Fulani Invasion: Yoruba Leaders Threaten Secession

FOLLOWING alleged incessant and unprovoked attacks and invasion of
their farmlands by some Fulani herdsmen, notable Yoruba leaders held
an emergency summit in Ibadan, Oyo State, threatening to review its
status in the Nigerian federation.

The summit was entitled, National Insecurity and the Menace of Fulani
Herdsmen in Yorubaland.

The meeting, presided over by former Governor of the Western Region,
General Adeyinka Adebayo, warned that the Yoruba will no longer
tolerate the present structure of the country, which they claim
undermine self actualization of the people of the South West.

Reports from the summit said failure to restructure Nigeria using the
2014 confab report might force the Yoruba people to review her place
in a political arrangement that cannot guarantee the protection of her
citizens.

Factional leaders of the Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC), Dr Fredrick
Faseun and Otunba Gani Adams were unanimous in saying that the time to
"leave Nigeria" and assert the sovereignty of the Yoruba people is
now.

The summit strongly condemned what it described as the "invasion and
killing of people in Yoruba territories" by the Fulani herdsmen.
The summit held in the House of Chiefs Section of the Parliament
Building of the Oyo State Secretariat with the theme "National
Insecurity and the Menace of Fulani Herdsmen in Yorubaland."

The participants also decried the continued oppression of the Yoruba
in their homeland by some Fulani herdsmen.

The summit cite incessant cases of rape, destruction of economic
plants that form the bedrock of the livelihood of locals, the armed
violence unleashed by the nomads coupled with the consequent cultural
disequilibrium the displacement of people from crisis-ridden Northern
Nigeria have brought to communities in Yorubaland.

He added that subsequent governments in Nigeria have come into power
waving slogans that end up leaving the country worse than they met it.
They demanded an immediate end to lawless nomadic activities in the
South West warning that any community who cannot establish ranches for
their flock should retreat from Yoruba territories.
At the event were prominent Yoruba sons and daughters from the
academia, politics and the Diaspora.

The sponsors of the summit were Yoruba Council of Elders, (YCE), Oodua
Foundation, Afenifere and the Yoruba Unity Forum, (YUF). Some of the
participants included the Oyo State Deputy Governor, Otunba Moses
Alake Adeyemo, who represented the State Governor, Senator Abiola
Ajimobi; Sola Ebiseni, who represented the Ondo State Governor,
Olusegun Mimiko, Pa Olanihun Ajayi, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Pa Supo Sonibare,
Prof Banji Akintoye, Prof Toun Ogunseye, the first woman Professor in
Nigeria.
Others were Dr Fredrick Faseun, Otunba Gani Adams, Dr Kunle Olajide,
Chief Shuaib Oyedokun and the former Military governor of Lagos State,
Brig-Gen Raji Rasaki among many others.

The Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG and many other Pan-Yoruba groups were
however absent at the summit.

Fani Kayode hails summit
Meantime, against the backdrop of cases of kidnap and destruction of
farms by Fulani herdsmen, former Spokesperson of former President
Goodluck Jonathan's Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode
hailed the Yoruba peoples meeting held in Ibadan, warning that the
zone cannot be sacrificial lamb to any other zone of the country.

He also warned that the South West may resort to self help if the
government fails to protect them.

In a statement yesterday, the former Minister of Aviation said if and
when the people of the South West were pushed to the wall, they would
then know exactly what to do, adding that the killings, cases of rape
and kidnap must stop.

-Vanguard