June 12: DSS stops pan-Yoruba group’s rally in Ibadan, arrests leaders
In a way that will remind many of how soldiers clamped down on some Yoruba leaders at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan during the Sanni Abacha regime, Operatives of the Department of the State Security Service on Wednesday stopped a rally of the Yoruba Summit Group scheduled to hold at Agodi, in the Oyo State.
It was during the old tussle that the late Bola Ige was arrested.
Reports said the group, an amalgamation of all sociocultural and self-determination groups in Yorubaland, had yesterday (Tuesday) converged to discuss insecurity in the South West.
But before they got to the venue, the security operatives had arrived and cordoned off the area.
The DSS men were said t have got there by 7 am, in about five buses.
According to a report in ‘The PUNCH’, three people, including a sound system operator contracted to provide services at the event were whisked away to the DSS office at Alesinloye headquarters of the service.
The paper identified a public Affairs analyst and state coordinator of Oodua Coalition Against Insurgency and Kidnapping in Yorubaland, and another lady activist simply identified as Princess Oyeronke were among those arrested.
Also, the National Public Relations Officer of the Odua Peoples Congress (New Era), Comrade Adesina Akinpelu confirmed the arrest.
Akinpelu said, “We got all the necessary approval but we were surprised to see men of the DSS arriving much earlier, even before the coalition members, with the intent to stop the rally.
“It was called to address the issue of insecurity in the land and safeguard Yoruba people who are becoming endangered in the land through incessant kidnappings and wanton attacks on their farmlands.
“We don’t want to take laws into our hands and that’s why we called the meeting to bring it to the notice of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari that aside declaring June 12 Democracy Day, he should also tackle the issue of insecurity in our land.”
