The Aare Onakakanfo in Council has said the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was tacitly supporting evil with the failure to respond adequately to the attacks on Nigerians by armed persons hiding under the guise of herdsmen.
The Aare Onakakanfo in Council said this in a communique issued on Sunday after its extraordinary meeting in Lagos.
The meeting was presided over by the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams.
The Communique, signed by all members of the Council and titled: “OUR STANCE ON THE FULANI HERSMEN SCOURGE IN YORUBA LAND,” stated: “The Aare Onakakanfo in Council, at an extraordinary session, on Sunday, June 15, 2019, chaired by Iba Gani Adams, appraised the security situation in Nigeria, especially in the South West, and resolved as follows:
“1. The campaign of blood by Fulani herdsmen, who have been ravaging our land, kidnapping, killing, maiming and raping our people in recent years has become a serious source of concern for the Yoruba race; a race renowned for their staunch passion for peaceful coexistence, national cohesion and development.
“2. The threat posed to our existence by these blood-mongering marauders cannot be overlooked as we, as a people, believe that for peace and accord to reign among the multiplicity of people who occupy a common territory, all parties must play a role in ensuring that each and every unit in this country respect each other in all ramifications.
“3. It is disheartening and most embarrassing that the group, despite several appeals to their consciousness and common sense, has continued to wreak havoc on our land, and forcibly planning to reap where they have not sown.
“They have proven that they have come to steal, destroy, and kill; as evident in the unmitigated attacks on communities where their nomadic enterprise takes them.
“They have been plundering Yorubaland, and we recognize evil when we see it. This is no exception.
“4. As true spawns of Oduduwa, we are unequivocally forthright about this threat posed by this group which the federal government has turned a blind eye to by refusing to call a spade by its name, dubbing the Fulani marauders as criminals, bandits, and pillagers.
“5. Every true blood of the Yoruba race is at the risk of being haunted and slaughtered by this reckless group if we keep sugarcoating the bloody implications of their evil enterprise.
“6. We are acquainted with the nature of Fulani nomads in the past, and we know as a matter of fact that they were not carrying AK47s. It is because of this naked truth that we ask that these people be labelled as what they are. We are clamoring that the appropriate moniker should be used to tag them. They should be addressed as FULANI BANDITS, for we believe that there is power in names.
“7. We strongly advise Obas and local Chiefs to show more than passing interest in the activities of people in their domains. They must know that they cannot be blameless for their failure to account for and monitor strangers in their areas of jurisdictions, particularly those whose activities run contrary to peaceful coexistence.
“8. We cannot continue to fold our arms and let these bandits continue to soil our land with the blood of the innocent. Consequently, we hereby ask these Fulani marauders to stop their murderous activities and vacate every inch of Yorubaland they currently ravage.
“9. Failure to reconcile themselves with these terms may warrant maximum retaliation as the principle dictates that a bully only respects a bully.
“10. We demand concrete action by the Buhari Administration over the activities of these murderous gangs. We are no longer comfortable with the continuing brutalization and murderous humiliation of our people. Government’s silence is distressing as it is emboldening the criminals. President Buhari must act now.
“They need to understand that their seeming stillness about this plague is a tacit alignment with the forces of evil.”
The communique then identified darks spots where the attention of the Federal Government was needed in the South West to stem the attacks of the Fulani herdsmen.
These include: Orile-Owu to Ijebu-Ode forest, Osun & Ogun State. Their major hideout; Ilesha, Ife, Aramoko, Ijero, Esa-Oke, Ikire, Gbogan, Ode-Omu, Ifewara, Ibadan to Ife Road, Ife to Akure Road, Ikesha to Oshogbo, and environs. Osun State; Osi, Igede, Ilupeju, Ikole, Ado, Ikere, and environs. Ekiti State; Reserve Forest, Gberia in Kayomo L.G, less Bariba in Barikin L.G, Shaki to Kwara, Oro, and all Igbomina environs, Offa, and environs. Kwara State; and Ibarapa Area, Iseyin, Shaki, Abeokuta to Shaki-Iseyin Road Okeogun area, Old Ibadan to Oyo Road, New Oyo express to Ogbomosho, and environs. Oyo State.
Others include Imeko, Ijale pa-pa, Kara close to Berger in Lagos, Ogere, Bakatari, Kila, Shagamu, Itokin, Abeokuta to Ibadan Road, and environs. Ogun State; Ilesha to Akure, Ore, Akure to Benin, Akure to Ido-Ani. Akure to Ondo Road, Oke Igbo, Ondo to Ore Road, the AKOKO’S, Ogbese, Epinmi etc, very important, please not: most of the AKOKO towns and villages are flash points. Ondo State; Alaba Rago, Agege, Mile 12, Ajegunle, Ilepo Oba Ikorodu, Lekki town, Ajah, Epe, and environs. Lagos State; and Yagba West, Kabba, Ijumu, Yagba Eat, and environs. Kogi State.
The communique added: “History has so much to tell about Yorubaland, ourselves, and those who have made us their adversaries. While it took the British 80 years (1834 – 1886), through overt and covert action, amidst proxy wars, to conquer Yorubaland; conversely, it took them three years (1903 – 1906) to conquer the Sokoto Caliphate.
“Further, the 1918 Adubi War that led to Lugard being expunged out of Nigeria, the Yorubas were shut out of the army by the British (until they needed educated soldiers for the Second World War [1939-1945]) under the pretext that ‘we lacked the character to make good soldiers’.
“This, they knew, was only true in the sense that we were not loyal to their flag because we were the only ones that fought them head on after the Amalgamation of 1914; they knew that the combination of brain power and fire power was a daring and dangerous mix.
“We only need to arm ourselves with information about our history and we will be feared, revered, and respected once more for we are not a people to be broken, bent, vanquished, and overpowered.
“On this note, we warn all Yoruba sons and daughters in power that they risk being declared persona non grata if they fail to use their capacities to speak up against the ills, injustice, and pestilence ravaging Yorubaland.
“To those who have set out to make enemies of us, they need to recognize and understand that they bleed and die like all of us. They only seem to be fearless when there is inequality in arms.”
Those who signed the communique were Iba Adams; Wale Abel, Balogun Aare; Hon. Taofeek Isa, Baaregunwa; Olusegun Dare, Agba Akin Aare; Shola Osunkeye, Baaroyin Aare; Oluremi Dare, Yeye Agba Akin; Captain Michael Adeshina, Baarejiroro; and Akogun Gani Balogun, Osi Aare.
Others were Hon. Akeem Ige, Baameto Aare; Kehinde Oluwole; Baamofin Aare; Rt. Hon Femi Bamisile Baareselu, Otunba Aare; Kole Omololu, Odofin Aare; Kayode Ajulo, Mayegun Aare; Yinka Oguntimehin, Asoju Aare; Prof. Kolawole Raheem, Parakoyi Aare; and Chief Ebudola Odedina, Fiwagboye Aare.
Also at the meeting were Chief Kamorudeen Lamina, Borokini Aare; Yewande Green, Yeyeshewa Aare; M. Ige, Yeye Bameto Aare; Alhaja Adiat Ayinke Alao, Iyalaje Aare, Chief Yaqub Adeshina, Akogun Aare; mad Chief Lateefat Adeshina, Yeye Akogun.
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