After Ooni’s Villa visit, Alafin writes Buhari over herdsmen invasion of Yoruba land, says ‘we may retaliate’

By Our reporter

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, warning that the Yoruba will not continue to tolerate the violation of their fundamental rights to life and may resort to self-help over the “increasing and incessant menace of herders” in the face of “apparent helplessness” of Nigeria’s security agencies.
It would be recalled that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunlesi had last week had a meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja where he said that though the Yoruba don’t want war, but that those drumming drums of war should be stopped as the South West region is under siege currently by strangers.
In the letter titled “Yoruba Question in Nigeria Conundrum,” Oba Lamidi told the President that “I am worried about the security situation in the country, especially in the South-west geo-political zone, nay the entire Yoruba-speaking area of the country including Kwara, Kogi and Edo states. This has to do with the incessant and increasing menace of Fulani herdsmen that have laid siege in almost all the highways of Yoruba land.”
“Whether in Owo, Akure, Ilesa/Ife-Ibadan road or Ibarapa zone and Ijebu area of Ogun state, the story is the same,” he said and said Fulani were responsible for the terrible security problems in the region.
“I have held series of consultations with opinion molders and eminent Yoruba leaders across board about the menace of these cattle herders with such assault like raping of our women and in some occasions, in the presence of their husbands.
“That is apart from massive destruction of our agricultural lands; which ultimately points to imminent starvation,” he wrote.
“On top of it all is the menace of professional kidnappers usually in military uniforms. What is more worrisome about the kidnapping notoriety is what looks like impunity which these kidnappers enjoy their nefarious activities.
“Worse still is the confidence with which they demand ransoms and collect such illegal levies at designated spots without any arm of security being able to lay siege on them as it was the practice in the recent past.

“Now, we cannot even talk of parading suspects, when in actual sense, no major arrests have been made in this part of the country. Without arrests, we cannot talk of their facing of the law.
“Unfortunately, and painfully indeed, in the face of the apparent helplessness of our security agencies, where do we go from here? “It is at the wake of this manifest frustration of our people that our people have found it unavoidable, even though reluctantly to resort to alternative measures to safeguard their lives and property.
“Suffice to say that in most part of Yoruba land, their pre-colonial military structures have not been totally collapsed. Hence, such structures like Odua People’s Congress, Agbekoya and other vigilante,” Oba Lamidi stated.