Communique issued at the end of the National Meeting of Yoruba Jamatru Islam held in Osogbo, September 15, 2020
Background
This day, young Muslims drawn from the six South West States including Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta State meet this day September 15, 2020 in Osogbo following months of consultations on what should be the response of young Yoruba Muslims who are students, workers, farmers, unemployed including women to the economic and political situation in Nigeria.
Deliberations
a. Recognise that the Yoruba people of the South West have a rich history spanning thousands of years. The people in the 9th century launched a theocratic state with satellite states established dotting the expansive Kingdom that extended to today-s Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic. The empire lasted until the last part of the 19th century.
b. That in the 12th century, the Yoruba people had encounter with Islam in a peaceful manner and Muslim population began to grow in great leap.
c. However,in the early part of the 19th century,1804 Jihad was launched by a Fulani warrior, Uthman Dan Fodio who introduced a violent and vicious campaign in the name of Islam taking over most of Northern Nigeria. That this campaign of terror in the name of Holy War was extended into Yoruba territories in today-s Kwara and Kogi States
d. That this war did not spare Yoruba Muslims,including Afonja, a Muslim, who were massacred in the most babaric manner. Obviously, the unhidden desire of Fodio was to conquer and subjugate every nationality not for Islam but purely for expansionism, forceful land acquisition and through a ceaseless whirlwind of terror.
e. That since the 1960 independence this primordial desire to conquer to the sea is a rabid and unquenchable goal of Fulani Emirate and that this conquest appears difficult to accommodate within democratic norms the reason for the military coups that have characterised Nigerian history. That democratic culture is alien to the Fulani Muslims and that tolerance is not in their own Holy book all of which oppose the grundnorm of Yoruba civilisation
f. That in Yorubaland history has shown clearly that the promotion of faith by Fulani is linked to ethnic supremacy, a feeling of superiority and contempt for other nationalities including but not restricted to the Yoruba Muslims. This has been shown clearly in the orchestrated killing of MKO Abiola and his wife, Kudirat Abiola, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji all of who are Muslims.That unfortunately, vampires, rogues and common criminals who parade themselves as Yoruba leaders tend to allign with Fulani hegemony for bread and butter, sometimes using the false sense of Islam but whose primary motive is for bread and butter. These people are ready to sell Yoruba Muslims for bread
g. That the Muslims in Yorubaland are some of the least empowered economically and socially. This can be linked partially to the quality of leadership of Muslims, the conservative nature of many Muslim organisations and the contempt for education still in many Muslim homes. This situation has to change through active involvement in the aspirations and common goal of the Yoruba Nation of which Muslims are an integral part.
h. However, we recognise the contributions of several Muslim organisations especially the earliest Muslim societies that funded educational institutions and provided scholarships for several Muslim students
State of the Nation and Yoruba Self Determination Campaign/Resolutions
1. That we recognise the current siege imposed on Yorubaland through violent kidnapping,rape of Yoruba,including Yoruba Muslim, at atmosphere of siege imposed on Yoruba communities making livelihood difficult for Yoruba Muslim farmers and their children. Many Yoruba Muslims have been killed in the North by terrorists. That this terrorists are moving down South in the face of a helpless or compromised State and we must never allow Yorubaland to be turned into Lebanon.
2. That we recognise the current agitation for Yoruba self determination up to the point of secession being canvased by several Yoruba groups.
3. As Muslims, we recognise the right to self determination as an inalienable right guaranteed by nature, by the United Nations, UN and the African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights
4. That we reject attempts to introduce religious dimension into the self determination movement. Many who parade themselves as Muslim leaders actually use it as meal ticket at the expense of poor and agonising Muslim population who have no access to decent housing, education, health and job opportunities under persistent regimes to consider other ethnic groups as inferior.
5. That we resolve to work with all credible Yoruba self determination groups like O’odua People’s Congress,OPC, Yoruba World Congress,YWC, Apapo Oodua Koya,AOKOYA Yoruba First and others to ensure that Yoruba Republic emerges within the shortest time possible.
6. That Muslim youths all over Yoruba states must enlist in any progressive Yoruba self determination group and be part of the fighting spirit if and where necessary. That it will be disastrous for the Muslim population in Yorubaland not to participate in this historic and epochal movement across Yorubaland
7. That the campaign for Yoruba Nation will be of ultimate benefit to the Yoruba people including Muslims and Christians.
8. That Muslims should mobilise faithful from house to house to take active part in the current momentum
9. Delegates appreciate our Muslim brothers in Osogbo for hosting the historic event. Delegates approve the Name Yoruba Muslim People’s Congress,YOMPEC as the new Islamic front for Yoruba Muslims and towards the Liberation of Yoruba people and the emergence of Oduduwa Republic by the power of Almighty Allah. Amin
Signed
Abdulazeez Olayiwola
President
Suleiman Olu Quadri
Secretary General