Rescuing Yorubaland

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Yorubaland, not just the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, is under siege. The land is crimson with the blood of the innocent. Nomadic killers have surrounded the Yoruba flora and fauna and they are poised to plunder the land. Yoruba carcass dots the thick forests: young Yoruba women have been raped to death and boys butchered with venom. Fulani terrorists rape women before their husbands and daughters before their parents: they play sports with Yoruba blood. They cause families anguish on a daily basis. They make billions from Yorubaland trading in bloodshed and take the money to their barren lands. They drink themselves to stupor after shedding Yoruba blood. It is time to recognize their declaration of war for what it is and to resist them to the point of death. There can be no peace without war.

Let’s be clear: a government which asked Benue people to “accommodate their countrymen” following the New Year day carnage in Benue State in 2018, will not protect Yorubaland. When you protest against the atrocities of the nomads, the government accuses you of ethnic profiling. It hunts down critics while terrorists have a field day burning up villages and mutilating people. When you actively resist people intent on changing the status quo, then you must be enjoying the status quo. That is the situation in which we have found ourselves and there’s absolutely no need to sugarcoat words. The Yoruba will either protect themselves or perish. History has made this point very clear.

Amotekun properly funded and equipped is sorely needed at this time across Yorubaland, and in this regard the situation in Lagos is concerning. In the most audacious of provocations, Lagos State reduced Amotekun to “neighborhood watch”. Neighborhood watch is mere vigilante. Are the killers, mostly from distant lands, vigilantes? Lagos should have been a pillar of Yoruba security given its vast wealth. It should have been playing a leading role in securing Yorubaland against the coordinated war declared on the land but see what we have. If the rest of Yorubaland isn’t safe, then Lagos can never be safe. That is a fact till tomorrow. Lagos needs new leaders: it must throw off its yoke.

If the murderous onslaughts are not stopped now, the time is coming when Fulani herdsmen will be raping the wives of Yoruba obas under the open sun. (By the way, many of these so-called obas are an utter disgrace to their thrones. They are cowards who cannot even organise their own homes.) The security agencies cannot and will not protect Yorubaland. It is not because they do not want to: it is because they have not been ordered to. If Yorubaland is to survive, then the current crop of leaders, including those governors who only mouth state police for show, must be kicked out and genuinely pro-people leaders (who will force the Federal Government to grant state police) placed in Government House.

By the way, it is foolishness to fear South-East presidency because it might lead to Nigeria’s dissolution. Nigeria is an arrangement and people have the right to depart from that arrangement. Let the Yoruba, Igbo, etc, go to the UN and work out the terms of Nigeria’s dissolution if that is what they want. Enough of propaganda about a good-for-nothing country where herdsmen are licensed killers and where the government is only a superstructure erected on the people’s pain! My personal preference is a restructured Nigeria but if outright dissolution is the ultimate solution, then so be it. Am I sounding radical today? Well, I am angry.

If Yorubaland is to survive, then it must act fast. There must be strategy meetings in Europe, America and here in Africa not published in the media. Such meetings should roll out means to secure Yorubaland, because Nigeria never will. There was Yorubaland ever before the affliction known as Nigeria was created, and Yoruba leaders were treated badly when Nigeria gained independence. Yoruba people from all over the world must contribute money to fund Amotekun, a fully revived OPC, and hunters who will be deployed to the forests and the highways, with laws backing them up. Yoruba leaders must hold meetings with Yoruba youth, including motor park touts and street thugs. When you are fighting a war, you need all the resources you can get. You will be surprised at the brilliant ideas these miscreants will offer if you engage them. These are the people the politicians use to rig elections and do NOT make the mistake of thinking that they are brainless: na condition make their crayfish bend. Retired Yoruba soldiers, police officers and (wo)men must be profitably engaged. Again, the people of Lagos must throw off the present yoke. They must take hold of their land. That is the only way Lagos can play a leading role in Yoruba security. Those in charge of Lagos since 1999 have no care in the world for anyone except themselves.

Re: No government can ban ponmo

Your article, “No government can ban ponmo” (Saturday Tribune of 24/9/22) is simply wonderful. Don’t mind them. They are idle and want recognition. Very soon, they will send bills to the National Assembly to ban the use of chewing stick in preference for tooth paste which ordinary people in this country cannot afford. Fish, including iced ones, is good for the body and used to be bought at rock bottom price, but how many people can afford same today in this country? Ride on, your pen will never run dry of oil. Austine Abu. 0803 9361122

Re: When will these Fulani provocations end?

Hmm! One can only pray that our situation in Nigeria doesn’t get to it: full-blown war. May God bless Nigeria with leaders that will promote equity in governance and social justice.

Thank you. Keep on shedding the light.

Michael Olaotan

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