Police nab 5 Yoruba Nation agitators over illegal broadcast in Ibadan

The Police Command in Oyo State has arrested five Yoruba Nation agitators who allegedly forcefully hijacked the Amuludun FM radio station in Ibadan with the intent to declare liberation from the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Supreme reports that the agitators stormed the federal radio station around 6 a.m. on Sunday, seized the GSM phones of workers, and went on air, proclaiming the establishment of a Yoruba nation and secession from Nigeria.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Adebowale Williams, paraded the suspects at the Command Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, on Sunday.

Williams said that operatives of the command, while on intelligence-driven patrols, got a distress call that some members of a group driven by a separatist agenda had forcefully hijacked a radio broadcast station, Amuludun 99.1 FM, located around Moniya, Ibadan, with the intent to declare liberation from the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He said that the command responded swiftly in a well-coordinated rescue operation and arrested the suspects.

Willams said that no personnel from the establishment or any other person were hurt in the incident.

The commissioner of police said that he had detailed an investigation team, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department, to demystify the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The team was also directed to expand the network of arrests through a painstaking intelligence-driven investigation.

He declared the act criminal, unpatriotic, and a clear case of terrorism, which would be met with adequate sanctions under the laws of the land.

“The Oyo State Police Command remains unwavering and committed to the statutory constitutional requirements of protecting lives and property and preserving law and order, even as the state and indeed the nation gear up for Monday’s inauguration of its elected leaders.

”I assure good citizens of the state that the security architecture of the command, in concert with relevant sister agencies, has been strategically modified for optimum effectiveness for tomorrow’s epoch-making ceremony and beyond,” he said.

Williams said the security architecture of the state had been beefed up to comprehensively tackle any evolving or emerging security challenge that could pose a threat to the nation’s stability.

He called on parents, guardians, and leaders wielding various degrees of influence to prevail on their children against being used to disrupt Monday’s inauguration as heavy sanctions awaited defaulters and other unpatriotic elements sharing the same sinister motives.

Supreme reports that the suspects were arrested in possession of various charms and clothes with the inscription, “Yoruba Nation Police, Yoruba Nation Army.”

One of the suspects said somebody popularly called Black Lion instructed them to hijack the station and go on air because the Yoruba Nation had been established and there was nothing the police or the Nigerian Army could do to them.

The suspect said that the person who instructed them was not a resident of Nigeria and that they contacted him through phone calls.

He further said that they were not promised any money before carrying out the incident, adding that he traveled down to Ibadan on Friday from Enugu State, where he resided, for the action.