To check the ceaseless attacks on citizens in the South West region by militants, Yoruba leaders have urged the people to resort to self-defence. At a meeting of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere held in Akure, the Ondo State capital and presided over by its leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the Publicity Secretary of the group, Yinka Odumakin, read the communiqué to journalists, condemning the attacks on Lagos and Ogun communities by militants, which have displaced many people from their homes.

The Yoruba leaders said: “We condemn the attack on Lagos and Ogun communities, which started from Ijebu-Mushin down to Igbo-Lomighun in Ikorodu, and the abduction of Oniba of Iba, who has been in the den of the captors for weeks now. We found out that the Nigeria Police, up till now, have only been lamenting, as they have not apprehended any of the people carrying out these dastardly acts. This gives us some worries.

“We appeal to our people not to allow themselves to be provoked into vengeful acts against their neighbours. We encourage them to activate their traditional self-defence mechanism to ward off these aggressors on their own, until the Nigerian state allows state police to complement federal police.”

The pan-Yoruba organisation urged the Federal Government to stop being a moneylender to the state, stating that giving bailouts and giving conditions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to states would not solve the economic and financial problems caused by the global oil doom.

“Rather we should take another look at the revenue allocation formula and free some of what the Federal Government is holding at the moment to go to the state,” the group said.

Afenifere commended President Muhammadu Buhari for re-opening investigation into the killings of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige and Aminasoari Dikibo.

The group asked that the investigations should be holistic and not just be about one to two people. “It must also be extended to the killers of MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Rewane, Funsho Williams, Marshall Harry and other high-profile political murders that took place from the days of Abacha until recent times so that they can put a closure on these murders. There can be justice, those who carried out the crimes can be punished and there will be deterrence,” Afenifere said.

The socio-cultural group declared its support for the remembrance of “the supreme sacrifice paid fifty years ago by late Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, that gallant, illustrious and patriotic Yoruba son, who as governor of the then Western Nigeria, was hosting the Head of State, the late Aguiyi Ironsi and would not allow coup plotters to kill his guest and leave him alive.” (The Guardian)

•Photo shows Afenifere Leader Reuben Fasoranti.

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