Acting on the orders of a leading separatist, Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, the militants intended to overthrow the local government and enforce the independence declaration of the so-called "Democratic Republic of the Yoruba".

Though they managed to storm the local State Secretariat, the separatists were quickly engaged by Nigerian security forces and defeated after a short shootout.

[1][2][3] In the 2020s, their demands gained prominence and popularity due to the herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria, as many Yoruba feel threatened by Fulani herdsmen and formed a self-defense group called "Amotekun Corps".

This development inspired some Yoruba nationalists,[1] and one group even allied with Biafran militants and formed the "Oduduwa Volunteer Force for the Liberation of Southern Nigeria" to fight against Fulani herders in 2021.

[2][5] One separatist activist, Sunday Igboho, rallied a group to evict Fulani herders from villages around Oyo State, and threatened to disrupt the 2023 Nigerian general election.

[4] In 2021, another Yoruba separatist faction formed around Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, one of several widows of deceased Nigerian business magnate and politician Moshood Abiola.

At the time, Onitiri-Abiola pointed to the herder–farmer conflicts, claiming that the Nigerian state failed to protect the interests of the Yoruba people in disputes with Fulani herders.

[6] Security forces reacted violently to the growing activities of separatists, conducting a "brutal crackdown" on Yoruba activists in Lagos in July 2021.

[6] Onitiri-Abiola became quite active on social media and YouTube, inciting violence, spreading conspiracy theories, and accusing non-separatist Yoruba leaders of being corrupt.

Ogun State Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alamutu warned Yoruba separatists against threatening "the reign of peace" as Nigerian law enforcement agencies were ready to respond.

[4] The Yoruba Council of Elders described the event as "coup", condemned it, and demanded that the "parties involved in the dastardly act" should be punished as criminal coupists.