Southwest Youths Unite Against Threats

Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association (YYSA) vows to protect Southwest region from external threats, uncovering plots to hijack protests and destroy economic facilities, and pledges to defend regional heritage and security.

The Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association (YYSA) has vowed to safeguard the Southwest region and its cultural heritage from external threats to peace, unity, and development. This pledge comes in response to planned protests against economic hardship scheduled for August.

In a statement issued on Sunday, July 21, in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, YYSA's National President Olalekan Hammed and National Secretary Olawale Ajao revealed that they had uncovered a sinister plot by certain individuals to hijack the protests and perpetrate harmful acts. According to the association, there is a scheme to set major economic development facilities in the Southwest ablaze, posing a significant threat to the region's stability.

“We have uncovered some secret plans by unscrupulous elements to take advantage of the intending nationwide protest against hardship to perpetrate evils by setting ablaze all our major economic development facilities in Southwest.

“Besides that, they have as well mapped out some strategic areas to ensure that they navigate easily to palaces menacingly and burn them to ashes,” the youths alleged.

Additionally, the YYSA leaders revealed that the plotters have also set their sights on destroying local government secretariats, along with other public properties, in a bid to wreak havoc on the region's infrastructure and governance structures.

“Moreover, it is our prerogative to defend the Southwest region and heritage against all external forces that may be a threat to peace, unity, and development.

“For this reason, we hereby unequivocally declare that the scheduled mass protest has been put on hold in order to secure and protect Yoruba land from enemies of progress disguising as students and activists to put us into peril socially and economically,” they said.

The Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association (YYSA) commended President Bola Tinubu's government for its commitment to upholding justice and adhering to the principles of the Nigerian constitution, ensuring that all levels of government function in accordance with the rule of law.

“They are as well known as the three levels of government through which legislative lists were shared as follows; exclusively legislative list, concurrent legislative list, and residual list.

“Although, the state governments that constitutionally share some powers in the residual legislative list with local governments have dominated everything, while the constitutionally recognized third tier of government has become castrated,” the youths added.

The Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association (YYSA) stressed that genuine development originates at the grassroots level, specifically in local governments where citizens are deeply engaged in essential activities such as agriculture, fishing, craftsmanship, hunting, and small-scale trading. These local economies, the association noted, form the backbone of the region's economic growth and prosperity.

They stated, “Agricultural products and food items are mainly transported to cities following successful harvests in rural areas managed by local administrations.”

The YYSA also emphasized that security concerns are most effectively addressed at the local level, where community members are better positioned to recognize and report suspicious individuals and activities, enabling more effective prevention and intervention strategies.