The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement (YSDM) has accused Nigerian security agencies of treating Yoruba youths as terrorists, subjecting them to unlawful arrests and extortion.
This was stated in a letter, dated May 25, 2025, written by Prof (Senator) Adebanji Akintoye, the national leader of the movement and addresed to President Bola Tinubu.
The letter raises grave concerns about the Nigerian Police, the Directorate of State Security (DSS), and other federal agencies’ handling of Yoruba youths across the Southwest, Kwara, and Kogi States.
According to the statement, “These federal agencies tend to view all Yoruba youths as insurgents or terrorists. They therefore often abuse the human rights of Yoruba youths – by arresting them without just cause, detaining them in police cells, and then forcing them to pay money for their release.”
The letter asserts that the unlawful acts are a deliberate tactic aimed at intimidation to discourage Yoruba youths from pursuing self-determination.
It further states, “It is obvious that the Nigerian Police and other security agencies believe that it is their duty to treat Yoruba youths in these unlawful ways in order to intimidate the youths and thereby compel the youths to abandon their quest for the Self-determination of their Yoruba Nation.”
“The examples of the outrages against Yoruba youths are too many to be listed in this short fraternal letter, but we assure you, Your Excellency, that these human right abuses occur frequently and in all parts of Yorubaland. In fact, there have been instances in which DSS operatives, when they could not find a young man, arrested and detained his wife and child.
“Your Excellency, in your exalted position as President of Nigeria and a major factor in today’s international order, you know very well that Self-determination is a right, an inalienable right, of all indigenous nations of the world.
“You know that these inalienable rights are enshrined in the laws of the International Community and spelt out in many important international Conventions and Declarations: United Nations Charter, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“You know that Nigeria is a signatory to all of these International Laws, and that, therefore, all these International Laws are parts of the laws of Nigeria. The final meaning of all this is that peaceful acts by any Nigerian to assert and retrieve the self-determination of any Nigerian people do not contravene the laws of Nigeria.”
Recalling the massive rallies in 2021, the group insists, “each of the rallies was peaceful and law-abiding, there was no injury to any person and no damage to any property, and the Police did not need to caution or arrest anybody.”
Prof Akintoye warns that the continued harassment risks pushing the generally peaceful Yoruba youths into violent reactions, recalling historical uprisings: “Yoruba youths, though now generally peaceful out of deference to their elders and their culture, can explode in reaction if they continue to be pushed.”
The letter also highlights the worrying admissions by top Nigerian security officials acknowledging the state’s inability to protect citizens, quoting statements such as, “Don’t expect us, Army, Police, others, to protect you. Each person should protect himself, and each community should mobilise to protect itself,” from the DSS Director-General.
In response, the letter urges President Tinubu to intervene swiftly: “Mr. President, you need to intervene speedily in this – particularly before the harassment of Yoruba youths gets out of hand.”
The Yoruba Self-Determination Movement calls on the president to respect the rights of Yoruba youths to peacefully protest and demands that the government facilitate negotiation for Yoruba nation’s peaceful separation from Nigeria: “PLEASE GRANT US, YOUR YORUBA PEOPLE, THAT WHICH WE HAVE ASKED FOR… THAT YOU AS THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA SHOULD FACILITATE NEGOTIATION BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND OF OUR YORUBA PEOPLE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF NEGOTIATING OUR YORUBA NATION’S PAECEFUL SEPARTION FROM NIGERIA…”
Concluding the letter, Professor Akintoye frames the message as one of love and urgent appeal: “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… love for all our Yoruba people… love for the integrity and dignity of our Yoruba culture…”
The letter demands immediate action, warning that continued neglect could lead to catastrophic consequences for Nigeria and the wider West African region.
