As the security crisis rocking Nigeria’s Western region widens, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has said it is ready to flush out killer herdsmen from the area.
OPC also stated it was ready to implement the quit to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves in Ondo State, given by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. The seven-day notice has expired.
Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, Deputy President to late OPC founder, declared in a statement on Sunday, that the arrest order on Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho, is “misguided and provocative.”
The arrest order on Igboho was given by the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Adamu after the activist asked Fulani herdsmen to vacate the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
He accused the herdsman of being responsible for rising cases of kidnapping in the area, as they have converted the forests to places of keeping their victims while negotiating for ransom.
“Although the millions of law-abiding Fulani men and women living in our midst have absolutely no cause for alarm, those Fulani criminals hiding under the cloak of being herdsmen to perpetrate evil against law-abiding citizens should know their time is up. Henceforth, it will be fire for fire,” OPC said.
“We are fully prepared to help enforce Governor Akeredolu’s quit notice in Ondo State at the expiration of the two-week deadline.
“Anybody found in the jungle will be regarded as a kidnapper and bandit and will be appropriately dealt with. We Yoruba shall rise up to defend our land from foreign marauders who daily rape our women, kill our farmers and kidnap Nigerian citizens. Enough is enough.”
It also decried the plans by the government to arrest Igboho.
“The government must guarantee the life of Sunday Igboho. Rather than declare Sunday Adeyemo an outlaw, the Federal Government’s security agencies should turn their attention against criminal elements engaging in kidnappings and killings in the South.”
The group lamented a situation where foreign criminals had turned Nigeria’s highways, forests, and farms into danger zones while the government is not showing much concern.
“We cannot fold our arms and wait to be wiped out of our Fatherland by foreign elements. The Yoruba are peace-loving people with a great reputation for extending hospitality to visitors in order to produce mutually-beneficial advantages.
“But what we see today are invaders, murderers, and parasites committed to snuffing the life out of their hosts. We can no longer tolerate them and we must reclaim not only our land but our peace from these children of Satan.’’
