Those who burnt my house’ll will run mad — Sunday Igboho

Sunday Igboho's house burnt by unknown persons.

•Hoodlums fired gunshots before setting house ablaze —Police

•Ondo, Oyo: FG vows to deal with trouble makers

•Attack on Igboho’s house barbaric —Afenifere

•Insecurity: Some Yoruba people colluding with herdsmen to attack S-West —Gani Adams

•As Amotekun nabs herders with arms; it’s for protection of cattle —Herders 

•We have powers to chase out criminal herdsmen in S-West —Traditional worshippers 

FOLLOWING the burning of one of his houses by unknown arsonists, yesterday, Yoruba freedom fighter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Igboho, vowed that those responsible would run mad within 48 hours.

It was gathered that the arsonists, on arrival at Igboho’s residence at Soka, fired gunshots sporadically before setting it ablaze.

But in the wake of ethnic tensions in Ondo and parts of Oyo state, the Federal Government, yesterday, vowed to effectively deal with those who breach the peace.

Arsonists burn Igboho’s house

The setting ablaze of Igboho’s house happened just five days after he (Igboho) made good his promise that he would ensure no Fulani herders remained in Ibarapa.

A source close to Igboho said the arsonists stormed his old house around 3 am thinking he was around.

On his Twitter handle, Igboho wrote: “This happened at about 1 am today. They thought I was still in the house. Laugh. I am safe and sound my people. You can’t kill a breeze. In 48 hours the attacker would be revealed and would run mad. I have spoken.”

As Many sympathisers who thronged the scene raining curses on whosoever carried out the arson.

Hoodlums fired gunshots before setting house ablaze —Police 

Confirming the incident, the Oyo State Police Command through its Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Gbenga Fadeyi said: “At about 0620 hours of Tuesday 26/01/2021, a report was received at Sanyo Police Station that some unidentified hoodlums came to Sunday Igboho’s house at Soka area of Ibadan in a Hummer bus and Micra firing sporadically and set the house ablaze.

“The mini sitting room got burnt in the process while the amount of other properties burnt is yet to be estimated. “Immediately the DPO Sanyo got wind of the incident, he contacted Fire service while he also went to the scene for on the spot assessment.

“The fire was eventually put out. An investigation has commenced into the incident while the Police are on the trail of the hoodlums.”

Over N50m lost to inferno —Igboho

Igboho, while speaking on the attack on his house, said: “When the fire started, they called me and by the time I got there, the arsonists have run away. They are cowards; why can’t they come to where I live, you would have seen evidence because they won’t escape.”

He also denied meeting with Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who claimed that he met with Igboho in Ibadan and later took him to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Akure during the 2009 re-run election in Ekiti.

He said: “I don’t know him, he is a liar, I was not trained by Baba Adedibu, Senator Ladoja is my boss and I have never betrayed him.

“It is a plot to distract me and give me a bad name, I never collected money from politicians to do this and it is painful that politicians are conniving with Fulani to distract us but I will never be distracted.”

Attack on Igboho’s house barbaric —Afenifere

The attack on Igboho’s house, however, elicited angry reactions from the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, which described it as barbaric.

Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin said: “It is barbaric and we wait to see what the double-standard Nigerian state will do over the arson and those behind it. It is high time this government behaves like a government for all. We strongly condemn the attack.”

FG must find those that razed Igboho’s house —Aare Adams

Similarly, Aare Adams condemned the arson, saying it was an attempt to frustrate the young man. He said: “The ugly incident speaks volume of the spate of insecurity across the country.  The government is in the best position to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ugly incident so that they will not overheat the polity.”

FG vows to deal with trouble makers

Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in a statement, said the Federal Government will stop at nothing to bring lasting peace, security and amity to all communities.

In the statement titled: ‘A time to put Unity and Peace above all’, Aregbesola said: “The regrettable incidences of heightening ethnic and religious tensions in our country are, in part, outcomes of political and economic strains that have persistently defined our land and continue to exacerbate security challenges, making the task of development more traumatic.

“The Government is keenly aware and genuinely concerned about these complications that, sadly, have been sharpened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic through the growth of anxieties about issues, lives and livelihoods in our communities.

“There will be no tolerance for any act or behaviour capable of jeopardising law and order and security of lives and property in any part of Nigeria.

“Therefore, as the government is fashioning long term answers to address these problems, it urges citizens to appreciate that self-help and lawlessness cannot offer a path to a sustainable solution.

“It can only lead to greater pain as well as costly human and material losses and disruption of the already difficult task of devising responses that will produce tangible peace and development in the country.”

Amotekun nabs herders with arms

Meanwhile, operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun in Oyo State, yesterday, arrested some Northerners with 15 locally made guns and bags of cartridges.

The unit that apprehended the hoodlums was led by one Gbenga Olanrewaju.

According to a credible source, the truck marked TUR 30 ZY Kebbi was intercepted by the security of Oyo State Command (Ido Unit).

All the 25 occupants of the truck were also rounded up by the security agents. The suspects claimed to be herders adding that the arms and ammunition were to protect their cattle.

When contacted, the Chairman of Amotekun in the state, Gen. Kunle Togun (retd) declined to make any comment, noting there is a circular that forbids members of the outfit from speaking with newsmen.

“I cannot confirm that. There’s a circular which does not permit me to make comments.”

All calls made to the State Public Relations Officer, CSP Gbenga Fadeyi were not picked.

Insecurity: Some Yoruba people colluding with Fulani herdsmen to attack S-West —Gani  Adams

Similarly, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams, expressed worry that some people in the South West are colluding with Fulani herdsmen to commit crimes such as kidnappings and armed robbery in the region.

He also said that for insecurity to be eradicated from the region, the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun must be allowed to function effectively.

Adams said this on a breakfast show on ARISE television.

He said: “Some people pressured me to talk on the happenings in Ibarapa, Ondo State and other areas in the South West but I am someone who does not dance to unnecessary pressure. Before I take any step, I make consultations.

I realised that on the issue of insecurity, the South West has been infiltrated by bad elements.

The security threat we are having in the south-west now, our people (Yoruba) constituted about 25-30 percent of it.

When some Fulani herdsmen that were arrested around Ilesha by the OPC, vigilante and Amotekun were interrogated, we gathered that the person who prepared food for them is a Yoruba person. We also gathered that the person who provided information about the person to be kidnapped is a Yoruba person.

It means we have to apply strategy to the security threat. Where is the problem coming from? Who are the evil ones among us?

“If you want to fight insecurity conventionally, the only way out is to support Amotekun.

Amotekun should not be frustrated. With time, they will understand the terrain and know how to perfect it; but when we crucify them, it will affect Yoruba land. “We are happy that Amotekun had been gazetted and signed into law by the South West governors but I want to appeal to Yoruba people to allow the system to work.”

YCE, Gani Adams differ over S-West Govs’ meeting with herders

Meanwhile, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland and the Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, yesterday, disagreed over the South-West governors’ meeting with leaders of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, in Akure, Ondo.

Throwing his weight behind the new development, Adams in a statement, by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, said: “I commend the governors on the new development. It was a welcome development. The underlying motive is to reduce the growing tension in the region. But in solving these problems, we need to support the Southwest Security Network better known as Operation Amotekun.

“Southwest is a very complex region when compared with other regions. For instance, HISBA, which is the security outfit in the North, has been in existence for years, and it is present in about 13 states in the region.  

YCE faults meeting with Myetti Allah

On its part, the YCE, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Dr. Kunle Olajide in Ibadan, argued that in a crisis, all parties should be invited to any peace meeting convened to calm all frayed nerves. Olajide said: “We believe that any meeting convened to resolve a dispute must have all the parties in the dispute at the meeting.

“The Akure meeting fell short of that expectation because the complainants, who are victims of the herders’ criminal act, were not invited to the meeting. “The representative of Yoruba people ought to have been invited as complainants and victims of the herders’ murderous activities. “However, our governors were not at the meeting to represent us as they were the conveners representing the Nigeria Governor’s Forum which is the arbitrator of the dispute.

We've traditional power to chase out criminal herdsmen in South West — Traditional 

Worshipers

On its part, the Traditional Religion Worshippers in Ondo State, yesterday, boasted that they have all it requires to chase out criminal herdsmen terrorising the South-West. Addressing newsmen in Akure, its coordinator, Chief Adewale Oso said: “We have been quiet because nobody invited them to help find a solution to activities of criminal herdsmen in the state.

“We have the spiritual support of the ancestors and Olodumare to cooperate with the government to chase out criminals in the state.

“We want to appeal to our Christian and Islamic brothers to cooperate with us. Let us fight this battle together for peace and freedom in our ancestral land.

“Our traditions have powers to expose evildoers around us. If some people are killing and hiding, when authorities do the right thing, traditionally, they would be exposed.” 

“Every town should have Chief Priest that will be consulting the Ifa and performing rituals every week as well as appease to the deities so that peace can prevail in our land.”

Culled from Vanguard