Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to take concrete action against Fulani Herdsmen has shown that he is insensitive to the plight of Yoruba farmers in the South-West.
Fani-Kayode also condemned the abduction of Chief Olu Falae, from his home by a group of Fulani herdsmen.
In a Facebook Post titled ‘Herdsmen from hell’, Fani Kayode said “With the abduction of the elder statesman and June 12 struggle hero, Chief Olu Falae, from his home by a group of Fulani herdsmen in south western Nigeria it is time for us to seriously consider the expulsion of all Fulani herdsmen from the southern part of our country.
“These herdsmen have become the pests of our nation. They are like the East African tse-tse fly: wherever they go they suck the life blood out of their hosts and, like the locust, they destroy everything in their path. They are like leeches: they indulge in a parasitic mode of nutrition and they suck the blood of the carcass until their victim is left for dead.
“Like the Arab Janjaweed, they are only known for the most hideous of things. This includes terror, intimidation, theft, murder, rape, abduction, mutilation, the violation of the rights of others, the destruction of the land and crops of farmers and the destruction of property.
“Anyone that doubts this should ask the people of the north central zone what they have been suffering in the hands of these vagabonds and vagrants for the last 50 years. This is especially so in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kwara, Nassarawa, Taraba and Adamawa states.
“Yet up until 20 years ago this was essentially a northern problem and it did not affect the south. Sadly that has changed. It has now become a national plague that knows no boundaries and whose poison threatens to consume us all. In the last few years the Fulani herdsmen have attacked, ravaged and pillaged many rural communities south of the River Niger and they have slaughtered and raped thousands of innocent people in the South-South, the South-East and the South-Western zones of our country.”
While narrating an incident that transpired between President Muhammadu Buhari and late Governor of Oyo State, Governor Lam Adesina in 200, he said “We recall how, after a violent clash between them and some Yoruba farmers in Oyo State in 2000, General Buhari (as he then was) led a strong delegation of northern leaders to see the late Governor of Oyo State, Governor Lam Adesina.
“On arrival Buhari put the following question to him: “why are your people killing my people?” This was a classic case of a Freudian slip. The Bible says ”out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. The general had spoken his mind.
“Governor Adesina was shocked with disbelief and he responded by telling Buhari that he was rather surprised that a former Head of State would refer to one ethnic group as “his” people whilst referring to another as someone else’s. He said that this was especially so given the fact that people were killed on both sides of the divide in what was a sad and unfortunate conflict.
“The insensitivity of Buhari to the Yoruba farmers and their plight in the hands of the Fulani raiders was noted from that moment on. Ever since that conversation took place the lines have been drawn and the South West has been on alert.”