"Olakunrin’s Death Must Not Divide Us" – Tinubu

National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has warned against stigmatizing herdsmen in the country over the killing of Mrs Funke Olakunrin.

He said this when he led a delegation on a condolence visit to the Akure residence of Pa Reuben Fasoranti on the death of his daughter.

Tinubu who spoke to journalists after the visit advised that the incident should unite the Yoruba race and not be allowed to divide the people.

The family of the Yoruba leader and the Pan Yoruba Socio- Political group, Afenifere, have insisted that the 58 year old mother of two was shot dead by Fulani herdsmen who had attempted to kidnap her.

However, Tinubu called for caution as he stressed the need to strengthen security in the country and also address poverty and unemployment.

“We must not use this incident to divide ourselves but we must use it as a cure to the security problem.

“I am extremely concerned about security, I don’t want a stigma, I can go through history of kidnapping in Nigeria and we know how and where it all started, there are a lot of copycats.

“How many years ago have we faced the insecurity in the country? There are cases of kidnapping, is Evans too who was arrested and made disclosures was also a herdsman?

“I don’t want to be political, but I will ask where are the cows? I am a nationalist and the security concern and challenge right now must be face squarely throughout Nigeria.

“The incident that affected one member of our family Mrs Olakunrin is seriously sad and unacceptable but nobody can return her alive, she has answered the call of her creator.

“We must not use this incident to divide ourselves but we must use it as a cure to the security problem.

“Additional police, additional patrol, and additional security reinforcement along Ore road and various flash points across the country are necessary and i have discussed this among the various authorities.

“The security challenges are numerous across this country and to fight it we are going through that, more police are being recruited and it takes time to train and deploy them to various areas, nobody prepares more than necessary for this.

“But if you look at Zamfara, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and all areas, then we need to fight poverty, unemployment and the causes that might lead people to crying.

“Equally we must create opportunity to convert this tragedy to prosperity. Funke is very close to me and she died a premature death. Only four or five days ago, we chatted and i know what she discussed with me and about Baba’s health conditions.

“We just pray that this will not happen again,” he said.