The Yoruba Council of Elders and the Oodua People’s Congress have reiterated that criminal Fulani herdsmen and criminals from other ethnic groups will not be allowed to wreak havoc on the South-West.
The Secretary-General of the YCE, Dr Kunle Olajide, made the vow when he spoke to Punch on behalf of his group on Saturday.
He said the region had been under the siege of killer herdsmen, kidnappers, vandals and others, but vowed that an end must come to these.
He said the Yoruba people were unanimous in their resolve to rid the region of hoodlums who had made life unsafe for residents, saying anybody who wanted to live in the South-West must be ready to abide by the laws in place.
Olajide said, “We are not asking law-abiding people to leave the South-West. We are asking criminals, whether Fulani or others, to leave the region. Criminals must leave the South-West and whoever wants to live here must abide by the laws here.
“We will not permit anybody to graze on our forests. Nobody will be allowed to graze on our forests, whether you are Miyetti Allah or whatever. Anybody who wants to raise livestock in the South-West must be law-abiding. If the law says no to open grazing, you must abide by it.”
Also, the National Coordinator of the OPC (New Era), Rasak Arogundade, said law-abiding Fulani were free to stay but vowed that the group and other similar groups would make the region uninhabitable for criminals, including rampaging herdsmen
Arogundade also said the forests in the South-West were the heritage of the Yoruba people and that Fulani and other people must be ready to abide by the laws of the states in the region if they wanted to do anything there.
He said Miyetti Allah must stop the “arrogance and wickedness” of some of its members, saying Yoruba people were ready to stop acts of wickedness against their people.
He said, “Miyetti Allah is deceiving its members by saying herdsmen will not leave the South-West. We are not saying Fulani should not carry out their legitimate trade, but we are against the bandits, kidnappers and rapists, among them.
“Yoruba people are very patient and we don’t react except we are pushed to the wall, but when it gets to that time, anything can happen. Let Miyetti Allah know that (Buhari) will not be the President of Nigeria forever. He will leave soon.
“They said they had been preparing for war and we will show them that we are not cowards. We will give them whatever they want. Yoruba people are residing in the north, but are they terrorising their hosts? Are they raping their women and destroying the means of livelihood of their hosts the way the Fulani are doing here?
“Fulani people are not the only ethnic group residing in the South-West. There are many people from other ethnic groups living here, and they don’t behave the way the Fulani people do. Why must it be Fulani herdsmen behind almost every wicked and despicable act everywhere? They should begin to behave in acceptable ways if they want to continue to live with us.
“The forests in our region belong to us. They have forests in their own place also; they should go to their forests and occupy them. They keep misbehaving and they are arrogant about it because Buhari is the President. But that can’t last forever