In a statement released on Monday, Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), Emeritus Professor, Banji Akintoye, has said all is set for the million-man freedom march sheduled to hold at the United Nations Headquaters in New York, United States of America from 14th to 24th September, 2021.
Akintoye said the protest is meant 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 Professor of History 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.
“The NINAS Territories will also be demanding the conduct of a regional referendum for people to decide on their nationhood.
“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 Terriorism.
“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.”
Akintoye called on 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.
If you have LOWER NIGER then there should be UPPER NIGER. And since you decided to remain silence in the Upper Niger, then the Lower Niger should be expunged. Rather you can can Niger Delta and Ibo Land separate. The Southern minorities cannot go along with the Ibos in any new restructuring of Nigeria.