BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – As some regional groupings continue to caution about the mounting insecurity in the country, the Yoruba nationalist organization, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), has vowed to purge the South West geo-political region of all killer herdsmen currently tormenting the people
The group also described as ‘misguided and provocative’ the Inspector General of Police (IGP)’s order that Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka, Sunday Igboho, be arrested.
They have therefore undertaken to enforce the notice by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State urging herdsmen to quit all forest reserves in the South West. The quit notice expired on Sunday, January 24, 2021.
A statement issued by Deputy President to late OPC founder, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, on Sunday, said; “Although the millions of law-abiding Fulani men and women living in our midst have absolutely no cause for alarm, those Fulani criminals hiding under the cloak of being herdsmen to perpetrate evil against law-abiding citizens should know their time is up.
“Henceforth, it will be fire for fire. We are fully prepared to help enforce Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s quit notice in Ondo State at the expiration of the two-week deadline.”
According to the socio-cultural group said: “Anybody found in the jungle will be regarded as a kidnapper and bandit and will be appropriately dealt with. We Yoruba shall rise to defend our land from foreign marauders who daily rape our women, kill our farmers and kidnap Nigerian citizens. Enough is enough.”
Insisting that the Police chase of Igboho is not only mistaken but also provocative, the OPC said; “The government must guarantee the life of Sunday Igboho. Rather than declare Sunday Adeyemo an outlaw, the Federal Government’s security agencies should turn their attention against criminal elements engaging in kidnappings and killings in the South.”
Otunba Afolabi, who urged the South West zone to speak with one voice against the rising insecurity in Nigeria, said the Yoruba race currently faced an existential threat to its survival as foreign criminals had turned highways, forests and farms into danger zones while the Buhari government seems to have clearly turned a blind eye to this worrying development.
“We cannot fold our arms and wait to be wiped out of our fatherland by foreign elements. The Yoruba are peace-loving people with a great reputation for extending hospitality to visitors in order to produce mutually-beneficial advantages.
“But what we see today are invaders, murderers and parasites committed to snuffing the life out of their hosts. We can no longer tolerate them and we must reclaim not only our land but our peace from these children of Satan”, the group maintained.
