The Yoruba people unlike their counterparts in the North ‘distaste’ death. But the contextualization of anything Fulani as agent of death is already coursing through their veins. Whether to those on the street, or in the creek, the fear of killer herdsmen is the same. Leading this pack against foreign invaders is the Director General of Western Nigerian Security Network codenamed Amoketun, Oyo state command, General Kunle Togun who told his attentive audience about the “encampment and invasion of foreign Fulani into the South Western part of the country”. In a spine tingling speech he delivered at the University of Ibadan Institute of Peace and Strategic studies Student Association on the 3rd of June, 2021, General Togun, the former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) and former Deputy Director-General of State Security Service (SSS) said “the foreigners have been penetrating localities in the region to monitor the environment over the years to pave way for the big strike”.
“Those invaders” the General declared “are within the nooks and crannies of Yorubaland ready to unleash their terror on the innocent lives”. Their aim, he continued, is to snatch from the people the remnant of what their God has given them as inheritance. Speaking further, the Oyo state Amotekun boss said that those invaders are already into ‘Okada’ riding businesses and their children are known to roam the street aimlessly. “For over 10 years” he says assuredly “I have been saying it that the 10 local government areas of Oke-Ogun and the three local government areas of Ibarapa, both in Oyo State, have been saturated by these foreign Fulanis. After that, he chimed in, they brought in their children, selling pepper, tomatoes, carrots and so on with wheelbarrows”. Anyone who knows what undergirds this bold assertions will reflect before spewing venoms.
For instance, the very idea that underpins the Fulanization agenda of Nigeria dates back to the widespread allegations of nepotism and favoritism in the administration President Muhammadu Buhari especially in appointive positions. But a statement credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in May, 2019 gave that idea a life of its own. Though a beneficiary of the establishment, OBJ’s statement gave liver to that popular myth common in the Southern Part of the country that a clandestine attempt is going on to submerge other part of the country for the Fulanis. So, from OBJ’s fulanization rhetoric comes the Aare Onakakanfo’s last straw that broke the camel’s back. On the 17th of September, 2020, Iba Gani Adams raised an unusual alarm decrying the influx of terrorists into Kisi, Irepo Local Government area of Oyo state.
When Iba Gani Adams intelligence report hits the public, he was dismissed as an alarmist drowning in the quicksand of delusion. For several days after that warning blew people’s mind, critics, mostly from the North pounced on Iba Gani Adams’s flesh alleging him of heightening ethnic tension, and raising false alarm capable of throwing the peaceful co-existence of people of different ethnic extraction on its head. Several weeks after, the unexpected and unimaginable happened. First was the hijacking of the old Oyo National Park, a historical forest reserve by this Marauder. For the period of their heinous operation, that reserve serves as their enclave. Thinking such unpleasant news is too bad to happened, commuters went about their normal businesses. As reports of kidnapped relatives and neighbors trickle in, people within that axis knew the warning that was once discarded as false is morphing into reality: there was simply fire on the mountain. Throughout neighboring towns that surround the reserve, apprehension, panic and fear of kidnappers became the genesis of wisdom. Traveling became nearly impossible as people couldn’t imagined disaster that may befall them.
One particular frighteningly disheartening story involved a popular commercial bus driver who shuttles between Igboho (Oorelope Local Government) and Ilorin (Kwara state capital) alongside his passengers both of whom were whisked away in the forest for days by the criminals. That news, which spread like wildfire sends shockwaves across the town alcoves and beyond with cries and hues renting the air. Though by estimation, that incident was just one out of many atrocities committed by those foreign terrorists within Oke-Ogun and its environs. Because that region is an agrarian society, it is unsurprising to see the influx of herders into its hinterland. Reluctantly, the security operatives alongside men of ‘vigilantee’ groups eventually flushed the forest of the heartless souls.
In Oyo state for instance, especially in Agrarian society such as Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa, the menace of Fulani herders and their confrontation with locals have constitutes a huge of security concerns. With various bloody clashes and confrontations littered across the axis, dispelling the invasion and incursion of foreign herders will take years to achieve. Leadership with right mindset is one way to go. Because security of lives and property when taken with levity constitute a major existential threats to corporate existence of the people, Government, the responsible and responsive ones ought not to treat it with kids gloves.
And that is why General Togun’s timely warning and intervention must be acted upon swiftly. If there is anything, a stitch in times, simply should be able to saves our nine. The people themselves especially in Oyo state have seen what Government’s negligence to plights and pains can do to their lives and property. Being security conscious in other words is just one step out of many steps this existential crisis can be nip in the bud. Already, with various parts of the country becoming the bedlam of criminals, the people of Oyo state have have seen how overwhelmed the security architecture of the country has become. They’ve seen clearly how helpless the Government appears in catering for their welfare and well-being. Which implies that waiting for authority to quickly and proactively respond to threat may be an unintelligible risk to take. With collective efforts from all and sundry, this seed of destruction can be weed out right where it is planted. The time to act is now.
OYO101, Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion on issues affecting Oyo State, is published on Saturdays. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850.
