By Femi Fani-Kayode
On March 28th a hitherto unknown northern group known as the Arewa
Youth Consultative Forum, through its spokesman, one Yerima Shetima, had the
nerve and effrontery to accuse Afenifere and the Yoruba nation of a
“subtle campaign of ethnic cleansing” and went on to threaten us with what they
described as “reprisals against the millions of Yoruba living in the north” if
we did not stop complaining about the fact that our people were slaughtered in
Ile-Ife and that the police were handling the whole matter in a selective,
inappropriate and unjust manner.
It
is clear that this is not an empty threat because for the last two weeks fake
and horrendous videos and graphic pictures of what purport to be the killings of
Hausa Fulanis by the Yoruba and the people of Ile-Ife are being circulated all
over the internet and social media by those that seek to promote anarchy,
violence and carnage and those that are set to kill.
This
is not the time to escalate the tension and we must do all we can
to exercise restraint and keep the peace but clearly the stage is being set by
some in the north for ethnic pogroms and reprisals against the Yoruba.
Yet
we are not in the least bit perturbed and someone should advise the Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum and those that they represent that pulling the tail of the tiger can
be a very dangerous thing indeed.
Like
Shakespeare’s King Henry V once said they must “wake not our
sleeping sword lightly.”
They
and whoever sent them can be rest assured that the Yoruba are not intimidated
or deterred by their boastful threats and that we will lose no sleep over their
irresponsible and reckless words.
Whether
they and their sponsors like it or not we shall continue to complain and to
protest and we eagerly await the full manifestation and execution of their
cold-blooded and unwarranted threat.
Yesterday
evening the Arewa Consultative Forum itself, the body of elders and leaders
that speaks for the north, chose to stop hiding behind their youths and waded
into the ring.
They
issued a formal statement, through one Muhammadu Ibrahim, who is apparantly
their spokesman, cautioning Yoruba elders and leaders not to “give ethnic
coloration to the Ile-Ife crises” and that if they continued to do so they
should be mindful of and ready for what he described as “reprisal
consequences”.
*Femi Fani-Kayode |
Meanwhile
I find it curious that not one prominent voice from outside Yorubaland, except
for a handful of notable, insightful and deeply courageous essayists and
political commentators like Reno Omokri and Jude Ndukwe, has spoken out against
the evil and injustice that the people of Ile-Ife have been subjected to by
both the Hausa Fulani community and the Nigerian Police Force.
It
appears that the Yoruba have been left to carry their cross on their own even
though when the Fulani militants and herdsmen, or indeed anyone else, commit
genocide and mass murder against innocent people in other parts of the country
the Yoruba are always at the forefront of speaking up for the victims.
Yet
despite this wonderful quality of more often than not being our brothers keeper, the people of the south
west still harbour a number of so-called leaders within
their ranks who are more comfortable with sleeping with the enemy than in
defending or speaking up for their own.
Permit
me to give just one example. A few renegades from the south-west, whom I regard as
the enemy within and the sons of perfidy, have complained that my two part
essay on the Hausa Fulani and Yoruba clash in Ile Ife (tltled “The Hausa
Fulani, The Yoruba and The Slaughter In Ile-Ife”) was “too harsh” and that it
may even have “compounded the problem”.
They
also complained about the follow-up that I wrote to that article titled “The
Sons and Daughters Of Ile-Ife: Butchered, Paraded and Now Prisoners Of War” which came out last week.
Frankly
I am at a loss to comprehend their baseless concerns and criticisms or
appreciate their warped logic.
How
can one “compound the problem” by speaking the bitter truth?
How
can one “compound the problem” by resisting evil and standing up for ones own?
How
can one “compound the problem” by standing against tyranny and ethnic
domination?
How
can one “compound the problem” by objecting to mass murder, genocide, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity?
How
can one “compund the problem” by pointing out that the Hausa Fulani must stop
killing other Nigerians wherever they go?
How
can one can one “compound the problem” by saying that we refuse to be
sacrificial lambs or second class citizens in our own land?
How
can one “compound the problem” by asserting that it is ungodly and unacceptable
for others to storm our territory, rape our women, burn our homes, occupy our
land, steal our farms, desecrate our places of worship, kill our children and
terrorise our people?
How
can one “compound the problem” by contending that it is not only a grave insult
but also an affront to decency and justice that only the Yoruba were arrested
by the police after the carnage at Ile Ife even though people from both sides
were killed?
How
can one “compound the problem” by rejecting the conspiracy of silence, refusing
to be a coward and saying “enough is enough?”
How
can one “compound the problem” by saying that if the brutal killings of our
people does not stop that we will have no choice but to reconsider being part
of Nigeria and no qualms about exercising our right of self-determination and
thereby light the glorious flame of the sovereign state and independent nation
of Oduduwa?
Needless
to say I offer no apology and neither do I have any regrets for any of the
things that I have said or written even if the primitive and barely educated in
our midst see things differently.
Some
of the things they wrote, particularly in the pro-Government newspapers and
websites, were brought to my attention and frankly I saw nothing but unadulterated
rubbish.
I
have never read so much puerile nonsense, infantile balderdash and disjointed
verbiage before in my entire life.
The
traitors that joined hands with our collective enemies and led our people into
the jaws of death and the poisonous fangs of the ravenous and insatiable Fulani
monster still dont know who and what they are up against or who and what they
are dealing with.
They
are slaves and cowards in body, spirit and soul. I have always known that but
what I didn’t know is that they would also go as far as to cast aspertions on
the character and noble efforts of those of us that are risking our lives and
liberty by confronting the beast.
Instead
of applauding us for doing what THEY ought to be doing they are denigrating us
and belittling our efforts.
They
believe that if they say and do the right things the Hausa Fulani will leave
them alone and allow our people to live in peace. Little do they know the
monster.
They
have also said that the area known as “Sabo” where the Hausa Fulani live was
the only place that their APC got votes in Ile-Ife during the governorship and
presidential elections.
Consequently
they believe that they must protect the Hausa Fulanis that live there and
sacrifice the Yoruba.
People
that reason, think and talk like that are evil. They are nothing but vermin.
They are scum and so are ALL those that share their views.
They
are traitors, cowards and cockroaches and they have sold the Ifes and the
Yoruba down the river.
They
are playing politics with this grave and very serious issue whilst the blood of
their people is being shed and their traditional rulers and sons and daughters
are being falsely accused, detained and locked up in distant and dingy
underground cells.
They
helped President Muhammadu Buhari to win power in 2015 yet they have remained silent as his Hausa Fulani kinsmen
have slaughtered people ALL over the country in the last two years.
Not
one word of objection or protest did they offer when confronted with this
monstrous outrage.
They
even applauded and encouraged the killings and patted the genocidal maniacs on
the back.
When
the beasts were done with the people of Southern Kaduna, Benue, Enugu, Abia,
Taraba, Delta, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, Anambra, Imo, Edo, Ebonyi and elsewhere
and the same thing was done to their own Yoruba kith and kin in Ile-Ife they
were shocked beyond belief but they did nothing except beg their Hausa Fulani
friends.
They
crawled and bowed before Rabiu Kwankwaso when he came to Ile Ife to insult our
people asking for compensation after the massacre.
They
shivered and went on their knees before Abdulrahman Dambazau when he came to
Ile Ife to intimidate our people saying the Ifes must behave themselves after
the carnage.
They
trembled and bowed before the Nigerian police when they paraded our sons and
daughters and a reverred traditional ruler before the television cameras,
labelled them as murderers and common criminals and said they would prosecute
them.
They
clapped with joy and shouted “bravo” when the security and intelligence
agencies refused to arrest even ONE Hausa Fulani person after they slaughtered
and beheaded our people in the sanctity of their own homes.
They
sang and danced with joy and servile adoration when the northern Inspector
General of Police labelled the Yoruba as “criminals” and attempted to justify
the fact that no Hausa Fulani person was arrested after the conflict.
Now
they have been commissioned by the same Hausa Fulani-led govermment to
denigrate and insult those of us that have courageously stood up, resisted the
evil, exposed the truth, called the murderers to order and encouraged our
people to stand firm and stand tall.
What
a useless heap of dung these cowardly animals are. It is no wonder that so many
people in our country WRONGLY label the Yoruba as cowards that cannot be
trusted in a fight.
They
do not know that these cowardly dogs do not represent the Yoruba but only their
own stomachs.
The
only thing that is worse than the evil agenda of those that slaughter others at
will in Nigeria
are the slaves that are prepared to work for them and destroy the destiny of
millions of Yoruba for a pittance.
Yet
they can be rest assured of one thing: their plan to dampen our enthusiasm,
break our resolve and destroy our efforts will not work.
Whatever they do
or say we shall continue to sensitise our people about the great evil that
confronts them today and we shall strengthen our resolve to resist the Buhari
administration’s scurillous attempt to break our will, intimidate our people
and destroy our future.
(CLICK HERE TO READ PART TWO)
(CLICK HERE TO READ PART TWO)
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