Popular Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Igboho Oṣa, has issued a statement that the scheduled Oduduwa Republic rally will be held, unfailingly, on July 3.
Olayomi Koiki, the activist’s spokesperson, who spoke in a live video, revealed that the rally has been scheduled to start from Ojota Park, Lagos, on the chosen date.
However, according to a report by The Nation, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, confirmed that no group had informed the police command of a rally.
In his statement, he said: “I’m not aware of anybody planning any rally anywhere in Lagos. Nobody has written to the Command to that effect. So, when we get to the bridge, we’ll cross it.”
Similarly, the incumbent Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had said, on June 7, that he opposed any form of movement geared towards Nigeria breakaway. He affirmed his claim by saying that there is strength in diversity.
He further sent a message to over 200 million Nigerians to utilise the strength and the beautiful opportunities of the nation’s diversity to ensure there is economic prosperity and political stability.
He used his comment to take a swipe at the incessant secessionist calls in some regions in the country, particularly in the South East and South West.
He emphasised that he remains ever committed to to one united and prosperous Nigeria where there will be fairness and equal distribution of resources.
Contrarily, Koiki, when he spoke with SaharaReporters, noted that the Lagos police’s or government’s stance on the rally won’t stop it from being held.
In his own opinion, he said that the land belongs to the Lagos people, not the Commissioner of Police. He added that no one has the right to stop people from holding “a peaceful rally”.
He said: ”This is not #EndSARS, neither is it June 12 rally, we are coming for a peaceful rally in Lagos State. No violence will be recorded and that rally will hold.
“We have no business with the police and we are not coming to disrupt the peace of Lagos state. Let them pull whatever strings they can, by the time we get there, we will know what to do. We are simply demanding our own nation, so it is different from whatever rally was held on June 12 or during the #EndSARS protest.”
“Tell them that, I, Olayomi Koiki, media aide to Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) said we will hold the July 3rd rally in Lagos State. We know what the police do to disperse peaceful protesters but we are not protesting, we are creating awareness. Yoruba Nation now, no retreat, no surrender.”