BY AYO ESAN
THE Oodua People’s Congress has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of supporting foreigners to slaughter Nigerians as part of what it described as a Fulanisation agenda, warning that it will defend Yoruba land against invaders from outside who had made the country unsafe for living, livelihood and travelling.
Speaking after a meeting of the group’s leaders at Century Hotel, Okota, Lagos on Tuesday, Deputy to late Frederick Fasehun, OPC Founder and President, Wasiu Afolabi, popularly called Askari, alleged that the government had shown that it preferred to defend Fulani from outside Nigeria instead of protecting the country’s citizens and indigenes.
The group warned that no one could send them out of their God-given heritage “and replace us with cows.”
OPC seized the opportunity to mourn the death of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, describing him as the most resourceful, credible and selfless Governor the country ever produced.
“Baba Kekere is the undisputed father of modern Lagos,” OPC said in its statement.
It added, “Baba Jakande was a first-class administrator who implemented a great deal of welfarist and people-oriented programmes, many of which are still yielding benefits to citizens 38 years after he left office.
“On behalf of all the OPC members at home and abroad, we hereby commiserate with the wife and family of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as well as the entire government and people of Lagos State on the passage of this great and unparalleled Elder Statesman.”
Afolabi claimed that utterances from the Presidency and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, in support of herdsmen bearing AK47 arms, exposed a deliberate Fulanisation agenda in which armed Fulani foreigners entered the country on a mission of conquering the Middle Belt, the South and other minority tribes in the North in order to provide a homeland for Fulani everywhere.
“God forbid. We will not allow this Fulanisation agenda to succeed. Nobody will remove us from this land that is our God-given heritage and replace us with cows,” Afolabi warned.
According to OPC, it should be noted that the Buhari government had made no effort to curtail the killings by killer herdsmen.
It said, “It is informative that the government has not deemed it necessary to mandate the police and the Army to launch operations into the forests where kidnappers are operating without hindrance.
“The highways are no longer safe because these criminals shoot at travelling vehicles and force them to stop before marching passengers into the bush to demand ransom. They rape women and slaughter people with impunity.
“We hereby warn that if government fails to roll out the security forces and the Army against these foreign Fulani invaders, OPC shall mobilise every physical and spiritual weapon at its disposal to defend Yoruba land and people as well as all law-abiding Nigerian citizens living in our area.”
The group submitted that Buhari had failed in keeping to his oath of office and a fundamental pillar of the Nigerian Constitution, which dictated that government should provide security to the people.
It said, “Section 14(2)(b) says, ‘The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’ Yet the President and Commander-in-Chief has not mustered the political will to stop the country’s descent into utter lawlessness because the perpetrators are his Fulani kinsmen from Nigeria and outside.
“When people try to defend themselves, the government turns against the victims and erects all kinds of hurdles against any attempt at self-defence. Who does that anywhere in the world?”
OPC also accused the President of opening the gates for foreign Fulanis to enter Nigeria to support the evil agenda of Nigerian Fulani herdsmen.
“Donald Trump declared America for Americans, but Buhari has declared Nigeria for foreigners,” Askari said.
“We shall not wait for the South to be turned into a war zone like the North-East and Southern Kaduna where life has been disrupted and the entire place turned into one huge Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp,” he added.
