Insecurity: Yoruba Elders In Diaspora Take Case To UN
Yoruba elders in the Diaspora, under the aegis of the Yoruba Council of Elders in Europe and America, have petitioned the United Nations (UN) against the prevailing security situation in Nigeria, calling on the international body to prevent every attempt to foist Fulani dominance in the country, a situation they say may lead to crisis.
In the letter to the UN Secretary General, Mr. António Guterres by the Coordinating Secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Elder Michael Olawale Shadare, the group alerted the world to the dangerous build-up to a possible genocide, owing to such grim occurrences as mindless killings and attempts by suspected Fulani herdsmen to acquire land forcefully with the support of the government in the southern part of the country.
The YCEEA, which said available intelligence pointed at a genocide about to happen on a scale never known before, and to be executed by armed people positioned strategically around the country with logistics back up, urged the UN Secretariat to make urgent and decisive intervention.
In a related development, disturbed by the rising spate of insecurity across the Southwest and simmering disagreements over perceived ideological differences among its leaders, Southwest Senators, under the auspices of Southwest Senators Caucus of the 9th Assembly, are making arrangement to convoke an all-Yoruba leaders and stakeholders meeting to discuss the various challenges besetting the region.
A National Assembly source said that the meeting would address critical security issues, such as the ongoing tension between the Southwest and the North over armed alleged Fulani herdsmen activities, economic and political issues affecting Yorubaland, and the controversial demand for restructuring.
It is hoped that after the high-powered gathering, a bill would be raised and presented before the National Assembly for deliberation.
In the letter to the UN by the YCEEA, and copied to all Southwest Governors, traditional rulers and the Aare Ona Kakakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams, the Yoruba in Diaspora said if the UN Secretariat, the United Nations Assembly and United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect do not act now, the resultant crisis in Nigeria would destabilise the entire West African region on a scale never known before.
Highlighting some of the problems in the country, Shadare said: “Several cases of major assaults and onslaughts against Yoruba have been reported to the knowledge of Yoruba Council of Elders Europe and America, in which victims narrated their experiences and that of their families in the hands of Fulani herdsmen. A popular example is the case of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation in Nigeria, Chief Olu Falae, who suffered financial loss on his invaded farm, was kidnapped with ransom demanded, and his worker killed following repeated and incessant invasion of his farm by Fulani herdsmen.”
Painting the grim situation on hand, Shadare made reference to the call by a former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), in March 2018, on communities attacked by herdsmen in the country to rise up and defend themselves. Danjuma had said that it would be suicidal for people to continue to rely on the armed forces to defend them, asserting that government security forces were colluding with armed bandits to kill people, while also facilitating their movement.
Shadare alluded to yet another comment by a former Head of State, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in which he itemised an ongoing agenda of Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria. Warning against the escalation of the crisis, Shadare noted that the actions of the Federal Government continue to fuel a situation where those attacking innocent citizens enjoy advantage of resources and logistics (land, money, radio frequency/communication equipment) from government.
According to him, the Fulani herdsmen “benefit from the inaction of authorities. No single person has been prosecuted despite the scale of the killings in the North-Central. Yet, they benefit from wrong rules designed by authorities, which makes innocent citizens additionally weak and vulnerable.” Shadare also frowned on the declaration of withdrawal of licensed firearms by Executive order of President Buhari, saying that most Nigerians saw it as the final call in the Fulani’s attempt to suppress and put into extinction millions of Yoruba and other Nigerians.
