Afenifere to Yoruba: activate your self-defence measure against terrorism

SOCIO-political group, Afenifere, has advised the Yoruba to activate their traditional and communal self-defence system in the face of insecurity in the land.

It called on the Federal Government to urgently tackle the rising insecurity, especially in the Southwest region.

The group said President Muhammadu Buhari should be proactive enough to order the arrest and prosecution of herdsmen and bandits alleged to have been in possession of unlicensed sophisticated weapons, which it said were being used to perpetrate incessant kidnapping, killings and destruction of property nationwide.

Afenifere spoke in a communiqué issued after its monthly meeting at the residence of its National Leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the Ondo state capital.

The Yoruba group cautioned that the issue of herdsmen’s attacks on travellers, farmers and residents in the Southwest region could lead to ethnic violence, if not checked.

Its National Publicity Secretary, who read the communique, Yinka Odumakin, called on the government to immediately re-address its priorities in re-defining law and order that would protect the citizens in any part of the federation.

It said: “The meeting reviewed the spate of killings going on across Nigeria and being perpetrated largely by Fulani herdsmen/militia the only group that are in possession of unlicensed sophisticated weapons in Nigeria today without fear of any consequence as they seem to have official backing, promotion and defence.

“The killings targeted at non-Fulani groups across the country are willful and deliberate in pursuit of expansionist and conquest agenda.

And most unfortunately, the government in place has betrayed perceived complicity as we are not aware of any member of the group on trial for these monumental crimes, even when Miyetti Allah has owned up to some of them.

Read also: YCE, PDP, Yoruba youths warn over rising insecurity in Southwest

“Instead, the regime has treated them with kid gloves, making excuses for their crimes with our Information Ministry and presidential media office being made to look like Boko Haram and Miyetti Allah media centre as they issue statements to defend these groups, even when they are not defending themselves with the Presidency equating Miyetti Allah with Afenifere and Ohanaeze to confer legitimacy on them.

“To avert this destructive scenario, we call on the Federal Government to immediately readdress its priorities in these matters and begin the process of running an inclusive country while re-defining law and order so that no citizen would take the life of another and not fear for consequences.

It hailed Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, Gen. David Jemibewon, Col. David Bamigboye, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Forum(PANDEF), Middle Belt Forum and all other patriots, who have supported Obasanjo’s statement.

The group equally endorsed the Yoruba Summit Group position on insecurity in Yorubaland, stressing that only those who did not wish Nigeria well and agents of destruction would dismiss these patriots as raising a ‘false flag’.