…says suspected well-orchestrated script unfolding
The only way the resentment against northerners will vanish in that zone is when the killer herdsmen and terrorists stop the killings.
Former Aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has faulted the Nigerian Senate President Ahmad Lawan over a comment credited to the latter saying the failure of the leaders of the South West Region was responsible for the mêlée which recently occurred in Oyo state.
Fani-Kayode in his reaction said it was wrong for Senator Lawan to attribute the cause of the crisis in the South West region of the country to its leadership adding that his comment suggests ”a well-orchestrated script” is “ unfolding.”
The Senate President had on Saturday lampooned the South West Governors, accusing them of being the masterminds of the killings in Sasha Market in Ibadan, Oyo State.
According to Lawan, the governors are also responsible for the violence and attacks against the Northerners in the South West region.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, Lawan attributed the violence to the latest call for the eviction of Fulani herders out of Southwestern states, adding that utterances by some South West Region Governors were responsible for the killings in Sasha Market in Ibadan, Oyo State and other violence against Northerners in the Region.
He said, “Leadership failures in the region cause what happened in Oyo State and other things that kept happening in the southwestern states.”
“Some utterances by some governors also went a long way in inciting the citizens to take up arms against other ethnic groups settling in their states.
“The governors’ utterances emboldened the criminals to unleash violence against the northerners,” Lawan told BBC Hausa.
But in his response to the Senate President’s claims, Fani-Kayode said what Senator Lawan said was “NOT true” pointing out that a well-organized plot was about to be executed.
Fani-Kayode expressed his reaction in a series of tweet posts Saturday night.
His posts read; “MY RESPONSE- This is NOT true. And frankly, I am beginning to suspect that there is a well-orchestrated script unfolding here. I was in Ibadan when the Shasha killings started & I went on tour of the affected area.
“Let me assure you that many people were killed on both sides of the ethnic divide and had it not been for the efforts of the Governor of Oyo state and the tacit support and encouragement he got from the other South West Governors in terms of appealing to the people of Ibadan to show restraint, what happened in Oyo would have been a hundred times worse and far many more northerners would have been killed.
“The level of hate and resentment against Fulani herdsmen in the South West is frightful and unprecedented today and the Governors are having a hard time trying to calm people down and reign them in even though they may not want to admit it publicly.
“The decisive actions of the South West Governors over the last few months actually saved lives and their words and utterances actually reflected the will of the people. If, for example, Governor Akeredolu had not banned herdsmen from the forests of Ondo, after some time the local population would have gone there themselves to throw them out violently
“The truth is that all the South-West states are sitting on a keg of gunpowder over this herdsmen issue and the local population are mobilising against them in a very frightening way.
Northern leaders should thank the South West Governors for keeping a lid on the whole thing and restraining our people rather than blame them for trying to keep the peace in the face of the most extreme provocation from the terrorists. Quite apart from that I need to ask this question. Why does the Senate President not complain about the violence that northerners are inflicting on Middle Belters and Southerners in the North itself?
“Again why does he not complain about the barbaric attacks and killing of our people in the South West and other parts of the South and Middle Belt by killer Fulani herdsmen who are carrying arms, raping our women, occupying our land and terrorising out people? How come he does not complain about that? Is Northern blood more precious than Southern blood?
“It appears that he is only concerned about retaliatory attacks by the local Yoruba population who have been brutalised and traumatised by the terrorists.
“He has not complained about what those terrorists are doing to our people & he has exhibited no empathy with the victims simply because they are Southerners. Is this right or fair?
“It is wrong for anyone to target other ethnic groups in their region and I totally condemn that but the north needs to understand that the people of the South-West particularly believe they have been encircled and that they are under siege.
“The only way the resentment against northerners will vanish in that zone is when the killer herdsmen and terrorists stop the killings.
“Outside of that all the self-serving and sanctimonious admonitions and lectures in the world from Northern leaders, who are clearly partial in this matter, to our leaders in the South West will change nothing.
“If we want peace let us be honest & let us join hands, stand shoulder to shoulder and fight against the killers together.
“Blaming South West Governors and leaders for the failures of the Federal Government to provide law and order and protect our people from terrorists and savages will not help in this matter. As a matter of fact it will only make things worse.”
(FFK)
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