On March 28th a hitherto
unknown northern group known as the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, through its
spokesman, one Yerima Shetima, had the nerve and effrontery to accuse
Afenifere
and the Yoruba nation of a "subtle campaign of ethnic cleansing" and
went on to threaten us with what they decried as "reprisals against the
millions of Yoruba living in the north" if we did not stop complaining
about the fact that our people were slaughtered in Ile-Ife and that the police
were handling the whole matter in a selective, inappropriate and unjust manner.
It is clear that this is
not an empty threat because for the last two weeks fake and horrendous videos
and graphic pictures of what purport to be the killings of Hausa Fulanis by the
Yoruba and the people of Ile-Ife are being circulated all over the internet and
social media by those that seek to promote anarchy, violence and carnage and
those that are set to kill.
This is not the time to
escalate the tension and we must do all we can to exercise restraint and keep
the peace but clearly the stage is being set by some in the north for ethnic
pogroms and reprisals against the Yoruba. Yet we are not in the least bit
perturbed and someone should advise the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum and
those that they represent that pulling the tail of the tiger can be a very dangerous
thing indeed.
Like Shakespeare's King
Henry V once said they must "wake not our sleeping sword lightly."
They and whoever sent them can be rest assured that the Yoruba are not
intimidated or deterred by their boastful threats and that we will lose no
sleep over their irresponsible and reckless words.
Whether they and their
sponsors like it or not we shall continue to complain and to protest and we
eagerly await the full manifestation and execution of their cold-blooded and
unwarranted threat Yesterday evening the Arewa Consultative Forum itself, the
body of elders and leaders that speaks for the north, chose to stop hiding behind
their youths and waded into the ring.
They issued a formal
statement, through one Muhammadu Ibrahim, who is apparently their spokesman,
cautioning Yoruba elders and leaders not to "give ethnic coloration to the
Ile-Ife crises" and that if they continued to do so they should be mindful
of and ready for what he described as "reprisal consequences". This
is yet another not so well-couched warning and veiled threat. They have made
their point and we have taken our stand.
The next move is theirs.
Meanwhile I find it curious that not one prominent voice from outside
Yorubaland, except for a handful of notable, insightful and deeply courageous
essayists and political commentators like Reno Omokri and Jude Ndukwe, has
spoken out against the evil and injustice that the people of Ile-Ife have been
subjected to by both the Hausa Fulani community and the Nigerian Police Force.
It appears that the Yoruba
have been left to carry their cross on their own even though when the Fulani
militants and herdsmen, or indeed anyone else, commit genocide and mass murder
against innocent people in other parts of the country the Yoruba are always at
the forefront of speaking up for the victims. Yet despite this wonderful
quality of more often than not being our brothers keeper, the people of the
south west still harbour a number of so-called leaders within their ranks who
are more comfortable with sleeping with the enemy than in defending or speaking
up for their own.
Permit me to give just one
example. A few renegades from the south-west, whom I regard as the enemy within
and the sons of perfidy, have complained that my two part essay on the Hausa
Fulani and Yoruba clash in Ile Ife (tltled "The Hausa Fulani, The Yoruba
and The Slaughter In Ile-Ife") was "too harsh" and that it may
even have "compounded the problem". They also complained about the
follow-up that I wrote to that article titled "The Sons and Daughters Of
Ile-Ife: Butchered, Paraded and Now Prisoners Of War" which came out last
week. Frankly I am at a loss to comprehend their baseless concerns and
criticisms or appreciate their warped logic. How can one "compound the
problem" by speaking the bitter truth? How can one "compound the
problem" by resisting evil and standing up for ones own? How can one
"compound the problem" by standing against tyranny and ethnic
domination? How can one "compound the problem" by objecting to mass
murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity?
How can one "compound
the problem" by pointing out that the Hausa Fulani must stop killing other
Nigerians wherever they go? How can one can one "compound the
problem" by saying that we refuse to be sacrificial lambs or second class
citizens in our own land? How can one "compound the problem" by
asserting that it is ungodly and unacceptable for others to storm our
territory, rape our women, burn our homes, occupy our land, steal our farms,
desecrate our places of worship, kill our children and terrorize our people?
How can one "compound the problem" by contending that it is not only
a grave insult but also an affront to decency and justice that only the Yoruba
were arrested by the police after the carnage at Ile Ife even though people
from both sides were killed?
How can one "compound
the problem" by rejecting the conspiracy of silence, refusing to be a
coward and saying "enough is enough?" How can one "compound the
problem" by saying that if the brutal killings of our people does not stop
that we will have no choice but to reconsider being part of Nigeria and no
qualms about exercising our right of self-determination and thereby light the
glorious flame of the sovereign state and independent nation of Oduduwa?
Needless to say I offer no apology and neither do I have any regrets for any of
the things that I have said or written even if the primitive and barely
educated in our midst see things differently. Some of the things they wrote,
particularly in the pro-Government newspapers and websites, were brought to my
attention and frankly I saw nothing but unadulterated rubbish.
I have never read so much
puerile nonsense, infantile balderdash and disjointed verbiage before in my
entire life. The traitors that joined hands with our collective enemies and led
our people into the jaws of death and the poisonous fangs of the ravenous and
insatiable Fulani monster still don't know who and what they are up against or
who and what they are dealing with. They are slaves and cowards in body, spirit
and soul.
I have always known that
but what I didn't know is that they would also go as far as to cast aspersions
on the character and noble efforts of those of us that are risking our lives
and liberty by confronting the beast. Instead of applauding us for doing what
THEY ought to be doing they are denigrating us and belittling our efforts. They
believe that if they say and do the right things the Hausa Fulani will leave
them alone and allow our people to live in peace.
Little do they know the
monster. They have also said that the area known as "Sabo" where the
Hausa Fulani live was the only place that their APC got votes in Ile-Ife during
the governorship and presidential elections Consequently they believe that they
must protect the Hausa Fulanis that live there and sacrifice the Yoruba. People
that reason, think and talk like that are evil.
They are nothing but
vermin. They are scum and so are ALL those that share their views. They are
traitors, cowards and cockroaches and they have sold the Ifes and the Yoruba
down the river. They are playing politics with this grave and very serious
issue whilst the blood of their people is being shed and their traditional
rulers and sons and daughters are being falsely accused, detained and locked up
in distant and dingy underground cells.
They helped President
Muhammadu Buhari to win power in 2015 yet they have remained silent as his
Hausa Fulani kinsmen have slaughtered people ALL over the country in the last
two years. Not one word of objection or protest did they offer when confronted
with this monstrous outrage. They even applauded and encouraged the killings
and patted the genocidal maniacs on the back. When the beasts were done with
the people of Southern Kaduna, Benue, Enugu, Abia, Taraba, Delta, Plateau,
Kogi, Kwara, Anambra, Imo, Edo, Ebonyi and elsewhere and the same thing was
done to their own Yoruba kith and kin in Ile-Ife they were shocked beyond belief
but they did nothing except beg their Hausa Fulani friends. They crawled and
bowed before Rabiu Kwankwaso when he came to Ile Ife to insult our people
asking for compensation after the massacre. They shivered and went on their
knees before Abdulrahman Dambazau when he came to Ile Ife to intimidate our
people saying the Ifes must behave themselves after the carnage They trembled
and bowed before the Nigerian police when they paraded our sons and daughters
and a revered traditional ruler before the television cameras, labelled them as
murderers and common criminals and said they would prosecute them.
They clapped with joy and
shouted "bravo" when the security and intelligence agencies refused
to arrest even ONE Hausa Fulani person after they slaughtered and beheaded our
people in the sanctity of their own homes. They sang and danced with joy and
servile adoration when the northern Inspector General of Police labelled the
Yoruba as "criminals" and attempted to justify the fact that no Hausa
Fulani person was arrested after the conflict.
Now they have been
commissioned by the same Hausa Fulani-led government to denigrate and insult
those of us that have courageously stood up, resisted the evil, exposed the
truth, called the murderers to order and encouraged our people to stand firm
and stand tall.
What a useless heap of dung
these cowardly animals are. It is no wonder that so many people in our country
WRONGLY label the Yoruba as cowards that cannot be trusted in a fight. They do
not know that these cowardly dogs do not represent the Yoruba but only their
own stomachs. The only thing that is worse than the evil agenda of those that
slaughter others at will in Nigeria are the slaves that are prepared to work
for them and destroy the destiny of millions of Yoruba for a pittance.
Yet they can be rest assured
of one thing: their plan to dampen our enthusiasm, break our resolve and
destroy our efforts will not work. Whatever they do or say we shall continue to
sensitize our people about the great evil that confronts them today and we
shall strengthen our resolve to resist the Buhari administration's scurrilous
attempt to break our will, intimidate our people and destroy our future. (TO BE
CONTINUED).
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