INTRODUCTION As William Shakespeare opined “there is no sure foundation set on blood, no certain life achieved by other’s death. Nigeria, a country filled with superfluous human and natural resources but built on faulty foundation has been battling with myriads of insecurity. In the 90s, what we used to witness was the robbery cases and petty theft as well as pen robbers. But the narrative has changed over a decade ago, the menace of kidnapping, banditry and terrorism even broad daylight robbery has stared us on our faces while we look helpless on where the practical solution can be sought for.
INSECURITY In 2009, the terror of Bokoharam was widely pronounced in Nigeria and since that time we have been sleeping with one eye closed. Successive governments had promised to nip the menace in the bud but there seems to be no solution at sight as the terrorist gangs wax stronger everyday while the security agencies look incapacitated. In the process that gave birth to current administration, President Buhari promised entire Nigerians that if given mandate the insecurity will be a thing of the past and some of us were overjoyous that the new Sheriff would save us from the nearly collapsed security structure under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan. Alas, rather than combating insecurity in Nigeria, the opposite is what we are witnessing as the insecurity has taken a new dimension. The menace of kidnapping, maiming and killing has continued to grow unabated and the citizens seem helpless. Recently, more than 40 farmers who went out to work and put food on their tables met untimely death by these bloodsucking monsters who brazenly go on rampage unchecked. The unfortunate farmers were slaughtered in their respective farms. This is a twin problem, if they stay at home they might by killed by hunger and if they go to find food they might be killed by these bloodsucking monsters. One wonders that a supposed Chief Security Officer of the State would have doubled up his effort at strengthening the security apparatus but it has always been usual cosmetic approach of ‘being on top of the situation’ when it is crystal clear that the country is falling into a pariah state.
HERDSMEN KILLINGS Country people, as the guerilla tactics of Bokoharam gangs seem to be unabated, there comes Fulani herdsmen who brazenly graze on farms and destroy farmlands. As if illegal grazing could be the only deed of these marauders, they kill, kidnap and maim our brothers and sisters without being brought to book. If arrested, they find themselves back to the society to continue their dastardly acts. One asks, how can we get out of the woods? The answer is not farfetched, those who swore oaths of protecting the lives of Nigerians whether at the Federal or State levels should brace up and confront the monster holistically. In the Southwest region, the Fulani marauders have taken over the forests, many people have met their untimely death in the hands of these killers. They have killed traditional rulers, scholars, business women and men. They had succeeded in sending farmers out of businesses owing to the fear of being killed in their farm settlement. As these atrocities going on in the country, one will expect President Buhari to act as the father of the nation and put a stop to the ongoing carnage by the killer herders. Rather, President Buhari in his usual nepotistic stance, made case for the killer herdsmen, emboldened them to continue doing their businesses at the detriment of farmers.
While calls made from different quarters to President Buhari to sack the service chiefs that have failed in discharging the duties assigned to them, Buhari rather than rewarding failure with failure continually eulogizing the service chiefs while the country is tearing apart, until recently when the President took the bold step by relieving them of their duties.
In recent times, Southwest region, having noticed that it security cannot be entrusted in the hands of Presidency any longer established Southwestern Security Network codenamed Amotekun to clear the region of criminal elements. This will continually generate tension in other regions who might want to be emboldened to come out with their security apparatus.
CONCLUSION As the tension is high in the country, President Buhari needs to be up and doing as chief security officer to douse the tension. The inability of Presidency to live up to expectation and cage these marauders may lead to self-help whereby every region will raise militias to secure them. Ismael Taiwo Writes from Ibadan
Early today, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde in accompanied , His Excellency Governor Nyesom Wike, visited the Iwo Road Bus Interchange to inspect the progress of the project.
Being a communique issued by the State Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic party, Oyo State Chapter on the trending matters in our party at the regional level, our party at the state level and issues arising in the state on Tuesday 26th January 2021 at the State Party Secretariat, Molete, Ibadan
We unequivocally affirm and identify with the leadership of Engineer Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde as the authentic leader of our party in South West. We implore those who are undermining his office to desist from such insubordination.
We also use this medium to announce that our position in Oyo State PDP is in alignment with the position of our amiable governor and leader of our party in the south west, Engineer Seyi Makinde. We will throw our full weight and we will do all that is necessary (Including working with other relevant and critical stakeholders from our state and beyond) within the provisions of our party’s constitution to ensure that Oyo State produces the next South West Zonal chairman of PDP for the first time since PDP was founded
The State Working Committee after extensive deliberations approves the reinstatement of all Executives of the party who have defected to either ADC, ZLP or other political parties from ward to local government level but participated in the 2017 Congress of the party and also participated in the coalition that contributed to PDP victory in the 2019 election.
After the considerations of multiple allegations of Anti-party activities against Mr. Taiwo Iyiola, the Ibadan North East Chairman of PDP by the executives of his local political ward and sequel to his suspension from the party at his ward level, the entire state working committee of the party hereby announces the suspension of Mr. Taiwo Iyiola as the Ibadan North East Local Government Chairman of PDP and as provided by the constitution of our party, the Vice Chairman, Mr. Isiaka Fatokun should immediately take over the leadership of the party in Ibadan North East pending the time we will conclude our investigations
We also want to implore those fanning the flames of discord in our party to desist from such acts as we will henceforth not tolerate indiscipline and public defamation of the image of our party and the government by some elements in the party.
We want to also implore the entire populace of Oyo State to support the governor of Oyo State in his quest to restore our state back to the pacesetting pedestals. We want to remind the people of Oyo State that we are just twenty months into this administration and we inherited a state that was badly battered, almost destroyed and our funds and resources seriously injured by the inhumane, wicked, unkind, unfair and the corrupt government of the APC and their failed leaders
We want to thank the good people of Oyo State who actually separated the chaff from the wind in the current situation in Oyo State. We are certain and we want to assure the good people of Oyo State that our governor is working assiduously with every relevant persons, institutions, agencies and stakeholders to ensure that Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun, Ogbomoso, Oyo and Ibadan is more secured and conducive for all.
We want to say it with all confidence that under Seyi Makinde and PDP, a better Oyo State is assured.
Thank you.
Signed: Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha PDP State Chairman
Elder John Omikunle PDP Deputy Chairman
Alhaji Wasiu Adeleke PDP State Secretary
Engr. Akeem Olatunji PDP State PRO
Alhaja Wulemot Ibitoye PDP Women Leader
Hon. Olanrewaju Oladeji PDP State Treasurer
Asiwaju Adekola Adeoye PDP Youth Leader
Alhaji Mufutau Ogunremi Oyo Central Senatorial Chairman
Alhaji Waheed Oluwakemi Oyo North Senatorial Chairman
Elder Samuel Olawuwo Oyo South Senatorial Chairman
President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs, and their retirement from service.
This was made known to our correspondence through a media release signed by the Femi Adesina Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) on the January 26th, 2021.
Those involved are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. President Buhari thanks the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he calls their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country,” wishing them well in their future endeavours. The new Service Chiefs are: Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff. The President congratulates the new Service Chiefs, and urges them to be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities.
A group of Hausa men in possession of illegal firm arms has been arrested in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State.
OduduwaNews gatheree that the Ido unit of Amotekun corps, led by Gbenga OLAREWAJU, led the operation that led to the arrest, as a truck with Reg N0 TUR 30 ZY Kebbi with about 25 suspected Hausa men in possession of about 25 dane guns and 10 dogs were recovered at the point of the arrest.
OduduwaNews learnt that have been handed over to the police for further interrogation.
I have watched with concern the recent development in Oyo and Ondo States in which quit notices were given to Fulani herders and there were subsequent burning of the property of the Fulani herdsmen in some parts of Oyo State. These happenings have increased the tension and unduly raised the temperature in the country.
The ugly development in these two states are symptomatic of the continued threat to the unity of our country that we have witnessed on a higher scale in recent times and in different parts of the country, including the South-East and South-South zones.
At this point, I strongly appeal to all of us to work for peace and take initiatives that can douse tension. Both the elite and ordinary people have a responsibility to begin to take measures that will reassure the people across the board that a united Nigeria will benefit everybody better than a disintegrated country.
The deafening silence by key stakeholders, leaders and others who we think should speak out is worrisome. This silence is a dangerous tell-tale sign that things are wrong. This is not good for our country. We must all speak out and talk about the solution to this twin-problem of insecurity and threat to national unity.
We all do not have another country to call our own other than this one country, Nigeria. We need to live in peace with each other and it is my prayer that Almighty God will continue to preserve the unity of the country. I have the conviction that there are many more things that unite us than the few points that cause disagreement among us. Let me use my case as an example of why this country should continue to grow as one united and progressive entity. I am of Fulani origin and have a Yoruba mother. My father was a Muslim and my mother is Christian. Thus, I am affected on all sides by any inter-ethnic tension in this country. I am sure there are many Nigerians that are in a similar situation.
Also, a united Nigeria is better for the entire world than a disintegrated country. The relevance of Nigeria in the international community is due to its size, population, and collective resources. Any attempt at disintegration removes the cloak of importance around Nigeria in the global community. We must all strive to douse the tension and keep our country together. This is definitely not the country we inherited from our forebears and it is not what we intend to pass on to the generation after us.
I appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to provide leadership. Mr. President, take measures that will reassure all and sundry that you are working on the problems and that nobody should lose interest in a united, peaceful, and progressive Nigeria.
It is important for President Muhammadu Buhari to rally all interests and everybody at the leadership levels to a round table in order to discuss and find appropriate solutions. Let me reiterate my earlier suggestion that President Buhari should call all relevant politicians and stakeholders together – former heads of states, retired and serving security chiefs, present and former leaders of various arms of government, traditional rulers with relevant experience, experienced youth with the technological know-how to solve security problems and even international civil servants of Nigerian origin who can help. Everybody must be made to contribute ideas on how to save our country from insecurity, disunity, and invasion by criminals. Mr. President, please, call everybody together and provide the much-needed leadership to solve the problem. This is a period that requires all hands to be on deck. This is not the time to talk of APC or PDP. It is a time for all to work for Nigeria. This is a problem for all and should be solved by all.
I want to also make a passionate plea to my brothers, Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, both of whom are experienced legislators, to provide the far-reaching legislative intervention that will help the executive arm in the search for peace. The situation is getting worse by the day. Insecurity has become the order of the day and it is fueling disunity and criminal activities. Let me also call on all politicians who are looking towards 2023 to take over power to start pondering on what type of Nigeria will they have to administer post-2023 if the current situation continues. It is better for all of us to join hands together NOW to quell the raging fire of disunity, insecurity, and work to mend fences. I know some politicians will not be able to contribute ideas if they are not called upon to do so by those who currently have governmental responsibility to do so. However, please don’t keep quiet when called upon. We must all intervene as patriots and forget our personal interests. For the sake of our forebears who handed over this country to us, we must work hard to make things better so that when we meet them, we will have a good account to give that we improved on what was handed over to us.
In the meantime, let all stakeholders speak up on the danger confronting and diminishing our great country. The attitude of keeping quiet and ‘sidon look’ while waiting for the next election to start making promises will not help anyone.
What type of election or country are we going to have in 2023 if the current situation persists?
A stitch in time saves nine.
Signed:
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki Immediate Past President of the Senate and Wazirin Ilorin
It was a black Sunday in Ibadan, the Capital of Oyo State, as the youths mourn the death of a leading and emerging youth political figure in the State.
It was gathered that there was a robbery going on in the hotel when Mr Olaleye Ajibola arrived NTC premises, Iyaganku.
He was subsequently shot dead by the robbers. According to an eyewitness, Gatuso was making a call when the robbers sighted him and shot him at close range, probably believing he was calling security agencies.
The eyewitness told our source that guests, members of staff and other people at the hotel lost valuables to the robbery incident.
Two of Yorubaland’s most prized states’ helmsmen – Governors Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Seyi Makinde – have made very strong but seemingly diametrically opposed positions on the security of their people, making it the most talked about issue in the nation today. In recent time, their Ondo and Oyo States have become hotbeds of the scalding hot security crises in Northeastern and Northwestern Nigeria. Flakes of the unending years of savage Boko Haram war in the Northeast are whooshing gently but destructively and settling on Western Nigeria. Fleeing displaced Northerners who escape to the bosom of Oduduwa are stretching Southwest space beyond tolerable level. Infrastructure is becoming unbearably elasticized. Firepower of artilleries is stampeding insurgents from the theater of war and with mounting fire of Northwest banditry, forests of Yorubaland are now comparatively safe havens for fleeing warlords. At the same time, proceeds of kidnapping in Yorubaland are said to be surviving funds renegades of Northeast insurgents and ragtag armies of the bandits of Northwest remit home for the sustenance of their evil war. Unable to withstand the economic weather at home, their neglect by government and the Islamic tzedakahsystem that constituted their survival for centuries, northern beggars and vagrants are also migrating westwards in thousands.
The above alien challenges have successfully defaced the aesthetics and perforated the peace of Yorubaland. The army of beggars in Southwest today will sober even Senegalese-born author and first published Black African Francophone novelist, Aminata Sow Fall of the Beggars’ Strike fame. In Ibadan, for instance, beggars paste themselves like foamy lather round the Mokola overhead bridge, in almost a hundred, while their kindred are scattered round the city in embarrassing proportions. They even have the temerity to sun-dry their tattered clothes on the Ibadan bridge’s metal railings which they have converted into their balustrade. The second evil is the small weevils in the form of ubiquitous young northern bicycle riders, known as Okada, which infest the land like irritant locusts. They are deadly riders who have no respect for traffic rules or law and order. They are responsible for a horde of fatalities on the highway.
One man who should know, Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun, Col Kunle Togun, (rtd) last week introduced a new dimension to the infestation. Many of the Okada riders, he said, are foreigners and spies for kidnappers and bandits who enter Yorubaland through Nigeria’s porous borders. According to him, ferried into Oyo and other Yoruba States during the COVID-19 lockdown via articulated lorries, most of these Okada riders cannot speak any of the Nigerian languages or English but French and have no known residency permit. Coming on the heels of this invasion is another internal invasion, said Togun. It comes in the form of Yoruba traditional rulers allocating lands to Fulani herdsmen and who, “take money, cows and cars from these people and allow them to settle and wreak havoc in their domains.”
In January, 2018, I had written about the deadliness of Fulani herders. Fulani herdsmen have been declared one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). In a survey, GTI said the herdsmen, mainly of the Fula ethnic group, killed 80 people in total in 2013 but by 2014, had murdered at least 1,229 people. The group, according to the report, operates between Nigeria and parts of the Central African Republic (CAR) and had killed 847 people in 2015 across five states in Nigeria through several coordinated attacks during which they inflict varying degrees of attacks on local civilian populations. According to GTI, the attacks were unleashed on private citizens and the Fulani terrorists’ primary and audacious contest is for the farmlands of their victims. These are the people the Nigerian government covers in baby shawl.
President Muhammadu Buhari and a few of his uncritical minded aides have annoyingly sought to legitimize Fulani invasion of Yorubaland and their audacious evils. In September 2018, on the sidelines of the China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing, while addressing Nigerians, Buhari personally lapsed into a variant of his usual incoherent epistle, this time adumbrating why herdsmen terrorism persists in Nigeria. “To my disappointment…the press in Nigeria do not make enough efforts to study the historical antecedents of issues that are creating national problems for us,” the president had waffled, citing what he called “cultural and historical implications” as responsible for the mindless murders and impunity of his brother-Fulani herdsmen.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the president’s deployment of callous euphemisms in the service of his waffle. He labeled the Fulani carnage “misunderstanding, especially between herders and farmers” finally heaping the blame of the persistent murders on climate change and the drying up of Lake Chad. This, he claimed, necessitated the frenetic search for pastures by displaced cattle nomads. About the same time, his Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, another Fulani descent, toed same vacuous route of the drying-up of Lake Chad, as well as scarcity of pasture as cause of the Fulani mayhem. At another forum, we were told that renegades of Muammar Gaddafi’s armed men found their ways out of Tripoli to Nigeria with weapons and mutated into the killer herdsmen. At yet another forum, Buhari laid the blame squarely on the doorsteps of ISIS and later, on spiritic opposition members who, in the quest to tar-brush his government, have been funding the mayhem. Buhari’s incoherence has ceased to baffle intelligent listeners.
When it was reported that this self-same Fulani herdsmen had killed Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, along the Ondo-Ore road bordered by thick forests, Buhari again deployed his legendary incoherence. Fulani herdsmen were not responsible for her murder. Armed robbers, he said, killed her.
Unarguably, no one in the Buhari government has been as recklessly audacious in hurting victims of herdsmen’s terrorism as Garba Shehu, the President’s media aide. Shehu has constituted himself into the most notorious presidential megaphone renowned for his divisive comments on Nigeria’s interminable insecurity issue. A few hours after Governor Akeredolu articulated the views of the people he governs, announcing that the Ondo forest, which Fulani herders use as umbrella to commit heinous acts of murder and mindless terrorism, would no longer be accessible for their impunity, Garba shot a verbal poisonous arrow at the people of Ondo State, nay Yorubaland.
Clothing his garrulousness in the cloak of law, his statement also rankled with an argumentative pitfall called appeal to the person. Shehu began his fallacy with Akeredolu being “a seasoned lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and indeed, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)” and that he had “fought crime in his state with passion and commitment,” but, “in our view,” he said, “would be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.” Garba’s doggerel also appealed to “rights groups” and “makers of our constitution” who he said would be worried by Akeredolu’s action which he claimed “could set off a chain of events which he foresaw and tried to guard against.” He was apparently borrowing a leaf from his master’s incoherence.
To begin with, that statement was one of the swiftest to come from a presidency that seems in perpetual somnolence. It underscores Fulani issue being at the core of Buhari’s emotions. It came less than 24 hours after Akeredolu’s. As usual, it was a bid to again beatify Fulani herders who are known to be responsible for the spate of kidnappings and murders in the Southwest. But Akeredolu would not allow such hogwash dressed in a presidential bandana. “Shehu’s statement is a brazen display of emotional attachments and it’s very inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria. We need clearly defined actions on the part of the federal government to decimate the erroneous impression that the inspiration of these criminal elements masquerading as herdsmen is that of power,” he said. He successfully echoed bothers on the streets that the Buhari government provides a nestling comfort and hibernation for Fulani killers and values the lives of his fellow Fulani cows more than Nigerians’.
The Oyo State scenario is both similar and dissimilar to the Ondo imbroglio. One Sunday Igboho, who before now was notorious as leader of a statewide land-grabbing cartel and political violence, had reportedly given a seven-day ultimatum to Fulanis to leave Yorubaland. Following a spate of murders, kidnappings and robberies allegedly perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen in Oyo, Igboho was said to have stormed Igangan, Ibarapa area residence of the Seriki Fulani, Saliu Abdul-Kadri, to tell him that an end had come to the Fulani irritancy.
In a statement issued by Governor Makinde however, he seemed to have sounded like a pacifist in the war to rid Yorubaland of the evil of Fulani herdsmen’s notoriety. While noting that “individuals who are not authorized are going around chasing people from their homes and causing mayhem,” Makinde said that “This assault on residents of Oyo state is not the way to further the Yoruba cause.” And that his administration would not “sit back and watch anyone make any law-abiding resident of Oyo State feel unsafe in their homes, farms, or business places.” Igboho was apparently the referent in Makinde’s innuendo.
Compared to the unusual valour, courage and strength demonstrated by Akeredolu, on the superficial, Makinde sounded like one kowtowing before the Fulani vermin sucking the blood of Yorubaland. However, if you were abreast of some of the issues oscillating in Oyo State, you cannot but act with Makinde’s kind of caution. One is that, but for his latter-day claim to fighting for the people, the name Sunday Igboho was associated with violence, land-grabbing, tyranny and political gangsterism. Hundreds of families who have, over the years, fallen victim of Igboho’s land-related violence would be very circumspect on the real motive of his new-found activism.
I suspect that this de-javu undergirded the governor’s fear on Igboho. Should government accommodate the Igboho irritancy and promote outlaws in urgent thirst of rebranding into undeserved heroism? Which is more desirable in the bid to rout the Fulani criminal elements: embrace the crudity of rogue elements and their lawlessness, resort to their outlandish interventions and by that, justifying the pains and despair they inflicted on the people? In theory, any government which openly goes into an unholy dalliance with the lord of thugs cannot earn the respect of the people of Oyo State.
However, the above operates in the realm of theory. No governor is Chief Security Officer of his state, except in nomenclature. Seizing on the vacuum in security over the years and the known powerlessness of governors to rescue them from their tormentors, Igboho has become a hero among the traumatized people of Oyo State and as such, response to his call to arms is awesome. His heroism seems to have obliterated the long years of his infamy from the minds of the people. Today, Igboho is the David to the rescue of the people from the Fulani Goliath, their own Ogbomoso’s Ogbori Elemoso of the 15th century, and Makinde seems inconsequential in the equation.
So, is Sunday Igboho a reincarnation of Ogunlola? The story of Elemoso cannot be divorced from the Ogbomosho history, its civilisation and conquest. It is the story of Olabanjo Ogunlola Ogundiran, an Ibariba. In 1650, history reported that Ogunlola and his wife named Esuu migrated to current site of Ogbomoso in continuation of his hunting expeditions. They settled beside the Ajagbon tree. With other hunters, Aale, a Nupe descendant; Onisile and Orisatola, they formed the Alongo, a system of administration aimed at securing their settlement against wild animals and enemy invasion. Imprisoned in Oyo-Ile for his oft delve into criminal activities, Ogunlola heard of the notoriety of a wicked and deadly character called Elemoso who was terrorizing Oyo-Ile people. He was believed to be a spirit. Ogunlola then went to the Alaafin to ask for his permission to confront this terror. At the palace, as Ogunlola told the king of his quest, palace courtiers shouted, “Elemoso, eni t’a o ri! Iwo ke! – Elemoso, an invincible man! You?” Grudgingly, Alaafin gave him the go-ahead and Ogunlola stormed Elemoso’s camp and shot him with an arrow, beheaded him and proceeded to the palace with the decapitated Elemoso.
On the surface and judging by his actions since he became governor, Makinde doesn’t seem to harbor any motive to be a Fulani fawner. More than many of his ilk in the PDP, he has fought the Buhari government’s policies most vigorously and has made the federal government look very stupid thereby, subtly underscoring the tissues of issues in true practice of federalism. His stubborn defiance of federal government’s herd mentality of COVID-19 lockdown and school resumption dates are core examples.
That notwithstanding, Makinde and the rest governors of the Southwest would need to flirt after what I call the Akeredolu spirit if they are to be respected by their people. Not doing this will make them to be worthless in the people’s estimation like Muhammadu Buhari and his government. This must however be executed with strict adherence to law and superior logic that the Yoruba are known by, the type that Akeredolu is deploying on Fulanis in Ondo State.
For some weeks now, that irrepressible Ibadan-based broadcaster, Edmund Obilo, has been bringing out the lamentable plights of the people of Igangan in the hands of Fulani herders and drawing out Makinde to confront them headlong. We all know that this won’t happen. With Buhari lionizing the herders in their infamy, no policeman will follow any governor on this suicidal mission.
Yes, I believe that Igboho is very central to this war now. However, he must go through some purgatory, be cleansed of the land-grabbing blood in his hands and return to the fold as leader of the traditional military response to the Fulani menace. There must be genuine repentance and forgiveness for his horde of infractions from thousands of people he inflicted pains upon. The next step would be for Makinde to collaborate with him after his penance to jointly rout the foreign invaders. None of the duo can do it alone. The two, with the support of Amotekun and the science of African metaphysics, should militantly move into the troubled areas of the state where Fulani herdsmen’s vitriol is most burningly dominant and, like Babagana Zulum, working with natives, smoke the blood-sucking deviants back to their land of infamy.
They should both forget their individual political leanings for now, for the sake of the people. This is because, as Bob Marley sang, all the Fulani criminals and their patrons in government desire at this moment for their evil to thrive is for the governor and Igboho “to keep fussing and fighting.” If government militarily descends on Igboho now, he may sprout uncontrollably and become another Muhammed Yusuff, progenitor of Boko Haram insurgency, whose rout by ex-Gov Ali Modu Sheriff and federal government precipitated the colossal havoc today on Nigeria. Igboho will even have the sympathy of the people. I will support him.
Again and very urgently too, Makinde should stampede out those foreigners and their local Fulani accomplices on Okada terrorising the people. He should also rid Mokola Bridge, as well as the streets of Oyo State, of the eyesore of Northern Nigerian beggars who are defacing its environmental aesthetics and highly burnished peace. If Kaduna’s Nasir el-Rufai and Kano’s Ganduje could deport the eyesore of Almajirifrom their states, South West has no business cuddling the menace that the North brought upon itself.
Being firm against the impunity and terrorism of Fulani herders is where the Southwest must begin to externalize what it means by restructuring, a lasecurity. It should then proceed to escalate it further. The ultimate should be a campaign across the region, which must begin now, that only a bastard child of Yorubaland will vote in an unrestructured Nigeria in 2023. By then, Buhari, his Fulani stock and the bastardsamong Yoruba children who have already begun to campaign for positions in an unrestructured 2023 Nigeria, will begin to take Yorubaland seriously. We must stop them in this act of grabbing spoons to swallow their electoral vomit.
As I was putting my submissions to bed, I learnt that the federal government had ordered Igboho’s arrest. Great. It seems thesis and antithesis are about to clash so that we can see a synthesis. Perhaps this will speed up the denouement of this Fulani grisly drama. If a Buhari who has never put any Fulani murderer on trial in his over five years reign suddenly recognises the colour of law and order, then let’s see whether Yoruba will allow this presidential tribal impunity to stand.
How To Achieve Immortality: The Agbato Example
I never had the pleasure of meeting Olatunde Aiyedun Agbato, the Veterinary Doctor and giant farmer whose renown in the Nigerian agricultural sector is said to be a stuff of legends. Agbato died early this month at the age of 71 and was buried last Friday. Aside his wide expanse of agricultural site located in his hometown of Ogere in Ogun State which no passerby on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway can fail to notice, I picked legends about Agbato’s colossus status from two of his mentees, Olumide Origunloye and Adetona Obidele. Both passed through Agbato’s mentorship and regaled anyone who cared to listen with how the University of Ibadan 1975 Veterinary Medicine graduate’s humanity and mentoring have moulded hundreds of leading lights in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
From a brief stint as an academic in his Ibadan varsity alma mater, Agbato moved into the private sector, establishing the O.A. & O.A. Associates which later transmuted into the Animal Care Services. That agricultural company, with special bias for poultry farming, later grew to become a pantheon and legendary colossus in the livestock products sector in Nigeria as a multi-billion Naira concern. It is impossible to mention three of such legends in Nigeria and skip Agbato’s which is reputed to be one of the hugest private sector employers of veterinarians and allied professionals in Nigeria. His giving back to his Ibadan varsity roots made the university award him the 2017 Alumnus of the Year.
Rather than the business empire he built from the scratch or the wealth he made therefrom, what I found most ennobling about Agbato are the various men and women he moulded, the eulogies of whom caused a huge traffic in the trove of elegies at his departure. It behoves all of us to constantly ruminate on the likely content of the world’s summation of our existence at our departure. Before the ailment which eventually took him away struck, Agbato must have projected a far longer life for himself. This speaks to the brevity of life and the uncertainty of the date and time of its strike.
His investment in humanity was his hugest trophy on earth. His mantra was “the candle doesn’t lose anything by lighting other candles.” He was said to have scant relationship with governments but the private sector. This manifested at his burial on Friday and while alive. Though a numero uno poultry farmer in Nigeria and his huge contributions to agriculture, he was never given any national award in recognition of his contributions. Government also carried this disdain to his burial. The highest government official present at this solemn occasion was the Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Senator Adegboyega Kaka, the latter, Agbato’s colleague.
To uplift the status of his sleepy town of Ogere, he moved his Animal Care company there some years ago. Banks and other commercial ventures, ipso facto, moved to Ogere because of him and his people benefitted immensely from this gesture. It was said that there is no home in Ogere that didn’t have a representative among his staff. Agbato was a shrewd businessman with a can-do spirit of moving the biblical mountains and who didn’t believe anything on earth was impossible. His company was the first to begin producing vaccines for Nigerian poultry and in 1986, when investors were eloping from Nigeria on account of the constricting economy, Agbato stepped in to fill the vacuum by unilaterally producing poultry feeds for Nigerian agricultural sector. He was ahead of his peers by more than one million miles.
Yes, the world has become more plastic and cosmetic than ever before, breeding a hostile world where no one bothers nor is eager to sow into the life of the other person. It is a life reminiscent of habitation in the jungle where survival of the fittest is the rule and eliminating the weakest at random is the unwritten code. Here, the lions, tigers, hyenas and other wilds feast upon the feeble and miserable lots like the impala, antelopes and the likes while the crocodiles of this world even feast on the young crocs of their own species. Let’s learn from Agbato and make our lives to nevertheless be devoted to doing good and nothing more. Since no one who dies has ever returned here to give account of the modus operandi in the hereafter, we should all decorate our existence with bouquets of conscious daily living for humanity. How sure are we that the higher the tone of positive eulogies and garlands at our departure, the more certain we will achieve immortality? If the evocative elegies of his good works on earth are the qualification for a greater higher life, then Sir Agbato is right now in heaven.
…We‘ll digitalise educational system in Oyo – Makinde
Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Tuesday, said that his administration remains committed to digitalising the educational system in the state with a view to bringing about qualitative education and enhancing teaching and learning.
The governor equally stated that his administration is ready to partner with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on quality education service delivery in the state.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor stated this while receiving a delegation of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the Universal Basic Education Commission led by the KOICA Country Director, Mr. Woochan Chang, at the Courtesy Room of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan.
The statement added that the KOICA delegation was in Ibadan to inspect on-going construction works on a Smart (Model) School Project being constructed by UBEC in Sogunro Village, along Moniya-Oyo Road, Akinyele Local Government Area.
While welcoming the delegation, Governor Makinde explained that as part of his administration’s determination to improve the standard of education in the state, his government has budgeted 21 to 22 per cent for education in the 2021 budget.
The governor said: “We have 21 to 22 per cent for education in our budget and it is unprecedented.”
He added: “I personally take special interest in the smart school project. I went to the project site and we will ensure that the quality meets international standards. I am glad that you are looking at interventions in ICT because e-governance is something we have also been looking at.
“With the pandemic, the challenges for us to take knowledge to our students became really compounded. So, what we have done in Oyo State, even at this secretariat, is to move towards e-governance. We have laid fiber-optic cables all around. We have bought computers and we are in the process of ensuring that our processes are moved towards e-governance where we are not going to be carrying files all over the place.
“We are doing the same thing at the primary and secondary school levels. We will prepare people for e-governance. The importance of moving everybody – both the students and teachers – to have appreciation of ICT became really hectic.
“You have our commitment as we have the SSG and Chairman of SUBEB to take you to our ICT Centre here. Before we came in, it was just a dream in the pipeline but we are now executing.”
The governor, who maintained that the on-going construction work on the Smart (Model) School project in Ibadan will be ready for commissioning in the next 8-10 weeks, said his administration has always put its money where its mouth is.
“In terms of putting our mouth where our money is, the budget performance for last year, close to 60 per cent is a clear departure from the past where budget performance was always around 35 or 36 per cent.
“I believe that this particular model school will start soon and we will be monitoring them. Like the chairman of SUBEB said, hopefully in the next 8-10 weeks, we should have the project ready for your intervention.
“This is me having the responsibility to ensure that our programmes for the improvement of education in the state are executed. I am here with you this morning, which is to demonstrate enough commitment at the highest level in paying attention to one of the major pillars for us.
“Again, for me personally, I am not an elite as I did not come from the Upper Class. I came from the lower-middle class and the only thing that brought me to the table was the fact that I got educated.
“So, you can rest assured that if you need to see me, it will be arranged quickly and we will do everything within our power as a government to ensure our students get the best in terms of education,” the governor said.
The governor added that his administration would like to collaborate with the South Korean government in the area of vocational and technical education in the state.
He said: “Quite frankly, we will love to have intervention programmes in our vocational and technical education as well, because we have a lot of our graduates either riding Okada or roaming the streets.
“Yes, they get a formal education but there is still a gap in terms of responsibility, and how they can easily just roll into the economy and make their contributions.
“I know that South Korea has been at the fore-front of technology. So, soft areas such as vocational and technical will be a good curriculum for us. These are areas that if we have partners willing and able to support us, we will demonstrate the seriousness that is required.
“In anything that you are doing with us, please feel free to carry out an audit to come back and see the sustainability of some of the things that you will do with us. You can rest assured, we will do everything within our power to give back confidence and to have that openness such that you also will be assured that your money is not being wasted.”
Earlier, the Country Director of KOICA CA), Mr. Chang, said that the agency is partnering with UBEC on the provision of multimedia equipment and facilities to the model school.
He said: “We are here on assessment. We’ve met the governor, SUBEB chairman and other education officials in the state. We are here for an on-the-site visit to the school construction area. We need to see how much the government and SUBEB are eager to utilise the investment for the future education in the state.
“We are representing the South Korea Government. We have supported many countries in the world. KOICA is supporting many countries in social and economic development. Basically, we promote digital performance and digital education in Nigeria. On the other hand, we have an interest in promoting ICT, digital education in Nigeria.”
I have never been timid or shy of my total support for the success of your administration to deliver the country to the Promised Land.
My confidence had always been based on Your Excellency’s ability, fitness and competence in leading the country to the Promised Land, where Law and Order prevail, individual liberty is guaranteed, economic well-being of the citizens is assured.
That my confidence in Your Excellency remains unshaken to date. In recent time however, I am worried about the security situation in the country, especially in the South West geo-political zone, nay the entire Yoruba-speaking area of the country including Kwara, Kogi and Edo states.
This has to do with the incessant and increasing menace of Fulani herdsmen that have laid siege in almost all the highways of Yoruba land. Whether in Owo, Akure, Ilesa/Ife-Ibadan road or Ibarapa zone and Ijebu area of Ogun state, the story is the same.
I have held series of consultations with opinion moulders and eminent Yoruba leaders across board about the menace of these cattle herdsmen with such assault like raping of our women and in some occasions, in the presence of their husbands. That is apart from massive destruction of our agricultural lands; which ultimately points to imminent starvation.
On top of it all is the menace of professional kidnappers usually in military uniforms. What is more worrisome about the kidnapping notoriety is what looks like impunity which these kidnappers enjoy their nefarious activities.
After due consultations with Yoruba leaders and as the pre-colonial head of the Yoruba nation, we are worried by the audacity of these lawless people in effecting their illegal acts in broad daylight on our usually bushy highways without any arm of security being able to do anything.
Worse still is the confidence with which they demand ransoms and collect such illegal levies atthem designated spots without any arm of security being able to lay siege on them as it was the practice in the recent past.
Now, we cannot even talk of parading suspects, when in actual sense, no major arrests have been made in this part of the country. Without arrests, we cannot talk of their facing of the law.
Unfortunately, and painfully indeed, in the face of the apparent helplessness of our security agencies, where do we go from here?
It is at the wake of this manifest frustration of our people that our people have found it unavoidable, even though reluctantly to resort to alternative measures to safeguard their lives and property.
Suffice to say that is most part of Yoruba land, their pre-colonial military structures have not been totally collapsed. Hence, such structures like Odua People’s Congress, Agbekoya and other vigilance groups.
Having stated the above, and having established my premise as a stakeholder in your administration in the firm belief that we all believe in the Nigeria project, kindly permit me, Mr President, to make the following points and submissions as the Alaafin of Oyo, the King and Head of all Yoruba at home and in the diaspora and the Chief Custodian of Yoruba culture and values.
The people of Yorubaland in the traditional six State of the South-West geo-political zone and extending to some parts of Kogi, Kwara and Edo State live in palpable fear because of new wave of insecurity of life and property they now witness on a daily basis and which is alien to them. This new uncomplimentary development is not unrelated to the new wave of criminal activities usually associated with banditry, armed robbery and lately, kidnapping and rape of genuinely innocent and law abiding citizens.
I remember when these nefarious activities were first noticed in Oyo/Oke Ogun area of Oyo State, I took proactive steps to stem the tide and to amicably normalize relations between farmers and herders. Our initiative succeeded because we were dealing with genuine farmers and herders who had a commitment to Nigeria and who were interested in promoting their economic activities in a peaceful, prosperous and united Nigeria.
However, it is becoming obvious that the nature and character of banditry and kidnapping today are different from what they used to be.
Today, it is not merely infraction in the course of doing business, but blatant and criminal violation of the constitutional right to life and liberty of innocent citizens of Yoruba land. A few publicly known instances will suffice.
Certain individuals were kidnapped along Erio-Aromoko road, Ekiti State. They were tortured and exposed to danger in the forest for upward of two weeks.
These victims included the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikole Branch, Adeola Adebayo whose decomposing body was eventually found after a ransom price of four million Naira had been paid.
Two officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps both Yoruba were picked up along Ilesa-Akure highway. In the process of this kidnap, an unnamed individual died.
Musibau Adetumbi, a legal practitioner based in Ibadan was going to attend an Appeal Court session in Akure when he was kidnapped along Ilesa-Akure highway. Professor Adegbehingbe, a surgeon at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife was adopted along Ibadan-Ile-ife highway. Dr. Muslim Omoleke, the Administrative Secretary of the National Electoral Commission was kidnapped around Ilesa, Osun State.
Mr Ayo Oladele, an employee of Guinness Nigeria and an Old Student of Christ School, Ado-Ekiti was adopted and taken away and lately, Dayo Adewole, son of a member of your 2015-2019 executive council and Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole was kidnapped on his farm at Iroko, a village along Ibadan-Oyo road.
There are many other instances of kidnapping, raid, rape and banditry not publicly known but which were reported to the Police and other law enforcement organizations.
As ugly as the picture above seems to be, the people of Yoruba land have remained generally peaceful and have resisted concerted efforts to push them into civil disobedience or adopting self-help mechanisms to protect themselves in their homeland.
They have demonstrated confidence in you and in your ability to stem the tide of these criminal activities. Yoruba have been restrained from believing the new found Islamization or Fulanization theory.
I am therefore writing to you, as a concerned stakeholder in your administration, to alert you and demonstrate to you, the urgency of the need to quickly respond to these and other issues concerning Yoruba land.
There is a general impression among opposition group that you are not known to take decisive and proactive steps in many matters of national interest and that you are not usually too disturbed about the gale of insecurity in Yoruba land.
May I also share with you the outcome or product of my wide consultations in Yoruba land to let you know, beyond what official security reports will make available to you, that there is a growing feeling of frustration, disappointment and despondency among our people, which if not immediately addressed, could lead to other serious national catastrophes and security challenges.
The present state of insecurity is posing enormous challenges to people’s engagements in other economic activities. The incessant and increasing menace on our highways and farms in Yoruba land is making farming and other economic activities hazardous and dangerous.
I recall with sadness that the Old Oyo Empire disintegrated because the slave trade introduced insecurity that made all other economic activities which had supported and enhanced the prosperity of Oyo to decline. It is never my wish that any part of Nigeria will ever go through this harrowing experience again.
Apart from massive destruction of farms and crops planted on them, the new wave of Fulani, pretending and disguising as herders have unleashed a reign of terror on Yoruba land.
They destroy crops, they kidnap men and women, violate and rape our women, right in the presence of their husbands. What this portends id definitely more than the simplistic interpretation of farmer/herder clash but the deliberate acts of hostility and criminality.
What makes it worrisome is the fact that for reasons best known to the Police establishment, they have not been apprehending or pretend to be in the defence of victims.
There is always a tendency to blame the victims and demonstrate helplessness in apprehending and bringing perpetrators to book to face the full wrath of the law.
It is even said, Mr President that these criminal pseudo herders go about their nefarious activities in broad daylight and many times in military uniform. They carry sophisticated weapons, the likes of which are only available to state actors.
There seems to be no doubt that the security apparatus of the country is both overstretched and rustic.
The philosophy of policing the State, protecting life and property and ensuring the existence of atmosphere that is conducive to life and living in Nigeria is lost on the security personnel. In Yoruba land, we are scared and worried about the outrageous audacity and effrontery of these criminal elements in carrying out their activities and without any challenge by security operatives.
In situation where money exchanged hands, the Police are adequately equipped to trace every paper money issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Intelligence gathering concerning money paid as ransom should lead, finally to these criminals since they would eventually make transactions with the proceeds of their illicit and criminal activities.
As no major arrest of Fulani pseudo herdsmen has been made till date in Yoruba land, suspects cannot be paraded, let alone arraigned.
Even threatened a sitting traditional ruler and asked him to comply with certain directives go about as if they are indeed above the law and beyond arrest. It is unheard of that the State could be seemingly helpless in the face of these criminal assaults on its integrity and capacity to carry out the most sacred of its mandate; preserving life and property.
Mr President, let me assure you that the Yoruba people traditionally have what it takes to defend themselves and interests against all enemy attacks. What is of immediate concern is the possibility of these traditional self-help mechanisms of defence to conflict with legal and constitutional framework of the security organizations.
This is indeed my greatest fear, recluse the situation is fast degenerating into what could trigger complete breakdown of law and order under a constitutional state arrangement. Thus latent frustration must be nipped in the bud to avert a breakdown of the state system in Yoruba land.
I am aware that members of the Odua People’s Congress scattered all over the world are already being mobilized to stand in the defence of their land and are ready, willing and able to raise an army of volunteers as was done in 1968 by the Agbekoya.
It is trite saying that a stitch in time saves nine. For me, and relying on ancient wisdom, the dilemma of a possible breakdown of state authority and power could still be manages and the slide to anarchy arrested.
Historically, and even now, ethnic relations between the Yoruba and the Fulani had been managed adroitly through excellent statesmanship and participatory administration of inter-ethnic group relations. I have had many instances of settling farmer/herder disagreements in my Palace to the extent of instituting workable modalities for inter communal conflict management and peace building.
What is strange is the new wave of criminally minded Fulani groups. What is again disappointing is the ease with which these criminals will leave our country should there be anarchy in the land.
They have other places to return to, but Nigerians don’t have another country apart from here.
This is a serious national emergency, when Fulani herdsmen are engaged in criminality all over the country and the sitting federal government seems helpless and generally unperturbed by what is going on in the security organizations. There is no doubt that some leaders of these security organizations are either incompetent or bankrupt of ideas. Some are even compromised to take any decisive actions against criminals.
What we are witnessing in Nigeria is an anomaly because it is inconceivable that in the 21st century, when the whole world is making appreciable progress in providing enhanced standard of living, Nigerians will be living under the fear of banditry, brigandage, rape, kidnapping and terrorism.
Insecurity is posing a direct threat and imminent danger to living in Nigeria. It is capable of de-robing the country in the comity of nations and passing it off as uncivilized and barbaric.
As more and more countries issue travel restrictions to Nigeria and parts thereof, it is just a matter of time for Nigeria to lose whatever gains it has made in repositioning itself for more decisive participation in the international system.
I trust that you will not allow this to happen and will quickly and decisively take immediate steps to re-established confidence in your government and demonstrate the capacity of the state to protect all legitimate interests.
I wish you God’s guidance, courage and wisdom to do what is right, appropriate and necessary to build the Nigeria of our dreams, where no ethnic group is oppressed or taken for granted.
While urging you to take out time to read and consider this letter as coming from a stakeholder in your administration, I wish to assure you of the warmest regards of the Royal stool.
