ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that the Southwest governors and the leadership of Miyetti Allah are set to meet on Monday over Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s order to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves.
Akeredolu had last Monday issued a seven-day ultimatum to herdsmen in the forest reserves to leave the area as part of measures to curb kidnappings and banditry.
The national leadership of the Miyetti Allah, The Nation learnt on Sunday, was already in Akure, the state capital, ahead of the meeting.
A source said it was the Presidency that directed the leadership of Miyetti Allah to hold the meeting with governors of the region.
A media aide to one of the Southwest governors, who preferred anonymity, told reporters in Akure that his boss would attend the meeting.
According to him, “The whole thing was about the misconception. We all know the Presidency misinterpreted the Ondo State government’s directive. They took it to mean a total action which intended to clear the state of all herders.
“And while admitting that the spokesman to Mr President acted hastily and without proper authorisation, they (Presidency) have reached out to other governors to facilitate a meeting where the leadership of Miyyetti Allah would likely plead for time to comply with the directive.
“My principal is involved and very concerned too because this is a Yoruba matter and not a personal issue between Aketi and the herders. So we are coming to Akure for the meeting tomorrow at 12. We need to give the honour to our chairman, the governor of Ondo State who is even leading the fight against insecurity in the region”.
Ondo Commissioner for Information and Orientation Donald Ojogo said meetings were not unusual.
“Well, meetings of that nature, if true, are not unusual. We are all in it together. No ethnic group or a particular trade is the target of the government order. So it will be a welcome development if the meeting is holding. There is nothing too unusual about it,” he said.
A delegation of Oyo State Government officials and the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko, on Sunday, toured the trouble spots of Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun areas of the state where they conducted on-the-spot assessment of the tenson-soaked communities. The Commissioner of Police, who led senior Police officers including Deputy Commissioners of Police and Mobile Police Commanders on a tour of Igangan, Tede and Ago Are communities sued for peace, while also declaring the readiness of the Police to embark on a thorough investigation to ensure justice for victims of kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and other crimes. The Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security, Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni (rtd), who led the government’s delegation also appealed to community leaders, youths and Hausa-Fulani residents to eschew violence and live in peace. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, added that Owoseni told the people to be vigilant and ensure they identify the criminal elements among them for prosecution by the Police, declaring that no one should take laws into their hands. He also debunked insinuations that the government of Governor Makinde has abandoned the people to their fate, adding that at least 51 suspected perpetrators of kidnapping, rape and banditry are currently in police net from Oke Ogun axes. He said that government would ensure that justice prevails in the cases involving the arrested lot, adding, however, that the people must remain vigilant. “If you see something, say something,” Owoseni counseled residents of the visited communities. The delegation also visited the razed home of the Seriki Fulani in Igangan, where it assessed the extent of damage and promised thorough investigation. Secretary of Igangan Development Advocates, Lawal Akeem, who spoke in Igangan, said that the people were tired of the antics of the Seriki Fulani, Alhaji Saliu Abdukadir, whom he accused of complicity in different cases. He also said that the community has been forced to pay about N50 million in ransom for different cases of kidnapping, while also accusing Fulani herders of regularly vandalising farms and raping women of the community. Another youth in the town, Taiwo Adeagbo, said that no fewer than 15 women have been raped in recent weeks. A member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Peter Ojedokun, also told the delegation that Ibarapaland had been peaceful all the while but that the peace was affected recently when Fulani herders started attacking members of the community on their farms, kidnapping persons and committing crimes. Two Fulani leaders, the Seriki Fulani of Igbo Ora, Alhaji Idris Abubakar, and the Seriki Fulani of Eruwa, Alhaji Sule Mohammed, asked for forgiveness from those offended, adding that they are ready to facilitate a peaceful coexistence in Ibarapaland. The Caretaker Chairman of Ibarapa North-West Local Council Development Area, Hon. Okediji Samuel Olusegun, also corroborated the allegations leveled against the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, saying that the Seriki has been fingered in the series of security challenges in the area many times. Addressing the gathering of traditional rulers, government officials and Fulani leaders in Igangan, the Commissioner of Police, Onadeko said: “We have come to assess and listen to you over the incident that happened. I want to appeal to everyone of us to be calm and ensure there is peace. If there is no peace in the community, there won’t be growth and development. “I want to appeal to the youth. We have listened and they have interpreted all your complaints and I want to say you should not spoil your case by using force. We are a new team. Bring out all the cases you have, put them in an orderly manner and we will make sure that justice is done. “So, I want to enjoin all of you to be peaceful and live with one another in a peaceful manner. If we live in peace in this community, we should be able to identify kidnappers, robbers, and rapists. It does not matter where you come from – whether you are from Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa. Actually, we have the good and bad ones. Criminality is not only ascribed to a particular ethnic group, it cuts across all the ethnic groups. “So, if we don’t come together with one voice, how are we going to fish out all these people? “Please, be calm. Cooperate with the Police, law enforcement agencies and we will make this place secure for everyone, irrespective of where you come from. “I want to assure you that all the cases you brought up, a thorough investigation will be done on them and you will see that justice will be delivered. We will be having more of this interactive session and consultative gathering so that we will be able to sit down, talk and iron things out together without resorting to violence, which does not pay. “Please, don’t take laws into your hands. Just tell us. Let us have peace and everything, by the grace of God, will be okay for all of us.” While also speaking at Igangan, retired Commissioner of Police, Owoseni, said that the government of the day in Oyo State has been working closely with the Police to fish out criminal elements, adding that 51 suspected criminals linked to kidnapping and other crimes committed in Oke Ogun and Ibarapa areas are already in Police net. He said some are already charged to court, while others would soon have their days in court. He said: “Let us put sentiment and politics aside, from what we heard, it is not as if the Ibarapa community is against one ethnic group. What they are claiming and the allegation they have made is that a particular person, who they are now seeing to symbolise an entire ethnic group, has been misbehaving. It is just like what the governor has been saying; that there is trust-deficit between the people and the government, mistrust between the people and law enforcement agencies. “If you look at the catalogue of what has been said, they feel they have not been given justice and they feel that someone has been stalling justice. “They feel that someone has been dropping names in order to oppress the community. I believe that with the steps that have been taken to mend all these gaps and with the assurance that the Commissioner of Police has given that they will look at all the cases again, there will be a change.” Speaking specifically on investigations and arrests, the retired Police Commissioner said: “There are a lot of narratives that have not been given out. “Everybody believes that kidnapping, assasination had taken place in Igangan and it seems the government was not doing anything. “Truth is, 51 suspects have been in detention for various offences that bother on this kidnapping. “Arrests were made. Some have been arraigned in court. Some are awaiting trial. For some, investigation are still ongoing, which we made them know. “Everyone will learn lessons, especially the police officer that was accused of complicity in some of these cases. “The CP has given that assurance that every victim will get justice and all the allegations they have made as to the Seriki colluding with criminals, will be looked into.” The delegation, which also visited Ago Are and Tede communities, which got engulfed in communal clashes over the weekend, held peace parleys at the Ago Are town hall and the palace of the Onitede of Tede, Oba Rauf Oladoyin. The Commissioner of Police, Onadeko appealed for peace between the two communities, promising to host a peace meeting in her office before the end of the week. Owoseni, who addressed newsmen at the palace, said that it was wrong for anyone to take laws into his hands, adding that the people must learn to trust security agencies to achieve peace in their areas. He said of the communal clash between Tede and Ago Are: “This is an evidence of what the governor is doing on the security situation in the state. While the crisis in Igangan was brewing, that was when we heard that these two communities – Tede and Ago-Are – were also at war. “The purpose of coming here today is to nip in the bud this communal fight. There is an immediate and remote cause but in order to quickly make it not to fester, we are here.” The Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Francis Olusola Alao, who is also the Deputy Chairman of Oyo State Council of Traditional Rulers, who was in Igangan, Tede and Ago Are, also appealed for peace, insisting that the state can only develop in an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence. He appealed to the youths to always report their cases to the security agencies, adding that self-help cannot help anyone at the end of the day. Other monarchs at the Igangan peace parley held at the Igangan Town Hall include the Asigangan of Igangan, a representative of the Eleruwa, the Olu of Igbo Ora, and monarchs from adjoining communities in Ibarapaland.
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
A Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo Igboho who gave quit notice to the Hausa-Fulani in Igangan, Oke Ogun area of Oyo State, led indigenes of the area to attack the Hausa-Fulani community on Friday, 22nd January, 2021. The incident allegedly resulted in the destruction of houses and vehicles. In its reaction to the incident, the Nigerian Islamic human rights organization, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called for dialogue and wider consultation. MURIC advised the Federal Government to apply caution in handling the fragile situation.
This was contained in a statement issued by the director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola on Sunday, 24 th January, 2021. According to MURIC, “The Igangan incident must be condemned by all lovers of peace. But at the same time, we cannot close our eyes to the pain and suffering of farmers and indigenes of the area whom criminals see as soft targets for kidnapping, armed robbery, etc. It is however crystal clear that it is not a religious matter, though some have been misled into labeling it an Hausa-Fulani affair. Our focus must be the criminals, not any tribe.
“While we do not endorse violence, we opine that people whose farms have been destroyed have the right to express indignation. In the same manner, those whose relations or friends have fallen victims to criminal activities like kidnapping and armed robbery are justified to speak up. The only difference here is that no single tribe should be held responsible for all the crimes.
“This is because criminals abound in all faiths and tribes everywhere in the world, not only in Nigeria. We should therefore address crime and criminals. We should target kidnappers and armed robbers, not any particular ethnicity. Those who make the mistake of profiling people of certain tribes will end up hurting decent elements within that tribe and this is against the law of natural justice.
“With particular reference to the Oyo and Ondo State incidents and the quit notices, MURIC reminds people of the South West that the crisis cuts across ethnicities. The same herdsmen are involved in several states. Benue, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba, Enugu, Onitsha, PortHarcourt, etc, are facing the same problem of herdsmen versus farmers. In essence, the phenomenon is general and not targeted at the Yoruba per se.
“Almost all the northern states face the herdsmen versus farmers conflict, banditry and kidnapping. People of the South West must consider the fate of thousands of their kinsmen from Ogbomosho, Offa, Iwo, Ibadan, etc who have resided in the North for more than a hundred years before insisting on a general expulsion of Northerners.
“Truth is bitter, but the earlier we say it the better. Herdsmen have no right to destroy crops. This is where people have genuine grievances against herdsmen. But indigenes should not label all herdsmen as kidnappers because there are law abiding citizens among them. Yet the most disturbing thing is that many of the criminals are foreigners. Our suggestion is that it is these criminals and foreigners that the security agencies (including amotekun) should go after.
“Instead of applying the big stick, MURIC advises the Federal Government to consult widely with elders from all the states of the federation concerning the issue of herdsmen versus farmers with a view to finding a comprehensive solution. FG should also seek advice from other African countries where the same crisis has been on the front burner at one time or the other since this conflict is not restricted to Nigeria alone. It is national, continental and universal in dimension.
“To douse tension immediately, both FG and the Oyo State government should undertake to speedily and adequately compensate victims of the latest conflict in Igangan, Oyo State. FG in particular should take greater responsibility because it is the nationwide lacuna in security matters that has been responsible for the breakdown in law and order.
“Instead of issuing threats and counter-threats, we appeal to the various ethnicities in the country to understand the nature of the conflict. Herders and farmers crisis is not a Nigerian problem alone, it is universal. Nigeria needs to seek an enduring panacea to its own peculiar problems instead of aggravating the conflict. We must learn from the war in Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, etc and the attendant humanitarian disasters. This is still avoidable in Nigeria.
“MURIC’s avowed motto is ‘Dialogue, Not Violence’. We therefore advocate wide scale dialogue in the present circumstances. MURIC advises the FG to apply caution in handling the fragile situation. FG should take responsibility, compensate victims of the attack in Oyo State and engage all stakeholders in dialogue. We call on governors in affected states to consult traditional rulers on the best solution to the crisis. All forms of confrontation and muscle-flexing should stop in the interest of peace.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
For soldiers to escort murderous Fulani herdsmen back to a community in Ogun state from which they were earlier evicted and then to publicly whip members of that community for evicting them simply beggars belief.
Have the people of the South West now become slaves in their fathers land? Have we finally been conquered and occupied?
It is utterly mind-blowing. It is wicked. It is evil. It is unacceptable. How much more bloodshed, carnage, violence, insults and humiliation are the people of the South West expected to take? Soldiers are whipping our people like dogs in the street in order to reinstate those that are killing, raping and maiming them?
Is our Army a Nigerian Army or a Fulani Army? Are the Fulanis superior to all others? Are they above the law? Is the Presidency a Nigerian Presidency or a Fulani Presidency? Why do they always speak out in defence of killer herdsmen and never for their victims?
It is only when you have met someone whose whole family has been raped and butchered by Fulani herdsmen that you will know or appreciate what is going on in the South West. It has become a daily occurrence.
They have kidnapped, maimed and slaughtered traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, elder-statesmen, farmers, artesans, lecturers, teachers, students, artists, pure-water sellers, market women, hairdressers, the rich, the poor, women, children and so many others including the beautiful daughter of Baba Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of Afenifere.
For Miyetti Allah, the ACF, the NEF or anyone else to say that the Fulani “own all the land in Nigeria” and that we are “being provocative”, “beating the drums of war” and “asking for a second civil war” by calling for the arrest and eviction of the killer herdsmen and murderous thugs from our land is insulting and provocative.
Only the ignorant, cowardly and uninformed talk like that. Only those that are secretly behind the carnage, that profit from it and that sent the herdsmen to unleash terror on us can say such things.
The Constitution does not grant the Fulani or anyone else the right to commit murder in Nigeria or to turn the South West into their killing fields. The Constitution does not regard Yoruba blood as being cheaper than others and neither does it prescribe that the Yoruba people are to be treated like sacrificial lambs and killed at will.
Some Yoruba leaders want to be President or Vice President in 2023 and are therefore prepared to keep quiet and tolerate this rubbish that is being done to our people. I am not one of those leaders. Nothing in this world can make me trade in the blood and lives of my people. Nothing will make me turn a blind eye to their sufferings or betray them.
For me my people come first and politics or political expediency comes a distant second. I will speak the truth no matter the consequences, no matter what it costs me and no matter whose ox is gored.
And the truth is that Chief Sunday Igboho, Governor Akeredolu, Afenifere, Professor Akintoye, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, SOKAPU, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) and all the other individuals and bodies that have spoken out against the murderous activities of the herdsmen in the South West and elsewhere are right.
And those that have supported or attempted to rationalise the criminal behaviour of the killers in the name of political correctness or political expediency are treacherous, shameless and irresponsible.
If you are a Yoruba man and you want to be President or Vice President I wonder whose affairs will you be presiding over and who will you lead or represent at the national level if all your Yoruba people have already been killed?
Soon we shall start calling the collaborators and coward’s out by name. You betray your own just for support, acceptance and promotion from northerners whereas no northerner worth his salt will ever sell his own people out for you? Nothing could be more reprehensible than that.
Shakespeare wrote ‘cowards die many times before their death’ and Soyinka wrote “the man dies in him who remains silent in the face of tyranny and injustice”. They were both right.
The man has died in too many of our leaders today and the time to speak out is now. We all need to take a cue from Sunday Igboho.
Enough is enough. Too much blood has been shed and too many lives have been taken by these herdsmen in the South West and elsewhere. They kill in the North, the Middle Belt, the South South, the South East and everywhere else and they do it without remorse and with total impunity.
Peace-loving and law-abiding Fulanis are welcome in the South West but those that kill, steal, rape and destroy must leave and they must be brought to justice by the authorities. If this does not happen expect many more Sunday Igbohos to rise up.
The worst culprits in all this are the Buhari administration who are complicit in these crimes and in this ethnic cleansing, mass murder and genocide. I say they are complicit because they have refused to disarm the perpetrators, arrest them or bring them to justice despite the fact that it is their constitutional duty to do so.
They have failed to maintain law and order and to protect the lives and property of the Nigerian people and they continue to pamper and encourage the killer herdsmen.
The Presidency no longer speaks for the Nigerian people but only for Miyetti Allah and the Fulani herdsmen. This is a tragedy of monumental proportions and no matter what they say they will never change.
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.
Oduduwa News has gathered that the National Association of Nigerian Students, the South West (Zone D) under the leadership of Comr. Kappo Olawale Samuel expressed the shock and sadness caused by the crushing to death of students of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko, Ondo state.
The coordinator in his statement called it a colossal lost to the students’ community. His full statement reads:
“ONDO ACCIDENT: A COLOSSAL LOST TO THE STUDENTS COMMUNITY
We received with great shock the news of a ghastly accident involving a Dangote trailer which occurred in the evening of Saturday 23rd January, 2021, which claimed the lives of some of our students.
The leadership of NANS Southwest commiserates with the families of the victims, AAUA Community and the Akungba community in general on the sad incident.
The death is really a collosal lost to the students community such that it was a black Saturday for us as an association yesterday.
In this view, we demand that the government through its agency should look into this unfortunate incident and devise all working solutions to prevent a reoccurrence. We can’t afford another loss to death. The safety of our subject worths more than gold to us as an association.
One again, the leadership of NANS Southwest sympathize with the families and friends of the victims and we pray that God grant them fortitude to bear the lost.
May the souls of the victims rest in perfect peace. We love you and will miss you.”
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.
To restore peace in Igangan and entire Ibarapaland, the governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde has perfected plan to meet traditional rulers, Inspector General of Police team and other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to herdsmen-indigenes crisis in the State.
The Deputy Chairman, Oyo State Council of Obas, Oba Francis Alao, who said this in an interview with one newsmen on Saturday, said the meeting was organised primarily to ensure that peace returned to the area.
The monarch said a team of the state government would represent the governor while a team from the office of the IGP would stand in for Adamu, noting that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, would be present at the meeting.
He said, “I am going there tomorrow (today) to hold a meeting with all the traditional rulers in Ibarapaland. The Commissioner of Police in Oyo State too will be there. A team from the Inspector-General of Police Office is also going to be there. The state government (representatives) will also be there.
“All we want to do is to ensure there is peace in the area for everybody to coexist peacefully. I am going in my position as the Deputy Chairman, Oyo State Obas Council; I am going on that premise and we have told all traditional rulers from the three local government areas in Ibarapaland to be there as well.
“There is an ongoing reconciliatory effort at Tede, Ago Are and Ago Amodu in Atisbo Local Government Area. I am coordinating that and everybody should sue for peace. Everybody should eschew violence and embrace peace while the security agents will do their investigation.”
The Asigangan of Igangan, Oba Lasisi Adeoye, also confirmed to our correspondent in Ibadan that he and traditional rulers from Ibarapaland would be part of the meeting,
He said, “All the Obas in Ibarapa will hold a meeting here in Igangan tomorrow (today) and the Olugbon will be here for the meeting.”
Badagry – one of the five traditional divisions of Lagos State – reaped bountiful dividends of the development programmes of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration.
A 110-bed Maternal and Childcare Centre (MCC), School of Anaesthesiology in Badagry General Hospital and 252 units of two bedroom housing project in Idale; all completed and delivered in the ancient town by Governor Sanwo-Olu.
On Saturday, the boundary town literally stood still for the formal inauguration of the projects, as residents and traditional rulers, led by the Akran of Badagry, trooped out to receive the Governor, his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and members of their entourage.
Besides, Sanwo-Olu flagged off the construction of the 5.5 kilometre-long Hospital Road being rehabilitated to create easy access to the Badagry General Hospital and the new housing estate in the town.
The Governor said the projects were part of his administration’s efforts to bring development in Badagry at par with other areas of the State. With the completion of the four-floor MCC, which is already being operated, Sanwo-Olu said the State Government had expanded healthcare infrastructure and improved access to quality health services in the town.
“Today’s commissioning activities are in fulfillment of part of the promises we gave our citizens in Badagry and I am delighted to be inaugurating three key projects that will enhance standards of living and boost development of human capital, particularly the 110-bed MCC we have completed in this part of Lagos.
“This is just a testimony to our assurance to the people and our commitment to deliver quality projects that will turn around the lives of our citizens. Not only the MCC we are handing over for public use today has an emergency service, it also caters for obstetrics and gynecology. There are also laboratory, radiology, paediatrics and immunisation departments.”
The Governor said the rehabilitation and expansion of the School of Anaesthesiology in the Badagry General Hospital were aimed at increasing the number of trained professionals in the field. He said such pivotal projects were being replicated in other locations across Lagos.
He said: “The people of Badagry and the adjoining communities now have increased access to quality and safe healthcare, and reduction. This will bring about complete eradication of maternal and infant mortality, as well as general improvement in all maternal and child health indices in this local government. All these benefits will in turn have a positive ripple effect on the development and socio-economic indices of Badagry.”
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the Badagry MCC was immediately activated for operation after its completion last November, disclosing that the facility had already delivered healthcare services to over 3,000 outpatients and 600 children. The facility, the Commissioner said, has taken 49 successful caesarean deliveries.
The MCC, Prof. Abayomi noted, would complement the capacity of the 21 primary healthcare facilities across the three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Badagry axis.
Sanwo-Olu said the State Government acknowledged the effect of affordable housing on the socio-economic wellbeing of the residents, which was why his administration went into a joint partnership with a private investor, Echostone Development Nigeria Ltd, to deliver the 252-unit two-bedroom terrace bungalows for low- and middle-income families.
The housing project was designed with eco-technology and EDGE Advanced protocol, which is a green building certification that making buildings to be more resource-efficient.
Sanwo-Olu said same technology would be employed to build the proposed Workers’ Village in Ipaja later in the year. This scheme, he said, will provide 600 affordable housing units to workers and their families.
He said: “The 252 units of two-bedroom terrace bungalows being commissioned today incontrovertibly proved our sincerity about closing the housing deficit and delivering our housing promises through relationship we have cultivated with the private sector for housing development. This Idale-Whedako Scheme is indeed a direct result of our faith in the capacity of the private sector to play a supportive role in housing development.
“This housing scheme has come with the lowest of prices, which makes it affordable to the targeted population. The payment plan will be spread over a longer period of time. I thank our development partner, Echostone Development Nigeria Ltd, for supporting the State Government in this regard.”
Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, said the housing project was uniquely designed and came with the convenience of low cost maintenance in terms of water usage and energy efficiency.
He added that the project had security and comfort features, such as streetlights, water treatment plant, central sewage treatment plant, strong perimeter fence and good road network.
“No doubt, the housing scheme has added great environmental and economic value to Badagry community,” Akinderu-Fatai said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu took about 1.17-kilometre road walk with Badagry residents to flag off the reconstruction of the decrepit Hospital Road that connects the city centre to the Badagry General Hospital.
While declaring the project open, the Governor noted that the project would be expanded to double carriageway and will be done in two phases, with the first phase spanning 3.2-kilometres.
The second phase is 2.3 kilometres and it will commence immediately after the completion of the first phase.
Sanwo-Olu said: “This road construction flag off is a demonstration of our readiness to serve our citizens on this part and it doesn’t matter how long it takes. It doesn’t matter how far Badagry is from the State capital; we will never neglect this city in our development drive. We will continue to justify the confidence you reposed in us when you voted us in.”
The Hospital Road also links five communities- Idale, Akarakunmoh, Pivota, Topo and Ajido – to Lagos-Badagry Expressway via Joseph Dosu Road.
