Break silence on Fulani herdsmen’s activities, OPC tells Buhari

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to break his silence on the activities of the Fulani herdsmen across the federation.

The Yoruba socio-cultural group gave the challenge in the wake of an alleged attack by supposed herdsmen at the weekend on Chief Olu Falae’s farm in Akure, Ondo State where it reportedly lost a member, Ayodele Ige.

OPC, which also opposed the National Grazing Reserve Commission Bill currently before the National Assembly, urged the Nigeria Police to immediately fish out Ige’s killers, which it stressed, “is the only way to cushion our loss.”

In a statement yesterday, the group’s National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, said the unfortunate incident has once again “brought to the fore the danger posed by the herdsmen to their peace-loving host communities.”

Vowing to pursue justice in Ige’s case, the OPC chief added: “It is particularly worrisome that the Fulani herdsmen have continued their killing spree across the country without any major condemnation by the Federal Government. It is even more worrisome that the innocent victims were brutally murdered for daring to challenge them for grazing and destroying their farmlands.”

The group equally faulted what it described as the lackadaisical approach by security agents to the activities of the itinerants, alleging that: “It is strange that the security agencies have found it difficult to put an end to these wicked acts by Fulani herdsmen despite repeated cases of killings and arson against them from all over the country.”

Adams added: “The story is the same from Enugu to Edo, Akokoland to Oke Ogun and other parts of the country. Information available to us was that Ige was abducted by the Fulani herdsmen after several of their efforts to enter into Chief Falae’s farm were repelled by our members who have been watching over the farm after the abduction of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) by these same people.”