By Victor Ogunje
The leader of the apex umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has stated that the killing of over 20 people at Igangan, Ibarapa zone, Oyo State, by alleged Fulani herders was a declaration of war against the ‘peace-loving’ Yoruba people.
Accusing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government of allegedly backing the “terrorist herdsmen that have been maiming, killing and raping the Yoruba people,” Akintoye in a statement issued yesterday called on the people to arm themselves with whatever they can lay their hands on to defend their land against external aggression.
The statement, which was signed by his Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, saluted Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, who is the chairman of South-west Governors’ Forum, for his bold stand on the Igangan massacre.
Akintoye called on the South-west state governors to put aside constitutional objections to defend their people, saying “Yoruba land has been surrounded, and we must act now.”
The second republic senator urged the younger Yoruba people to rise to the occasion by coming out to defend their land via technological, spiritual and physical warfare, warning that “the Fulani herdsmen attack must never be allowed to succeed anywhere in Yoruba land again.”
While commiserating with the people of Igangan, “we hereby issue a red alert to all Yoruba people at home and in the Diaspora.
“It must now be clear to all Yoruba people of all classes and economic circumstances that war has come in a big way to our homeland. This war has been coming relentlessly for five years, but some of our people failed to understand the full intent and impact of it.
“And indeed these endanger Yorubaland, the Yoruba people and the Yoruba civilisation by diverting the attention of our people from the manifest reality of our time.
“We now call on all Yoruba people at home and abroad to focus on the danger of the moment in a manner that will be powerful enough to preserve our nation and civilisation.
“Firstly, we call on our state governors to push aside all the constitutional objections that have been constantly raised from certain quarters whenever our governors have taken measures to defend our people.
“We are particularly grateful to Governor Akeredolu and all other governors who support him in the patriotic and mainly the statement issued on the Igangan disaster.
“We repeat, we will stand fully and powerfully behind our governors in any measure that they may adopt to defend our people.
“We say to our state governors, your first constitutional duty is to ensure the security of lives and property in the Yoruba states. In the face of that important task, constitutional and political finesse and obstructions are a danger to the lives and property of our people.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria has failed woefully to protect the Yoruba people, along with other indigenous peoples of the South and the middle belt against these marauding forces.”
“While allowing the Fulani to move freely with and to import various categories of weapons into Nigeria, the federal government prohibited the possession of any kind of fire arms by any indigenous citizens of Nigeria, sending the police and army to seize such privately owned weapons, including those for which these citizens had earlier been licenced for hunting and sports.”
