacefully and experienced no conflict with law enforcement authorities. We acknowledge that a great mega-rally that we planned for Lagos city in our Lagos State on July 3, 2021, experienced some difficulties, but we were not responsible for the difficulties. What happened is that when millions of our people began to arrive in Lagos for the planned mega-rally, the police authorities panicked, and some policemen began to shoot guns into the air, causing panic and some stampede among some sections of the crowd. But, according to instructions well known among our people, our people canceled the rally and dispersed peacefully, with announcements that arrangements would be made later for our Lagos mega-rally.
“Also, we have held countless press conferences and published numerous statements nationally and internationally. We have been civil and peaceful.
Despite increasing police aggressive behavior towards us in some places, we continue to respect the laws of Nigeria.
“Furthermore, very importantly, we operate in these peaceful ways because we are determined that our desired sovereign Yoruba country shall be a strong pillar of stability and mutually beneficial relationships in the West Africa sub-region, the Africa Region, and the world.
“As we pointed out at the beginning of this letter, we recently (June 2022) put before our people a Petition in support of self-determination and sovereign statehood for our Yoruba nation. Within a short time, FIVE MILLION members of our adult population signed the Petition to affirm their acceptance and support of its clear demand for self-determination and sovereignty for our Yoruba nation. Mr. President, we chose this Petition path advisedly, in order to avoid a Referendum and the contentious conflicts that can accompany a Referendum in the Nigerian situation.
“In conclusion, Mr. President, along the lines of our peaceful approach and respect for the Government and laws of Nigeria, we reiterate our wish to engage in direct negotiation with the Federal Government of Nigeria, as the final stretch of our peaceful route towards the realization of our Yoruba nation’s self- determination and the establishment of our Yoruba sovereign nation-state. For this purpose, we propose as follows:
“1. That the Nigerian Federal Government, in view of the serious urgency of the situation, shall, within the coming days, but not later than Friday September 30, 2022, inform us that they have graciously agreed to our proposal for negotiation and that they have set up a negotiation team that will meet and dialogue with our Yoruba nation’s representatives.
“2. That as soon as we receive the communication from the Nigerian Government, we shall forward the list of our negotiation delegates to the Nigerian Government.
“3. That the Nigerian Government negotiation team and our negotiation team shall meet to appoint co-chairpersons, and to agree on a date for the first negotiation meeting, the procedure, and the venue.
“4. That ECOWAS, the African Union, and the United Nations shall be invited to
send observers to the negotiation meetings.
“Mr. President, we eagerly and most respectfully await your response to our proposal as spelt out above.
“Mr. President, we include below in this letter a Map of Yorubaland in Nigeria, depicting our desired sovereign Yoruba Nation-State.
“Your Excellency, please accept the assurance of our dutiful respect, our goodwill, and our best regards.”
