Herders' Invasion: S-West govs must take action now — Adebanjo

Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo.

LEADER of the pan-Yoruba Socio-Political organisation, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, has called on South West governors to take proactive steps to ward off invasion into the South-West by foreign Fulani herdsmen to avoid war.

Speaking on the warning, Adebanjo urged South-West governors to call traditional rulers and opinion leaders in the region to a security meeting to prevent the invasion.

He said: "This is scary. The South-West governors must summon all the traditional rulers and opinion leaders to a meeting and decide on what steps to take. All the warnings we have been giving them now is at the door. There is war at the door. We cannot keep on talking.

''It is a good thing that it is coming from officials of Amotekun in Oyo State. We must take a cue from what the president has said that he will deal with anybody trying to make trouble with his government.

''He has no reconciliatory words at all about those who are agitating, he is very combative. I am not surprised that the words of a president, who is supposed to take care of us, are so combative and the lives of those of us talking about him are not safe. So, it is time to take action."

However, the Soludero Hunters Association has declared the readiness of its members to defend Yorubaland.

The hunters who are spread across Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos states who spoke through their leader, Oba Nureni Ajijola Anabi, said they were ready for the foreign herdsmen, adding that hunters and other local security agents were up to the task and would match the herders strength for strength.

He, however, advised those who are sympathetic to the herders to warn them to shelve the idea because what they would meet on ground would beat their imagination.

While appealing to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to mobilize the hunters by making provision for equipment, vehicles, motorcycles and other logistics needed to carry out the task, he said apart from a man he identified as Engr Dotun Sanusi who he said, had been of tremendous assistance to the hunters, other people have not appreciated what they have been doing.

"We have been spending our money since we started monitoring our forests. There were times we were hindered due to lack of things to use. We are capable of checking these attackers if only the state government can empower us." 

"We too are aware that these aliens are in our forests. We have heard about them but we have not seen them. We can go inside the forest where they are to smoke them out and send them back to their countries.

But, are we going to trek to the far distance where they are hiding? We are limited by equipment and funds".

"Even, the state police command can attest to the fact that we have arrested several suspects and handed them over to the police. Apart from herders, we have arrested hoodlums rupturing the peace of people within Ibadan metropolis".

"We have made incursion to deep forests which are very difficult terrains. We risk our lives most of the time to ensure our people live in peace. We need to be mobilized. We can't continue using our meagre resources to secure our people. It is very difficult."

Nigeria dripping bitterness, sadness – Obasanjo

•Blames bad leadership for Nigeria’s woes

•Future bleak without getting 14 million children back to school

Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has bemoaned the state of the nation, lamenting that Nigeria was currently dripping bitterness and sadness, which he said has prevented her from achieving what God destined her to be.

Fingering bad leadership for the country’s socio-economic, political and developmental challenges, Obasanjo charged all Nigerians to rally together and speak in a civilized language towards changing the narrative.

The former president spoke at the unveiling of a book titled: “The Man, The General and The President”, authored by Femmy Carrena at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

“God has created Nigeria to be a land flowing with milk and honey but due to leadership failure, the country is wallowing in crises and problems,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria has been destined to lead the black race but “failure of leadership” has impeded it from taking its place in the comity of developed nations.

His words: “My prayer is that all of us particularly in this country and now, is that we will have something to contribute to make this country what God has created it to be; a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Right now, it is a land flowing with bitterness and sadness. That is not what God wants this country to be. We must change the narrative. We must talk to ourselves in a civilized language.

“There is no where you go in this country that you will not see a genius. So, for what reason should we look down on ourselves or others except we are not human beings?

‘’Of course, we will get this country to what God has created it to be because where we are now is not what God has created Nigeria to be.

“Education must be one of the main pillars of getting Nigeria to where it should be and the over 14 million Nigerian children that are now out of school, we must a find a way of getting them into school. Otherwise, we are preparing the Boko Haram of tomorrow and there is nothing that will prevent that.

“If we don’t do it now, then, we lose the opportunity and the consequences in the future will be catastrophic. Some of us might have gone, but those who will be around will bear the brunt of the problem.

“My belief is that God had created races in the world and at one time or the other, he has decided that every race will be led by a particular nation in the world. As at today, the white race is being led by America; I don’t know how long that will be. 

‘’Yellow race is being led by China and whatever we say or do, China will lead the world before the middle of this century and there is nothing we can do about it.

“I believe that God has created Nigeria to lead the black race. That we are not doing it is not because God has not given us all that we need to do it. It is because we have failed in leadership to do it and that has to be corrected. That is the fault of all of us.”

The former President expressed worry that Nigerians usually perform “fantastically well” outside the shores of the country but seem to be under performing when they are in Nigeria.

He continued: “We have great Nigerians. Why do Nigerians bloom outside Nigeria? As at today, we have five Nigerians directly running international organisations and running them very well and one or two at the number two level.

“We have Akin Adesina running the African Development Bank , AfDB, we have Benedict Oramah running the Afrexim Bank, we have Mohammed Barkindo running the OPEC, we have my sister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, running the WTO and we have Amina Mohammed who I think celebrated her 60th birthday yesterday or day before yesterday, who is number two in the United Nations (UN). These are things that should give hope and encouragement for the future”.

The point is that, if these people are here in Nigeria, if you hear of them at all, we would have shackled them and made it impossible for them to perform as they are performing outside. “Each of these people that I have mentioned is doing fantastically well. We have even at the AU, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye who has just taken over as the Commissioner for Political Affairs & Peace and Security (PAPS) of the AU".

“So why are they doing well there and here we are not doing well? Something must be wrong. We should be interrogating this. We should and then what should we do? What we should do is put the  house in order and we can put our house in order.’’

The book was reviewed by Emeritus Professor Michael Abiola Omolewa, a former chairperson of UNESCO and the review was read at the event by Ndidi Amaka-Okafor.

It was facilitated by Dr Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi, the Vice Chairman/CEO SIFAX Group Limited and was donated to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library and all federal tertiary institutions nationwide.

In his remarks, the author of the book, Femmy Carrena disclosed that the idea of the book was conceptualised 11 years ago to document the achievements of Obasanjo during his tenure as the President of Nigeria between 1999 to 2007.

He described Obasanjo as his life guiding mentor who has changed his life and that of many other Nigerians for good.

Oyo anti-open grazing task force'll begin soon — Makinde

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has said his administration will inaugurate a task force to implement the ban on open grazing in the state in the next six to eight weeks.

Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State

The governor stated this in Ogbomoso during a town hall meeting in commemoration of the second anniversary of the government at the Soun Ogunlola Hall, Oja-Igbo, Ogbomoso, adding that open grazing is illegal in the state.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as also assuring the people that his government would soon create an alternative road to the Ibadan-Oyo-Ogbomoso expressway, a Federal road which ,he said, has been under construction for long.

He said: “In Oyo State, open grazing is against the law. The implementation plan will come out within the next six to eight weeks. So, whoever goes against the law in this state will face the wrath of the law.

“And concerning all the requests on road construction, we will plan ahead. Some of these projects will be included in the budget that we are going to come up with next year because we have to work with the fund in government's  coffers.

LG Polls: Somolu APC stakeholders demand fresh primary

Members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Somolu Local Government Area, Wednesday, urged the party's leadership in Lagos State to disqualify the incumbent council chairman, Hamed Salawu, from participating in the primary election that may be rescheduled by the party.

The stakeholders also urged the APC leadership to conduct a fresh primary election to be held amid tight security.

Addressing newsmen, a leader of the party in the area, Yomi Fakoya, noted that there were speculations that Salawu had been declared the winner of primary election, which according to them, did not hold.

Giving an insight into what transpired on Saturday, Fakoya said: "While the primary elections were been held in other local government areas, a top leader of Somolu LGA hijacked the election materials and took them to council secretariat instead of the party's secretariat."

He explained that prior to the primaries, the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had addressed all party faithful and unequivocally stated that the primary elections of the party will be open-secret ballot and that it will be free and fair.

He said: "On the day of the primaries, election materials that were supposed to have been taken to our party secretariat, were hijacked by one of the local government official, in connivance with an APC leader to the council secretariat.

"The council chairman, who is an aspirant himself, refused to allow the other contestants to enter the council secretariat in spite of their positions as the council's vice chairman and secretary to the Local government until he was prevailed upon by some party leaders, while his supporters had unhindered access to the council.

"And while we were all there, the council chairman stated that if the election materials were moved to the party's secretariat as being agitated, the election would be cancelled. 

"Following our insistence, he said 'by the power conferred on me, I cancel this election'. And minutes later, a call came from the state's party chairman that the election has been suspended."

The stakeholders, however, demanded that the purported declaration of Mr. Salawu as the winner of the primary should remain a speculation.

He said: "There couldn't have been a winner in a contest that didn't take place and therefore, we are asking for a fresh primary to be held under a very tight security."

Culled from Vanguard