Yoruba Council of Elders, has called on the Northern Elders to advice President Muhammadu Buhari who is the commander in chief of the armed forces, to take decisive action against herdsmen committing various crimes in the Southwest.
The Council which accused Buhari of nepotism said the President right from the beginning, has shown where his commitment is, as he repeatedly ignored concerns over his style of leadership, and appeals to assure Nigerians of his commitment to a truly Federal Republic of Nigeria where justice, equity and Fairplay will reign Supreme.
The council said since it is already obvious that Buhari has already taken side, the rest of the country have no choice but to fight for their own selves.
The council through its secretary general, Dr Kunle Olajide, said, “The YCE is by far more patriotic and nationalistic than the Northern elders.
In the YCE, we believe in a truly federal republic of Nigeria where equity fairness, and justice will be available for all citizens of this country and where no citizen of this country will be regarded as inferior, and where appointments will be based on merit; where there would be no ethnoreligious sentiments openly expressed by those in power.
“In the last three to four years, it actually started in 2016, the criminal herders have been so brazen in their invasion of Yorubaland, carrying sophisticated weapons, raping our women, kidnapping for ransom and murdering our people, destroying farmlands; the economic means of survival of our farmers.
We have been shouting at the rooftops almost on a daily basis and the Federal Government seems to turn deaf ears to these complaints, giving gross insensitivity to the plight of our people here.
“So, we had to appeal to the global community to intervene in restoring normalcy into the Nigerian nation-state.
it was becoming obvious, especially in the last two years, that this country has been polarised along ethno-religious lines. In fact, we have never been so divided like this.
We have made several appeals to Mr. President to speak to Nigerians to reassure us that he stays committed to a truly Federal Republic of Nigeria where justice, equity, and Fairplay will reign supreme, but not a word from the presidency.
"The statements coming from the presidential aides, in fact, polarise the nation the more. You hear all sorts of things, like ‘farmers should obtain permission before going to their farms’ when 43 farmers were killed in Borno State.
And we don’t know where farmers take permission and who from… so we have such statements that give credence that this government is only for a particular ethnic part of the country and when you get to this particular situation, we have to appeal to the United Nations because virtually all countries in the United Nations have citizens in Nigeria and they must be made aware of the level of insecurity in this country in the interest of the entire world.
“So, what YCE did was to call attention of the global body to what appears to be the insensitive nature of the powers that be in Nigeria to the plight of Yoruba farmers, women, children and citizens. It is because we believe that a truly federal, united Nigeria will be the best for every part of the country. It is not because we want to secede. No, we have made too much sacrifice to keep Nigeria one. We are not into wanting to divide it at all because all parts of this country would feel the pain."
On NEF’s advice to Fulani to come back to the North if they felt unsafe in the south, Dr Olajide said “there is freedom of movement. Anybody can go anywhere. We have not said Fulanis should leave. We said the criminal ones… we have Aliko Dangote in Lagos for example; nobody has said he should leave. We have some Fulani in the universities here who are contributing and adding value to society. But those ones killing and maiming citizens, raping women and kidnapping for ransom and destroying the means of livelihood of our farmers are the ones we said should vacate our forests.”
“They are in power today and they are in charge of all the security. If the security agencies allow what they call ‘genocide’ to go on, then whose fault is that? They should talk to the commander in chief of the armed forces and the Inspector-General of Police.
In fact, if anything, we should accuse them of keeping mum and maintaining silence in the face of genocide and mass murder in the South West."
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