2015: Alliance with North won't help Yoruba -Oodua coalition

A coalition of self-determination groups in Yorubaland, under the
aegisof O'Odua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), has declared that the
plan to forge an electoral alliance between the Hausa-Fulani North and
the Yoruba of the South West cannot help the Yoruba's quest for
restructuring ofthe Nigerian polity. The group, in a statement on
Wednesday, insisted that any alliance between the conservative
Hausa-Fulani and the progressive Yorubas of the South West ahead of
the 2015 elections could only benefit the North, which, itsaid, was
not interested in restructuring the polity. In the statement by ONAC's
Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr Ayoola Ajayi, the group said that
the Nigerian "Garrison" must be restructured to ensure
self-determination and resource control by ethnic nationalities.
The group stated that rather than support the northern bid to return
to power, the Yoruba should sponsor General Alani Akinrinade as a
presidential hopeful in 2015. According to the group, Yoruba's
greatthinker, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, did not at any time contemplate
an alliance with the north because he knew it would be
counterproductive. It said: "The alliance of the Yoruba people should
be with progressive and pro-restructuring forces in the middle-belt,
the South-South and the South-East." "The Hausa-Fulani North will
forever repel any attempt to restructure Nigeria. Our alliance should
not be with feudalists. Any alliance with the Taliban will be
ferociously repelled by the Yoruba population. ONAC will embark on a
house-to house campaign against theTalibanisation of the South West."