Afenifere Seeks Investigation Of Danjuma’s Allegations Against Nigeria Military
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere on Tuesday charged the United Nations (UN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate allegations of bias over herdsmen killings levelled against the Nigeria military by a former army chief and Defense Minister in Nigeria, Lt Gen Theophilus Danjuma (rtd).
Afenifere in a communiqué issued at the end of its special meeting in Akure , Ondo State, described the allegation, “as weighty and damning , which could be linked to an ethnic cleansing.
According to the group such statement by General Danjuma against the military, if not well probed by the UN and President Buhari, could lead to serious security breaches.
According to the group, the allegation could also lead to lack of trust among various ethnic groups in the country.
The meeting was attended by Yoruba leaders from Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Kogi, Lagos and Oyo states including Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olu Falae, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfehinwa, former governor of Ondo state, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Prof. Tunde Adeniran and Prof. Banjo Adetoye among others.
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin who read the communiqué of the meeting, asked the Federal Government to make arrangement similar to the release of Dapchi girls in bringing back Leah Saribu and the remaining Chibok girls in the custody of dreaded Boko Haram.
Odumakin said , “Danjuma was taken seriously because as former Chief of Army staff and Defence minister, he has deep knowledge of the military and could not have spoken in vain. Even without that kind of knowledge, we have enough circumstantial evidence to come with that conclusion.”
While expressing dismay that nobody had been sanctioned or convicted over incessant herdsmen’s attacks on farmers across the country, Odumakin said, “The Inspector General of Police, who ordinarily is the chief law enforcer of the country openly declared that the killings in Benue were communal misunderstanding and that the killers were Nigerians after all. The minister of Defence also blamed the killings by herdsmen on the fact that their cattle routes had been blocked by farmers.”
His words “We demand from Nigerians authorities the immediate disarmament of the exclusive terror machine in the hands of Fulani herdsmen and the reorganization of the architectural of security of Nigeria to reflect federal character.
“We ask the United Nations rapporteurs on genocide to investigate what is going on in Nigeria because if this disaster unfolds into full scale war, the international community would have a deep problem on its hands.
“They must investigate the genocide and bring the appropriate international sanctions against Nigerians government for promoting and aiding and abetting genocidal conduct by armed Fulani herdsmen across the country,” he said.
According to the Yoruba leaders, President Buhari must be more decisive in dealing with security issues, hence the need for the federal government to investigate and brought to book any military officer found to be compromising in Benue, Taraba killings and other parts of the country.
