Oyo Herdsmen Crisis And 2023 Politics

Fulani herders have been accused for few years now as responsible for killing, raping and kidnapping of people as well as invasion of farms in various parts of the South -West.

A notable case was the killing of the daughter of the leader of the Yoruba Pan Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, Mrs Funke Olakunrin. Olakunrin was killed in July 2019. Also in December 2020, a farmer and politician, Dr Fatai Aborode, was killed while returning from his farm in his town, Igangan, in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State by suspected killer Fulani herders living in the town.

Reports also have it that many Abuja-bound travellers from the South -West have had sad tales to tell of their experience of attacks along the Akure – Owo Road where several of them were taken to the bush by Fulani herders who would only release them after their families had paid millions of naira as ransom.

This precarious situation led to two pronouncements penultimate week in Ondo and Oyo states. First, the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), ordered all Fulani herders out of forest reserves in the state within seven days. As this pronouncement was generating furore, especially following the counter- pronouncement by the presidency that nobody can send the Fulani herders out of Ondo State, another pronouncement came from the nearby Oyo State.

Unlike the Ondo State pronouncement where the expulsion order was given by a constituted authority, the situation in Oyo State was different. A Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Igboho, went to Igangan and told the Seriki Fulani in the town to produce the killer herdsmen or leave the town with his people in seven days.

Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, responded swiftly through a state broadcast that all residents must remain calm and that no individual had the right to issue quit notice to any tribe in Oyo State. He assured all of their security. Despite this, on the expiration of the seven- day ultimatum, Igboho and his men visited Igangan where he addressed a mammoth crowd. It was learnt after Igboho and his supporters from Ibadan left, a mob from the town descended on the Seriki Fulani of Igangan’s palace, chased him and his people out and burned all the buildings and cars on the premises.

The situation in Oyo State to many political analysts and watchers of political developments in the South -West was the first litmus test for the Seyi Makinde administration. The situation exposed Makinde’s ‘loneliness’ in government as most of the big politicians that rallied round him to win the gubernatorial election in 2019 like Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Chief Sarafa Ali, Senator Femi Lanlehin among others are said to be no longer in good terms with him.

His broadcast where he assured the Fulani of their safety was seen as a sign of weakness and diminished his hitherto popularity among the citizens and residents of the state who believe the Fulani should be confronted once and for all. Thus, while political actors in the South -West lauded Akeredolu and gave him backing for his pronouncement, they expressed shock at the response of Makinde to the killing of Yoruba people, especially in the Ibarapa and Oke – Ogun areas of the state by the unrepentant Fulani.

Thus, Igboho became a hero receiving huge accolades throughout the South -West as people of Igangan nay South- West see him as a liberator from Fulani annihilation. However, a political affairs commentator, Jide Ajayi, said Makinde deserved empathy being the only PDP Governor in the SouthWest.

“We can pardon Makinde’s response to Igboho’ s pronouncement on the Fulani in Igangan. He is a PDP Governor and he needs to take it easy, so that his action may not be misinterpreted by an APC administration whose leader and Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, has sympathy for the Fulani.” Then like any other crisis, politics crept in. Opposition politicians see the crisis happening in the state as an avenue to start the race for the control of the state in 2023.

Leading this pack is the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, who said the herdsmen crisis in Oyo State was a “ serious test “ for Governor Seyi Makinde. Dare urged Makinde to be more proactive and decisive in handling the situation. He urged the governor to seek help from states and non -state actors and stop “ reacting out of fear that his political status is being damaged”. “For several months, citizens of Oyo State have watched with increasing concern as the security situation in our beloved state degenerated. Troubling accounts about killings, kidnappings, and herdsmen-farmers conflicts abound”, he said.

The Minister continued, “Like all the people of Oyo State, I expected Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to act prudently but with reasonable dispatch to quell the security situation before it got out of hand. We all waited for proactive steps and responses from the state authority certainly in vain. He said Makinde seemed to be paralysed by fear regarding this important security situation.

This is the first serious test of his leadership”, he said. Not wanting Dare to score a political gain from the crisis, Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, warned opposition elements in the state to stop playing politics with the insecurity situation in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun parts of the state. The governor’s aide maintained that most of the comments attributed to opposition elements on the security situation in the state missed the point due to pettiness, contempt and clear attempt to play to the gallery.

“Their utter attempt at showmanship and unpatriotic conduct portray them as babies and sucklings intervening in sensitive matters,” Adisa said. According to him, if opposition elements are true lovers of the state, they should have used the occasion to demonstrate patriotism by empathising with the people of the state and coming up with their own ideas on how to address the situation. He added that merely playing to the gallery only showcased them as ordinary politicians who do not think about the state but solely about the next election. The statement by Adisa indicated that contrary to the picture being painted by the opposition, especially the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, and some leaders of the All Progressives Congress which suggested that the government did nothing on the Ibarapa security challenge, the Makinde administration took a number of steps.

Adisa wondered why Sunday Dare could pass the buck on insecurity to Makinde when it was obvious that the lack of action and apparent dereliction of duty by the APC-led Federal Government brought the entire country to its knees, securitywise.

“Whereas Nigerians can count on their fingers the number of states ravaged by insecurity in 2015, today, none of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, is free of kidnapping, banditry, rape, and other crimes. “It is unwise and completely unwarranted for Dare to fail to tell the world what positive thing he, as a member of the Federal Executive Council, has contributed to assist the state in its battles against insecurity.

“The state of affairs security-wise in virtually all geopolitical zones of the country has exposed the failure of Dare’s boss and that’s a reality no Nigerian can deny,” he said. According to the governor’s media aide, Makinde had, at the height of the insecurity in Ibarapa, deployed Operation Burst, a state backed security outfit comprising the Army, Nigeria Security, and Civil Defence Corps and the Police to Ibarapa in large numbers. The governor had also caused to be deployed, men and officers of MOPOL 72, located strategically in Ago-Are in the Oke-Ogun axis. He added that the government followed up that deployment with the mass deployment of the men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, to Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun axes to quench the rising insecurity.

Adisa maintained that the mass deployment of security operatives to the area had begun to yield positive results in the last few weeks. Another issue that worried analysts on the current insecurity in the South -West and most especially in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State was the silence by political leaders in the region. Except the Ekiti State Governor and the Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who chaired a peace meeting between the region governors and the Miyetti Allah’s leaders in Akure, prominent Yoruba politicians like Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu maintained a sealed lip as the crisis raged. Speaking with our correspondent on this, one of the leaders of the Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said Bola Tinubu was afraid to speak on the Fulani herdsmen crisis in parts of the South-West region because he did not want to offend the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Adebanjo said Tinubu had not condemned the attacks by Fulani herdsmen on the Yoruba people because of his ambition to become president in 2023.

He said, “Everybody knows who Tinubu is. Don’t bring me to that controversy. Tinubu does not represent us. All that is happening in Oyo now, what has he said? When they (gunmen) killed the Oba in Ondo, what did he say? “He didn’t say anything that will oppose Buhari because he is thinking Buhari will make him the president. So, he doesn’t want to say anything to offend him.” Speaking with our correspondent on the crisis situation and attempt to politicise it, a member of the Campaign for Democracy, Comrade Sola Olawale, said it was not unusual. “ Politicians use every avenue to scheme for power. So it is not unusual, moreso that the epic centre of the crisis is in the hands of the PDP. The APC wants to use the crisis to portray Makinde as unable to control insecurity in the state. But sincerely speaking, there is little he can do, he doesn’t control the police and Civil Defence, talk less of the Army”. Also speaking, a Lagos- based Public Affairs Commentator, John Udoh, said APC leaders had no moral bravery to accuse Makinde of incompetence on the security issue.

“Everybody can see that the APC led government and importantly the Presidency is to be blamed for the nefarious activities of the Fulani herders not only in the South but even in the Middle Belt”. “Makinde’s only fault is allowing a non – state actor like Igboho to steal the show from him. I think he has learnt his lesson and there is that opportunity for him to worm his way into the hearts of the residents of the state before 2023”. Will the relative peace in the state be sustained, only time will tell.