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Arewa Leaders Warn Afenifere Over Unpleasant Comments Against North

By Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief
04 October 2015   |   1:07 am
Arewa leaders have warned Yoruba elders, especially the Afenifere Pan Yoruba group to desist from making unpleasant statements that will plunge the nation into unnecessary crisis.

Afenifere-Renewal-Group-2Their Action Shows They Value Their Cows More Than Human Lives – Afenifere Chieftain
Arewa leaders have warned Yoruba elders, especially the Afenifere Pan Yoruba group to desist from making unpleasant statements that will plunge the nation into unnecessary crisis. The group noted that the recent call by the South West on the Federal Government to abolish nomadic cattle rearing in the country was an embarrassment and disappointment to the North.

Specifically, the Arewa consultative Forum (ACF), the socio-cultural organisation representing the people in the north said: “The Forum is embarrassed and disappointed with the communique issued by the respected pan-Yoruba group the Afenifere after its meeting of 29th September, 2015 held in Akure at the residence of its leader, Pa Rueben Fasonranti, that called on the Federal government to abolish nomadic cattle rearing to stop alleged criminal activities by herdsmen.”

According to the Arewa leaders, “this statement was issued after the kidnap of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, elder statesman Chief Olu Falae by some persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen”, adding that “the communique went further to warn that if the Federal Government fails to stop Fulani herdsmen from attacking Yoruba people, it may result in a situation where the South-west people will have to defend themselves.”

The statement issued by the Forum’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Mohammad Ibrahim yesterday, in reaction to Afenifere position stated that, “ACF considers such statement of the Yoruba group as reckless and unbecoming of a respected group like the Afenifere that choose to criminalize a whole race or tribe or region instead of the individual criminals, moreover, our law books provide the process of dealing with such suspected criminals rather than arrogating such powers to ourselves”.

He recalled that, “in November 2000 when some OPC hoodlums attacked northerners in the South West region, ACF did not blame it on the Yoruba, rather it urged the government to arrest the perpetrators that committed the crime”, pointing out that “ACF considers criminality in any form as a serious offense and strongly condemned the kidnapping of Chief Olu Falae a former presidential candidate of the joint ticket of APP/AD in the 1999 general election which the North overwhelmingly supported him.”

Meanwhile, the Arewa group has reacted to the latest bomb blast by Boko Haram, saying, “ACF is also sadden by the news of the multiple suicide bomb blasts that occurred on Thursday 1st October in Maiduguri and that of Friday night at Kuje and Nyanya in the FCT all within the week, which killed scores of innocent people and injured many.

Responding, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere Mr. Yinka Odumakin accused ACF leaders of distorting issues, explaining that Afenifere has nothing against the Fulani.

“We have not criminalised the whole of Fulani; it is the criminal herdsmen we are holding to account. When did ACF ever condemn the criminal activities of these nomads? They kept mum over the abduction of Chief Falae, as if Yoruba people can kidnap somebody of his status in the North and Nigeria would not have experienced bloodshed. We insist that the nomads should stop grazing on our land,” he said.

According to Odumakin, “Boko Haram cannot be killing our people on northern soil and nomads would be destroying our farmlands, killing and raping on our soil. They are free to apply for land and do ranches,” he said.

He noted that ACF should have first condemned the criminal activities of these nomads, instead of joining issues with Afenifere.

“There is no day you open newspapers and you don’t read about their inimical actions. They (Arewa) should have shown some empathy for the victims if not that their concept of Nigeria is northern soil and southern conquest. They should by now be reaching out to other sections of the country to seek solution to the problem. The way they are acting shows they value their cows than human beings in the south.”

6 Comments

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    What have Yoruba done to Fulani herdsmen that they will not respect property rights? Arewa Consultative Forum should be consoling the victims of herdsmen attacks rather than this nonsense.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The Arewa leadership keeps playing to the gallery. Do they know what it means for people’s livelihoods to be destroyed, innocent people kidnapped, some killed and women raped? They should be calling their kinsmen to order, instead of joining issues with Afenifere. If the people of the South begin to take retaliatory measures against criminal cattle -rearers from the north, there will chaos and anarchy in the land. Enough of AK 47 wielding herdsmen!

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    We have been saying lets restructure this country some yorubas are busy chasing falsehood they called change, until the fulanis overun ur land as they did in Plateau state .

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    55 odd years after independence its time to leave the first century ad methodologies behind and establish grazing reserves and ranchesThats how real sustainable nations do it. I dont see any particular economic advantage or talisman in long range herding by foot. The nation needs a mental revolution of values across all cadres of society and thats the real revolution.Until you do this even some people may superstitiously regard electricity as threats.And superstitious power really ruined africa without rescue. Once again : The nation needs a mental revolution of values across all cadres of society and thats the real revolution.!

  • Author’s gravatar

    ACF and their cows have the same mentality. They remain criminally unperturbed by the destruction mated out to the rest of the society by their kind. Shocking

  • Author’s gravatar

    OPC, in particular Yinka should lower your voice. It is still fresh in our memories, that North have lost count of the number of times Northerners were killed in Lagos, Shagamu and Ibadan since 1993 to date. The only time in history when Yorubas were ever attacked in the North, apart from the 1953 incident, was the provoked killing of their own in Shagamu. On their part, the attack on Northerners has become a matter of routine, inspite of the support some political leaders in the North have been giving to them since independence to date and in particular the massive votes given to Abiola and Obasanjo. In fact they did that at a time when they need Northern votes to give the president a second term.

    The suya seller in Lagos cannot possibly hate the Yoruba rural poor for they belong to the same class of the poor and the exploited. Their problems are the same and therefore have no reasons to hate one another except when they are wrongly instigated by their exploitative elites. Usually, the victims are not these intigating elites or their relations, but still the very poor. If the Nigerian poor masses know how their tribal elites have been using them to achieve their (elites) selfish interests, quite distinct from theirs (poor), they would never take up arms against themselves. All the talk about marginalisation and such stuff are the language of the elites who don’t recognise the poor across the land as the really and truly marginalized.