OPC tells boko haram to not mess with the southwest.

YORUBA self-determination militia group, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has asked its northern-based Boko Haram to restrict its insurgency to its region and steer clear of the Southwest.

In a statement issued on Saturday by the Founder and President of the Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, the group said, although Boko Haram’s current agitation justified OPC’s age-long demand for a Sovereign National Conference, the OPC would view any attempt to export violence into the South-West as declaration of war.

The country, according to Fasehun, has been experiencing muscle-flexing that has led to the death of many citizens in the north.

“But since such muscle-flexing is not pitching geographical zones against one another, OPC has always felt that Nigeria’s current crisis has not assumed warfare proportions.

“We sympathise with those who have causes to struggle for. However, we believe that local struggles for social-justice should be contained within local boundaries. Any extension beyond such boundaries clearly connotes the pursuing of a territorial ambition; and any people provoking other people through territorial ambition should ultimately expect a war. And in warfare, everything and anything is fair.”

Saying that OPC’s message should be clear to sponsors of the ongoing violence in certain parts of the country, Fasehun said, “they should not unnecessarily jeopardise their own lives, their businesses and their other interests in the places where they currently enjoy peace. Yoruba people are not unaware of their addresses and their business interests throughout the South-West. A word is enough for the wise.”

He stressed that the Yoruba people have elected to live in peace and harmony with other ethnic nationalities. “But we will do everything necessary to protect and defend our land and people from external aggression.