S/West: Herdsmen causing menace are not the ones that have been living with us – Gani Adams

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Chief Gani Adams, has given further insight into the security challenges confronting the South West geopolitical zone.

According to him, some foreign elements have been perpetrating kidnappings and banditry in the region, which was not so in the past.

He said that contrary to widely-held belief, the militant herdsmen accused of perpetrating the crimes were not the same ones that have been living peacefully in the South West since the 18th Century.

The Yoruba generalissimo alleged that the violent herdsmen perpetrating the crimes were either from the North or foreigners from Chad and Niger Republic.

Adams stated these in an interview with Sunday Sun.

Reacting to rising insecurity in the zone, the Aare said, “I am highly disturbed because it is becoming very worrisome. As a matter of fact, we haven’t experienced these kind of security threats since the emergence of Nigeria as a nation; since independence.

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“It is something that is so strange to the Yoruba people. Fulanis have been living with us since the 18th Century and we haven’t witnessed these kind of ugly incidents from them.

“But, we realised that they are not the Fulani that were living with us then. These ones are intruders that came from the North, some of them came from Chad and Niger.”

However, he said that police authorities were working with groups like his Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) to tackle the menace and the perpetrators would soon be flushed out.

He said, “By the time the synergy we (OPC) are planning with the police works out, you will see how they would be flushed out of Yoruba land.

“Early this week, Chief of Staff to the Inspector General of Police came with the message from the IG, that they need the cooperation of OPC and other socio- cultural groups concerning security matters. We met for two hours, the OC SARS, Lagos State was on the entourage. We are trying to put things together so that we don’t work against the interest of the government.”

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