The Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, speaks about the group’s mandate to tackle Niger Delta militants attacking Lagos and Ogun States’ communities
What do you make of the increasing kidnappings and killing of Lagos and Ogun States’ residents by alleged Niger Delta militants?
All we know for now is that these are criminals terrorising residents all over the place in Lagos and Ogun States. It is everywhere in the news media that these criminal elements are Niger Delta militants. Sadly though the Nigeria Police have not arrested anybody and it appears these local terrorists are having a field day in Lagos and Ogun. In a situation like this, as a group and Yoruba people we (Afenifere) cannot continue to fold our hands or encourage innocent residents of communities already attacked to do nothing about the ongoing unwarranted attacks they suffer in the hands of these criminals called militants. Besides the fact that Afenifere is sending a strong warning to these criminal elements, we also want Nigerian security agencies, particularly the police to do their job very well. They should go after these criminals; they should arrest them and get to the root of the matter. We condemn the attack on Lagos and Ogun communities, which started from Ijebu-Mushin down to Igbo-Lomighun in Ikorodu. Afenifere also deplores the abduction of (a traditional ruler in Lagos, Oba Goriola Oseni), Oniba of Iba, who has been in the den of the captors for weeks now. We found out that the Nigeria Police, up till now, have only been lamenting, as they have not apprehended any of the people carrying out these dastardly acts. This is something Afenifere is worried about.
You do not think the Nigeria Police are doing enough to arrest the situation?
It is not enough for the public to know that Niger Delta militants are attacking Yoruba communities. All agencies saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives and properties must bring to an end these unprovoked assaults. Enough is enough of all these attacks. How can a group of individuals swoop on communities unchallenged and unleash terror on people who are just concerned about how to survive the dire economic conditions they find themselves in? We believe at this point that it is not the duty of the police to be telling us that Niger Delta militants are behind the attacks on Lagos and Ogun communities. Let them go after them and bring them to book. We deplore the attacks; they are condemnable and we are determined to resort to self-help if the attacks do not stop and the country’s security agencies do not live up to their name.
Are you saying residents in Lagos and Ogun communities where these attacks usually take place should arm themselves?
We encourage our people to activate their traditional self-defence mechanism to ward off these aggressors on their own, until the Nigerian state allows state police to complement federal police. However, we are appealing to them not to allow themselves to be provoked into vengeful acts against their neighbours. They should only resort to self-help against the militants who are terrorising their communities. Besides the Nigerian security agencies defending them, our people have an inalienable right to secure their lives and protect their properties through self-defence. People should not just sit down and watch marauders despoil their communities. Encouraging the people to resort to self-defence is nothing new. When Boko Haram was proving to be invincible to the military, people in the North-East resorted to self-help; that is why today there is what is called Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force) . They fought gallantly against Boko Haram and that is why the Nigerian army has recruited some of them. It is evident that the state has failed in its responsibility to safeguard its citizens and therefore we urge our people to resort to their traditional means to ward off attacks from their communities.
Is there any collaboration between Afenifere and Oodua People’s Congress to wade off attacks on communities in the South-West by Niger Delta militants?
The Oodua People’s Congress is an independent organisation – they work independently of us. Whatever position they take, I support, to secure lives and properties of our people. We are working at our own level and they are working at their own level.
Is Afenifere making any efforts to reach out to Ijaw leaders with a view to stem the tide of violence perpetrated by the so-called Niger Delta militants?
Talking about making efforts to resolve these unprovoked attacks, we had reached out to leaders of Ijaw communities and held a meeting with them in Lagos – about two weeks ago. Following that meeting, we set up a standing committee to visit communities attacked – we have gone there (to the communities). The Ijaw people told us they had no cause to fight our people over lands or any other thing. In fact, when we got to Sagamu (in Ogun State), a leader of the Ijaw delegation simply told us that any Ijaw man who killed a Yoruba person should be killed. What also came out from that meeting was that there were criminal elements from Ijaw land who are wreaking havoc in Lagos and Ogun communities. It is also unfortunate that some of these criminals marauding communities are said to be working hand in glove with security agencies. So, their leaders have given us a clear mandate that anybody from Ijaw land that is found causing trouble or killing people in Yoruba land should be killed. So, what are we waiting for?
During that meeting in Sagamu, the Police Area Commander was there when the leader of the Ijaw delegation made that statement. This does not in any way mean that Yoruba people will attack an innocent Ijaw person; that is not what we are saying. We are not urging any ethnic cleansing. We promote peaceful co-existence between Yoruba and Ijaw people. We want to live in peace and we want our neighbours who have come from other tribes to live among us in peace too. But he said if there are criminals from Ijaw land terrorising Yoruba people, people should go after them and hunt them down.
But the Ijaw Youth Congress has stated that the militants are not Ijaw militants. What do you make of that?
The only way that can be proved is when the police apprehend the criminals, interrogate them and get to know where they are from and we will know who these criminals really are.
Today, the criminals are targeting communities in Lagos and Ogun States; are there efforts being made by your organisation to prevent the attacks from spreading to Oyo and other south-western states?
It is unfortunate that Nigeria does not allow for state police. If state police is in place, it would have been easy for us to work with state governors in the South-West to stop the menace of Niger Delta militants. As it is right now, what we have are federal police. Therefore, we want to strongly urge the security agencies to be more effective in discharging their duty. More important, as I have mentioned earlier is the fact that we are talking to Ijaw leaders to prevail on their people to stop terrorising our people. And, we are urging our people to be more vigilant to resort to their traditional mechanism of self-defence. These are the measures being taken at the moment. This menace would have been easily contained if there had been state police or community policing in place. We raised this issue of having a multilayered police force in Nigeria at the last National Conference.
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