Critic and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode on
Saturday attacked Senate President, Ahmad Lawan for blaming Southwest governors
for the Shasha mayhem in Oyo State between Yoruba and Hausa.
Lawan had said “Leadership failures in the region cause what
happened in Oyo State and other things that kept happening in the SW states.
“Some utterances by some governors also went a long way in
inciting the citizens to take up arms against other ethnic groups settling in
their states. The Governors’ utterances emboldened the criminals to unleash
violence against the northerners.”
But Fani-Kayode carpeted Lawan, saying his assertion was completed false and bias, saying if not the actions of Southwest governors in quelling the crisis, it would have been worse than what happened.
“This is not true. And frankly I am beginning to suspect
that there is a well-orchestrated script unfolding here.
I was in Ibadan when the Shasha killings started and I went
on tour of the affected area. Let me assure you that many people were killed on
both sides of the ethnic divide and had it not been for the efforts of the
Governor of Oyo State and the tacit support and encouragement he got from the
other SW Governors in terms of appealing to the people of Ibadan to show restraint,
what happened in Oyo would have been a hundred times worse and far many more
northerners would have been killed.
“The level of hate and resentment against Fulani herdsmen in
the SW is frightful and unprecedented today and the Governors are having a hard
time trying to calm people down and reign them in even though they may not want
to admit it publicly. The decisive actions of the SW Governors over the last few
months actually saved lives and their words and utterances actually reflected
the will of the people.
“If, for example, Governor Akeredolu had not banned herdsmen
from the forests of Ondo, after some time the local population would have gone
there themselves to throw them out violently,” he said.
According to Fani-Kayode, the truth is that all the Southwest
states are sitting on a keg of gunpowder over this herdsmen issue and that the
local population were mobilising against them in a very frightening way.
He said Northern leaders should thank the Southwest
governors for keeping a lid on the whole thing and restraining their people
rather than blame them for trying to keep the peace in the face of the most
extreme provocation from the terrorists.
“Quite apart from that, I need to ask this question. Why
does the Senate President not complain about the violence that northerners are
inflicting on Middle Belters and Southerners in the North itself? Again why
does he not complain about the barbaric attacks and killing of our people in
the SW and other parts of the South and Middle Belt by killer Fulani herdsmen
who are carrying arms, raping our women, occupying our land and terrorising out
people?
“How come he does not complain about that? Is Northern blood
more precious than Southern blood? It appears that he is only concerned about
retaliatory attacks by the local Yoruba population who have been brutalised and
traumatised by the terrorists.
“He has not complained about what those terrorists are doing
to our people and he has exhibited no empathy with the victims simply because
they are Southerners. Is this right or fair?
“It is wrong for anyone to target other ethnic groups in
their region and I totally condemn that but the north needs to understand that
the people of the SW particularly believe they have been encircled and that
they are under siege,” he said.
Fani-Kayode added that the only way the resentment against
northerners would vanish in that zone was when the killer herdsmen and
terrorists stopped the killings.
He said outside of that, all the self-serving and
sanctimonious admonitions and lectures in the world from Northern leaders, who
were clearly partial in this matter, to leaders in the Southwest would change
nothing.
“If we want peace let us be honest & let us join hands,
stand shoulder to shoulder and fight against the killers together. Blaming SW
Governors & leaders for the failures of the Fed. Govt. to provide law &
order & protect our people from terrorists & savages will not help in
this matter. As a matter of fact it will only make things worse,” he stated.
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