Ex-Nigerian ambassador to the Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi, on Tuesday claimed the invasion of southern states by a large number of northern youths could be motivated by factors beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

He said it could be a plot to conquer the South and break its population.

Farounbi, while speaking to newsmen in Osogbo, said the migration could not be said to be spontaneous because many of the youths could not afford the cost of transportation to South on their own.

He then urged governors in the southern part of the country to confront the development.

He also called on security agencies to resist what he called a “move at colonisation of the South in the guise of COVID-19 crisis.”

Farounbi said, “It is an unfortunate situation for the Almajirai in this period to invade the South. If they are not wanted in the North, why would they think they would be wanted in the South that is culturally different in every way from the North where they are being expelled.

“The security agencies must resist this move at colonisation of the South in the guise of COVID-19 crisis. I don’t believe this is a spontaneous move because the Almajirai cannot afford the cost of transportation, just as the Fulani herdsmen cannot afford the cost of their cattle and the AK-47 they carry.

“This move is a plot to conquer the South to break its population, to take over its green land and at the end of the day establish RUGA that their people and government have rejected and penetrate the people of the South-West in a way that they will now wield the political monopoly that will dominate Nigeria.”

He added, “I thought everyone in the South-West should rise and those in the North, who love Nigeria must prevail on those behind the invasion of the Almajirai. The invasion is undesirable, unreasonable and if the people of the South should rise to defend their land, the result on Nigeria will be unpalatable.”

Commenting on the role the South-West Regional Security Outfit, codenamed Amotekun, should play in curtailing the influx, Farounbi advised governors to use the group to defend the region.

“This is the first test of Amotekun to defend the territorial integrity of the South-West and I hope the governors of South-South and South-East are doing a similar thing to prevent invasion. I also expect the governors to prevail on the police.

“They should use Amotekun, local vigilantes and other armed men to protect their land; otherwise, they would have nothing to hand over to their children in the future,” he added.