A group of Yoruba farmers under the auspices of Oodua Redemption Alliance (ORA) on Thursday in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital declared that further incidents of farm destruction or attack on any person of Yoruba extraction by suspected Fulani herdsmen would be given appropriate reprisal it deserved.
ORA while insisting that the idea of the federal government to establish cattle colonies or grazing reserves for the herdsmen was a direct ploy to take Nigerians’ lands and give to the Fulanis, implored all herdsmen to move their cattle to the allocated lands reserved for such purpose by both Kano and Niger state governments saying that the allocated lands were enough to accommodate herdsmen and their cattle.
The group while urging other Northern state governments to emulate the gesture of the Mallam Abdullahi Ganduje and Alhaji Abubakar Bello of Kano and Niger states respectively however warned that “Failure to accept these offers, any further incidents of farm destruction or attack on any person of Yoruba extraction in any parts of Nigeria covering Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Edo, Delta states would be given commensurate reprisals.”
ORA in its 31-item resolutions signed by its President, Comrade Victor Taiwo, a copy of which was made available to DAILY POST at the end of its emergency meeting themed, “Just before the Fulanis finish us!” held at House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan on Thursday said, “We are conscious of the character of trail of the Fulanis that they conquer people, occupy their lands and rule over them. This led to their conquest, domination and rule over the entire Hausa land till today. We have the memory of how the Fulanis trickled the Ilorin Yorubas into capturing their land over which they rule till today.
The group said to avoid further incursion into Yoruba land, “We implore all Fulani herdsmen to vacate Yoruba land with immediate effect and relocate to Kano and Niger states or their Northern states of conquest. We are conscious of the fact that a lot of well tondo people in Yoruba land also have their cattle breeding contracted to the Fulani herdsmen, we therefore implore all Yorubas in this category to withdraw their cattle with immediate effect and establish ranches, pens or byres for their cattle breeding.
“The resurgence or large scale perpetration of the evil has now gotten to an uncontrollable and unacceptable level that an open confrontation or war has now been provoked between the Yorubas and the Fulanis.
“Before the war is ignited, we have deemed it fit to call this summit where we discussed and made our grouse and positions known to the Nigerian government and the global community to the effect of our further intolerance of the menace on our racial pride.
“The basis for giving preferential or sacred cow treatment to the Fulani herdsmen whose business contribute no resources whatsoever to the coffers of Nigerian government is not there at all.
“It is on the record that 95 percent of the resources sustaining Nigerian government comes from the Southern part of the country. The cattle business of the Fulani herdsmen is their personal affair which other people of the country must not be sacrificed for.
“We take this opportunity to declare Mr. Ayodele Fayose the Ekiti state governor as a hero of Yoruba land for being the only Yoruba governor who took the bull by the horns by legislating against the menace of the Fulanis in his state.
“We, therefore, implore all other Yoruba governors to be courageous enough as to follow suit.
“We commiserate with Governor Samuel Ortom and the people of Benue state on the recent evil perpetrated against their kinsmen.
“We also commiserate with all Yorubas’ relations who have fallen victims of the Fulani’s menace over the decades and most recently. We share our feelings with Chief Olu Falae and Admiral Samuel Afolayan a former Chief of Naval Staff of Nigeria over the wanton and massive destruction of their respective farmlands by the Fulani herdsmen.
“A standing committee of representatives from each of the states shall be established to ensure the implementation of the resolutions so arrived at.” - Daily Post
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