Afenifere Warns FG Against Encouraging Military Take Over
The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political group, Afenifere, on Tuesday, said that the frequent deployment of military personnel all over the country is an invitation for them to take over power.
The mainstream Yoruba group asked the governors of Ondo and Osun States, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and Rauf Aregbesola to resolve the political differences between the two states in the interest of the zone.
The group also faulted the conditional support given by the Northern leaders to the clamour for restructuring by different ethnic nationalities and groups in the country.
Addressing reporters after the monthly meeting of Afenifere in the house of the leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the spokesperson of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, warned against launching Operation Crocodile Smile in the South west region to confront the badoo menace.
Odumakin, who informed that the badoo gang has been decimated by the Nigeria Police and the OPC in the area, however urged the federal government to remember how the 1996 coup started.
Odumakin, who read the communiqué of the meeting to reporters, said “with the incessant deployment of solders to every part of the country, the federal government is sending a wrong signal to foreign investors that the country is not safe “.
He urged the government to stop transferring civil duty to the military, saying that may ginger them to take over power on the excuse that the country is not safe.
Odumakin said the group considered as unnecessary, the recent announcement by the military to launch Operation Crocodile Smile in the South west region of the country after the Python Dance in the South East which has been largely condemned locally and internationally.
According to him, “The operation ostensibly they said, is to confront the badoo menace. We state as follows: that the badoo gang has been decimated by the Nigeria Police and the OPC in the area where it occurred and we think if the group resurges, it is the duty of the police to deal with it without causing tension, invasion and harassment as it happened in the South East during Operation Crocodile Dance.
“We insist that the military has no duty in going after badoo, even if it comes back. We want the federal government to be careful at the spate at which they deploy solders all over the country.
“The other day, the Speaker of the House of Representative lamented that 28 out of 36 states of the country are under one military operation or the other. The South west has been adjudged the most peaceful area of the country.
“To now bring military here is to say that the entire country is not safe. They are sending a wrong signal to foreign investors and more importantly, the federal government should be reminded of what happened before the coup of 1966.
“This was how Balewa’s government started to transfer civil duty to the military and the military now said they can take over. The government should be careful.
“We urged the federal government to tell the military not to bring any operation to South west and to end the Operation Python Dance in the South East and allow the police to do their duty and not create militarisation across the country.”
At the meeting were Bashorun Seinde Arogbofa, Chiefs Ayo Adebanjo, Kole Omololu, Olu Falae, Korede Duyile, Supo Sonibare, Dr Bakitta Bello and Bola Ajimuda among others.
Notable Yoruba leaders also condemned the attack on the Olubadan of Ibadan’s palace, Oba Saliu Adetunji during the installation of new Mogajis and Baales for the ancient city.
He described the attack as “unacceptable “and called on the government of Oyo state and the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, to immediately lead the effort to get the hoodlums and ensure that they are punished.
