By 
… Says what is going on is provocative, bubble may burst soon
Abiodun OBA
The 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, has written a strongly-worded letter to the global community, calling on them to intervene and stop the protracted killings across the South-West region of the country.
Iba Adams made this call in a letter titled: “Urgent need to stop killings by Fulani herdsmen in Yorubaland”.
Aare Ona Kakanfo warned that failure to act urgently could have a negative effect on the rest of the world.
According to him, “Senseless killings and massacre of Nigerians, almost on a daily basis, are tragically sliding toward an anarchical terminal point.
“The inability or apathetical attitude of the Federal Government, pitiably as it is, is already compounding an already gory situation.
He explained that Yoruba people who are in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi, Kwara, Edo and Delta States, are peace-loving people, believing in one Nigeria but ‘sadly, that belief, today, is shaking, due to the invasion of our space by murderous killer herdsmen’.
“Today, the blood of innocent Yoruba men and women – the recent being the killing of scores of people in their sleep in Igangan, a rural community in Oyo State on June 6, 2021 – flows endlessly and those mandated to ensure protection of lives and property seem helpless. Or, according to popular belief, complicitous.
He recounted that “on July 12, 2019, between Kajola and Ore along the Ondo-Ore Expressway, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Yoruba leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, was murdered.
“On November 26, 2020, a first class traditional ruler in Ondo State, the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adeusi, was murdered between Akure and Owo. The attackers came from the bush and shot him dead.
“On December 11, 2020, a philanthropist who returned from overseas to help grow the Yoruba economy, Dr. Fatai Aborode, was tortured and killed in Igangan, Oyo State by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
“On January 18, 2021, Dr. Amos Arijesuyo, Deputy Registrar Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), was shot dead on the Ife-Ilesa-Akure Expressway”.
Iba Gani Adams reiterated that the herdsmen are accused daily of committing rape, kidnap and murder while some family members in Yorubaland have been put under serious pressure through payment of ransom – running into millions of naira – demanded by these conscienceless, unscrupulous and ruthless murderers.
“Now, the agitation for them to leave our land has reached an alarming crescendo and the backing (that is the belief of our people) given to them by the Federal Government to continue to lay claim to the fact that ‘nobody can chase anybody away from any part of the country’, is not helping matters.
“The invasion of Igangan, a rural community in Ibarapaland, Oyo State on June 6, 2021, leading to the massacre of scores of residents by these same band of roving killers, who prefer to stay in the forest because of their murderous intent, seems to be the last straw.
“The patience of our people seems stretched to full limit because no one is safe anymore. If not for the sake of conquest and murderous greed to grab land – as it is being done in Benue and some states in the North – what, I pray, will propel anyone or a group of killers to attack innocent residents of Igangan in the night, shooting them dead while sleeping?
He vowed that as the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland by the Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, he would defend Yoruba people anywhere they may be in the world.
He therefore urged the international world to intervene because of the psychopathic killings going on in our land in which the Federal Government appears overwhelmed and is fast losing grip of its constitutional mandate to protect the land.
Gani Adams accused the Federal Government of frustrating every attempt by the people to protect themselves against these marauders saying, “When South-West governors mooted the idea of establishing the security network ‘Amotekun’ solely for the protection of our people, the Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami (SAN), openly declared Federal Government’s opposition.
“It is an understatement to declare that Justice has taken flight from the country. This singular tragedy has already compromised Nigeria’s existence because our people no longer belief in a system without fairness, equity and objectiveness.
“You will recall that a former Chief of Army Staff and Defence Minister, Lt-Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, in May 2018, accused the military of collusion with bandits to kill innocent Nigerians.
“Danjuma, a man who should know, said inter alia: “The Armed Forces are not neutral. They are conniving with bandits that kill people. They facilitate their movement. They cover them. Nigerians must defend themselves.”
He lamented that “the situation has got to a level in which some leaders of these killer herdsmen openly threaten governors who have banned open grazing, insisting there will be no peace unless Fulani herdsmen – armed with sophisticated weapons – are allowed to go from one state to the other.
“In the process, farms are destroyed and farmers killed.
“I want to say that nobody wants war but our people will not sit idle while they are being slaughtered like chickens.
“I am raising this alarm because what is going on is provocative enough and the bubble may burst soon.
The letter was addressed to the Secretary-General, United Nations (UN), Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Secretary of State, United States (US), the British Foreign Secretary and the European Union (EU) and the Member States.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); Embassies, including those of Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, Holland, Sweden, South Africa, Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic, among others, have received the letter.
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