Tag: governors

Or how come, to quote a trending WhatsApp chat, that they  are the only ethnic group in Nigeria that is at war with the  Eggons in Nassarawa, the Tivs in Benue, the Idomas of Agatu, the Beroms of Plateau, the Adaras of Southern Kaduna, the Mumuyes & June 4 District on the Mambilla, the Hausas of Zamfara, the Igbos of the South East, and the Yorubas of the Southwest?” – the columnist in:

‘Rampaging Fulani Herdsmen: The Akure High Level meeting should have done more, of January 31, 2021.

“Good morning, Uncle Femi,

I came across this in a group chat and I read with interest and alarm. I read every word and keenly too. I don’t know who Adedamola Adetayo is but he sounded neither flippant nor unknowing”.

The immediate quote above is from my dear brother and friend, a Professor of Igbo extraction who I have quoted severally on these pages. Though non – Yoruba, what he read in  one of Adedamola Adetayo’s writings on the menace of Aboki’s in Yoruba land jolted him so much he sent it me, not because I can  do anything to the seemingly untouchable Northern urchins who were trucked  down South by the powers that be in that region during the Buhari years, but at least to allow, through this medium, those we voted into office to ensure our safety in the Southwest not only aware, but do something about them.

Studies, like that by the China Achebe Foundation, have shown that senior Northern military officers deliberately stand down the rank and file from confronting Fulani herdsmen whenever they attack and it is doubtful if same isn’t happening in the Nigerian police. Add to that the preponderance of Northern DPO’s in the police and you’ve blown the cover of why Abokis are now ravaging the Southwest literally unchallenged.

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Aboki’s  are some hoi polloi, Northern urchins exported to Southwest Nigeria by Northern governors who, in the name of dividends of democracy, bought them thousands of glittering, brand new okadas and trucked them with these characters, complete with cows, AK 47 and sundry arms and ammunition.

Readers of this column would remember my oft- quoted Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM)directive to these rootless Northern youths:

“Northern youths should move enmass to Southern States. Relaunch the mass movement in ways they have never seen … If the towns and cities are hostile, hang out on the street corners, in uncompleted buildings, occupy the forests, pitch tents, make any where available as your abode, your rest places, your home. We urge you to be armed as the infidels may want to attack you”.

One day soon, Yorubas will sing panegyrics to Adedamola Adetayo, the  tireless chronicler of the menace of these Northerners in Southwest Nigeria.

Below is what space will permit of his recent capture of the horrendous bestiality of these Northerners in Yoruba land as detailed in a WhatsApp post titled: “Before Tomorrow Comes, a Warning”:

“Just yesterday, I received a report from the IJEGUN area of IKOTUN in Lagos State. It was so troubling that I couldn’t sleep until about 4.30am:

A shop in the area was burgled in the night. It was a phone shop where some youths sell phones, accessories and do repairs.  Thieves broke into the shop and cleared out all the phones in sight, including the ones for repairs.

Not long after, an Aboki came into the shop with a phone to repair. It turned out it was one of those stolen. He made to delay the Aboki while he placed a call to the nearest Police post which was Isheri-Osun.

While he waited for the police, the aboki, sensing danger, wanted to leave.

He was prevented and trapped inside the shop.

Next thing he did was to call his kinsmen and gave them his location.

In a flash they were there in huge numbers brandishing different types of dangerous weapons. They TORE DOWN  the shop, took him out and made away with him before the Police came.

The report says they encountered the approaching Policemen on the way but it was a non-issue as they openly challenged the police. The Policemen were coming on bikes but had to beat a retreat when they saw the menacing Abokis.

In fact, two of the Okada riders who brought the Policemen were reportedlyh stabbed.

What happened, I later learnt, is the standard and regular practice of the Abokis in the area just as it is the practice in Abeokuta and all over the SW right now.

Indeed, as I also found out, there is  at a location in the ÈJẸDÒDÓ area in the axis, called BOWLER which is the central dump site for all the bowler-bowler Abokis of that area. It  is seething with the lowest dredges of humanity; and terribly dangerous. Equally

About 80 per cent of Okada riders in the axis ,  just as it is all over Lagos State and Yoruba land, are  Abokis.

ONDO STATE: Very recently we got news that at least three corpses were seen at different locations in front of the Ondo State Government House. Citizens had come to protest the killings of their Kinsmen by so-called Herdsmen who had killed them in cold blood. Somewhere in Okitipupa came another report that a man identified as an Aboki attacked the grandson of Madam Comfort Ọmọ́gè, the musician and, with a knife, slit his throat in broad daylight.

Ditto in the Ikare and many other areas of  Ondo State.

 OYO STATE – There is a video all over the internet now in which a truckload of people  was intercepted somewhere on the Ọ̀YỌ́- IBADAN road. It was loaded to the brim with people, motorcycles and was full of arms and ammunition, hidden underneath. The truck was heading for either Ibadan or Lagos.

And that was just ONE TRUCK out of hundreds which pass that route everyday and  night, most of them unchecked.

In SASA market in Ibadan, the report was that a group of  Aboki traders killed a Yoruba trader in the course of an argument. By the time the dust settled, there had been a casualty on the side of the Abokis too.

All hell broke loose and Governor Makinde of the State was later seen receiving a high-powered delegation from the North who treated him as if he was caught red handed in a shameful act. The reader would recall a similar visit to a governor of Oyo state by then General Buhari even when they were the aggressor.

  OGUN STATE – In Ijebu-Igbo, a regular pattern of the most despicable mode of killings repeatedly happens. Innocent citizens, Ijebus, are kidnapped and their families extorted through ransom payments. Yet the victims are later killed, thrown into wells full of water. The few who escaped usually tell their story.

In  the same Ogun State, a Yoruba Okada rider had an altercation with an Aboki rider and before he knew it, fellow Abokis had surrounded him, beat him silly and thereafter took him and his bike with them to their Leader who forced him to pay the offending Aboki before his bike was released to him and  set free.

Lllp

I had a personal encounter in Abeokuta in 2018 in front of my business premises. Two Yoruba youths were in an argument with a single Aboki Okada rider. Before they knew it, about 20 other Abokis had swarmed on him ready to pounce.

I made an effort to dowse the tension. Before I did that, and that was what saved my life, I placed a call to the nearest Police station for help. The two Yoruba youths had used the opportunity of the distraction to slip out of the crowd and I was the only one left. They were getting ready to MOB me when the police arrived.

Even at the police station I became the accused and I was going to get locked up in the cell for, apparently, allowing the two youths to escape jungle justice in the hands of the Aboki murderous mob.

6.  LAGOS STATE – Mr Olatunji Bakare wasn’t as lucky in Apapa.

He was the LASTMA commander of the sector covering Mile 2, Ijora and Apapa.

On that fateful day in December of 2016, the Abokis had an argument with some LASTMA operatives.

In a flash, as they always do, the entire area was swarming with Abokis and they were going to attack the LASTMA operatives.

Mr. Bakare very unfortunately came from Ijora into the fray to mediate.

These guys descended on him, and in broad daylight at a location a  mere stone throw from the Army DMI, the Navy Hydro graphics, Police Area B and, in front of many soldiers doing guard duties on Liverpool road, that man was LYNCHED to death!!!

They beat and pushed him into the gutter and stoned him to death..

I haven’t gotten over the shock till today, 8 years after. It was that traumatic..

C: REALITY ON GROUND

1. There is an unreasonably huge population of Abokis all over the Southwest.

2. These people are strategically placed in heavily populated  areas of our state capitals, parading  as Okada riders, scrap collectors, beggars, shoe makers etc..

3. They live in packed colonies on  any available open spaces where they don’t pay any rent.

4. They seem to be very organised, very mobile and are usually located within close proximities of security installations such as Army or Police Barracks.

They are excessively aggressive, instinctively violent and all armed.

5. They are so confident they treat Police with utter disdain and are not  bothered by the presence of soldiers.

6.They do their washing, toileting, bathing, eating, indeed, everything right on the street thereby constituting an environment nuisance.

8. If you ever have an argument with them and it lasts for too long it is an invitation to a mob action which will most likely cost you your life.

9. They are on constant reconnaissance of our neighbourhoods. They know practically every nook and cranny of their areas of operation.

10. These people have ALL the trappings and resources for TERRORISM”.

D: WHAT TO DO

Although Adetayo made some suggestions in this regard, I would rather leave this to our  SOUTHWEST governors and their security councils, our Kabiyesis and  ALL OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES in the SOUTHWEST to seriously ponder and rescue, not only this generation of Yorubas, but those ones coming behind us.