As a matter of national emergency, Sunday Adewole (alias Igboho) and his accomplices must be gagged.
Yoruba leaders must rise to the occasion and checkmate his utterances and actions if the country must be saved – which is at the edge of the precipice. The Chants of war (by Sunday Igboho) potentiates the very trying times Nigeria currently faces as a sovereign nation, even as it grapples with the proliferation of regional militias in the guise of regional vigilante groups – the emergence of Amotekun in the South West (SW), Eastern Security Network, ESN, in the South East (SE), Niger Delta Watchdog, NDWD, in the South-South (SS) are ready examples.
Armed Fulani herdsmen (though not a regional militia in a sense) may be included since the focus here is on national security. Note that, while their nefarious activities are largely confined to the northern region, most of their troubles in the SW are isolated cases of banditry and reprisal attacks, but are often over-dramatized by the likes of Sunday Igboho and Co. in order to legitimize their call for secession or to cover up their extrajudicial acts characterised by arson, murder, cattle rustling and expulsion – meted on the mainly legitimate innocent Fulani herders who lived communally with them for many decades.
A new method of dealing with the problem should be fashioned out, otherwise, some equally uncharitable northern renegades may seize the opportunity and cause further tension in the name of retaliation. Sadly, Igboh’s actions resonated well with many southern groups, giving rise to the chain of ultimatums, expulsions, death threats etc. experienced across the nation. The first to copy Igboho was ESN.
They ordered all herdsmen/northerners in the SE to vacate the region immediately. NDWD was next, in like manner. A few days later, a northern group called Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) rose to issue its own version. It ordered all Yorubas living in the north to relocate immediately. Curiously, Asari Dokubo (of MEND. Remember him?) has joined the fray, further heating the polity.
He is now the leader of a new faction of IPOB called BCG, that is, Biafra Customary Government, as he gears up to form his own (Biafran) government while boasting that no government can stop them. The cumulative effect of these is the semblance of a nation on the brink of war. This became more ominous when the US Army Intelligence only recently revealed that Al-Qaeda, with links to elements of Boko Haram and ISIS in Nigeria, is gradually infiltrating the Nigerian state – though not the first time Nigerians have heard of it. But the nation must not take it for granted, as these threats are more palpable now than ever.
More imperative now is a call for a closer look at the murderous, invasive foreign “Fulanis”, whose activities have escalated in the past years. Government must mobilize the needed resources and men enough to stop their barbaric activities – in collaboration with their originating countries and the US army. The Federal Government, and indeed, Nigerians cannot afford to stand aloof and watch Al–Qaeda and some foreign fighters (in the name of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen) overun the country.
It is time to act with one voice – no time for Biafra this, Oduduwa that; Arewa this, Middle belt or Ijaw that. Only when we are safe first as one, may we begin to talk about “ultimatum”, secession, marginalisation, sharing formula, presidents’ origin, land and oil well ownership, cutting off of food supplies to other region’s, etc. On the flip side, politicians have their own fair share of the blame. Their dangerous statements have, to no small extent, encourage the likes of Sunday Igboho, Koiki, Nnamdi Kanu, Asari Dokubo and co to threaten the corporate existence of the Nigerian nation. Wike said “If you kill Ortom, then be prepared to bury Nigeria”, referring to the FG. This is a careless comment coming from an incumbent governor. Why should the militants not take a cue from such inciting reaction and intensify their hostility? Ironically, this is coming at a time when the nation is witnessing some sort of healing process – following the 1966 Nigeria civil war.
In fact, the ruling APC, though as contentious as some may find it, is mulling over the idea of a president of Igbo extraction or from the South in general without any arm-twist or coercion, but on the basis of equity and justice. This has poured cold water on the already heated system. Back to Igboho. Courage must be summoned by the SW leaders, to curtail the excesses of the self-styled “liberator” of Oduduwa Nation and his allies, who have threatened any non-compliant ruler there with dethronement. Respective governors of the SE and SS must object, with their might, to the activities of the separate agitators for Biafra and Ijaw nations in their states; else if any civil war erupts – in the world’s 6th most populated country – the world may be on its way to witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis since the 2nd world war, and the most extensive than Yemen and Syria crisis combined.
So helps God
By : Paul Aliyu.
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