From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Youths in the three local government areas of Ibarapa in Oyo State have declared Yoruba activist Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Sunday Igboho) as their hero, saying they stand with him at this moment of his alleged persecution.
They said Igboho actively participated in the liberation of Ibarapaland from incessant killings, kidnapping for ransom, raping, and destruction of of farmlands by criminal elements among Fulani herdsmen.
The Ibarapa youths spoke through the President, Igangan Development Advocates (IDA), Wale Oladokun, on Saturday, in a statement made available to reporters in Ibadan, the state capital.
The statement reads:
‘An injury to one, is an injury to all and by similitude, an injury to our hero is an injury to us all. The dastardly horrendous and atrocious attack on Chief Sunday Adeyemo’s house and his people by the uniformed mercenaries of the presidency under the current nepotistically militarised democracy, being autocratically piloted by General Muhammadu Buhari and his cohorts is nothing but an open declaration of the enslavement crusade that the Fulani-led feudalistic canals of Nigeria have been subtly perpetrating and now glaringly enacting.
‘Ibarapa Youths unite with the valiant and true Yoruba heroes such as Chief Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Igboho, to declare that we are now, more than ever before, resolutely committed to the worthy and noble cause of ushering in and enthroning an era of self-redefinition, self determination and a dawn of ethnic equality, justice and fair play, by resisting all the enslavement agenda and ruthless acts of bigotry, being openly enforced by the government of the day on those it figures as second and third-class citizens of this country and as evident in the recent happenings all over the country and especially the recent calculated and bloody attack on Chief Sunday Igboho’s residence.
‘The attack is nothing short of a clear indication of the intentions of the Fulani long-harboured, Nigeria-wide conquest cum establishment of a Nigeria-wide caliphate, which have now, obviously reached maturation stages, reflective in the absolute hegemonic power-play of the delusional tribalism, warped with superiority complex, which can no longer be covertly kept.
‘Now the cock has risen to crow. The lion cub has not only grown the mane, it has risen remarkably too. First was the covert nepotism, which expressed itself in the form of gradual take-over by the men and women of this self-acclaimed superior caste of key positions available in the country and stealthily have they succeeded in holding the nation by the jugular, having planted themselves in these key positions.
“This tipped scale of equity remained tilted for years till it seemed other tribes do not just possess the requisite competence and skills for the same positions until, maybe, you listen to foreign news and you hear the “Ades and Uches and Osemenes” soaring high in foreign clouds whereas, their wings would have been deliberately clipped if they had remained in their presumed mother clouds.
‘Next after the nepotistic supremacy was dictatorial and blatant puncturing of the rule of law. Thus, the law suddenly apply to some of us but not to the sacred cows. In fact, the law as it now operates in Nigeria is not only ambivalent but also chamelionic depending on its “victim’s caste”. While it bares its deadly fangs to some caste with impunity, it caresses others as it appears suddenly toothless to them. The judicial system is being constantly raped with glee while its vengeful wrath is only deployed to silence those of us who cannot resign to fate and advocating for justice like Chief Sunday Igboho.
‘Then, the clamp down resolve on every voice that sings in discordance to the dictatorial tunes of the present militarised administration while sycophants and bootlickers are paid to coordinate the beats of media packaging of their evils into sonorous melodies. Contrastingly, all perceived valiant voices that run asymmetrical and contrary to their power-tussling agenda are brutally crushed by the same media. Somebody said we are seeing already an egregious replay of the violent, insensitive government, reminiscent of the Abacha regime and I couldn’t agree less.
‘So, should Chief Sunday Igboho throw his hands up and accept the tribalistic lordship of the fulani which will soon become fully horned? Should the people be trampled upon while he turns a blind eye? Just like the Igangan farmers that were gruesomely slaughtered and displaced from their farms and the episodes of Fulani take-over of host communities’ lands which goes unchecked for several years now.
‘Perhaps, Chief Sunday Igboho should have turned a blind eye to our plight too in Igangan and remain unmoved to the displacement of the Yewa people. And soon too, the Iseyin, Oyo and Ogbomosho would also passively become enslaved in their land.
‘The Igangan Development Advocates (IDA) unanimously and resolutely maintain that anyone who says Chief Sunday Igboho should turn himself in must first come up with the crimes he has committed. Having to recommend a heartless stance of turning blind eyes to the killings, raping, kidnapping unleashed by the Fulani under the guise of herdsmen on innocent victims who are mostly farmers is tantamount to an act of tyranny. For a man dies in all who keep silent in the face of blazing tyranny. The expansionist agenda being covertly carried out by these so called brutish Fulani herdsmen is nothing but an obvious mission that must be resisted for the sake of our children and the incoming generations.
‘Who goes into someone’s house in the midnight with weapons killing and destroying? The simple and incontrovertible answer is “a thief, robber, marauder, raider, plunderer” typical of the Fulani herdsmen’s tactics. In a civilised place where animalistic tendencies are not prevalent, a search warrant will be legally sought and the house will be peacefully searched not by guns and fire unleashed on someone in the unholy hours with no crime prima-facie established against such a person.
‘At this juncture, the IDA would like to be direct and emphatic on the stance that Chief Sunday Igboho is a hero worthy of national awards in saner climes and under a more efficient and people-centered government. This is so because when people are killed and slaughtered and their king seems helpless, whoever rises to the occasion and defends the poor folks is their hero not villain.
‘But in a lopsided kingdom this is, valiant men are criminalised and silenced, while villains are celebrated, cheered and emboldened to more villainous and nefarious proclivities.
‘We call on all men of honor and learned men of the legal sword to put on their armour and rise to demand the release of those abducted in the Chief’s residence as well as the bodies of those gruesomely slaughtered. We also call for international sanction of this genocidal regime as a matter of exigency before this nation is finally led to doom by this power drunk ethnic cleansers.
‘The IDA solidly maintains that the recent invasion of the personal residence of a man, who clamours for the protection of his folks in a seeming war-dominated era, a man who is not killing and kidnapping and demanding for ransom, a man who does not require a Gumi to placate a wanton heartless violent debauchery, having to be subjected to such brutal persecution and attack simply because he is a Yoruba nation advocate, smirks of nothing but tyranny, barbarism and lawlessness!
‘When bandits roam freely, unchecked and untouchable, Miyetti Allah, on numerous occasions have openly declared war on innocent souls of the south and have boldly declared their involvement in killings and massacres of those people they found non-submissive to their fulani dominance, yet roam freely and unscathed.
‘Boko Haram terrorists rampantly kill, maim and kidnap school children and their feudal lords at the top who want all of us muted as slaves have been paying ransoms that further empower herdsmen and terrorists to buy needed tools and weapons in preparation for the total takeover of the Fulan Nigeria .
‘We, the IDA therefore, openly submit that our self-delusional folks should wake-up, this country has been hijacked by the self-acclaimed owners. We must, thus, map out our own Jerusalem and build her walls as a sovereignty. Only after then, can we be free and be free indeed. Then and only then would you have a land you can proudly call your own and your generations unborn can then have a safe haven.’