By Uzoma Akobundu
The Yoruba have given a nod to the plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to revoke licenses of guns in Nigeria as a way of keeping a check on the rate of insecurity in the country.
Buhari recently said that those who are owing guns whether licenses or not should surrender same to the designated law enforcement agencies or be dealt with .
Some Nigerians have picked hole in the directive,saying it was a tactical way of disarming some people from some sections of the country to give other sections of the country the opportunity to wedge unending war on their fellow citizens.
Reactions from the south east for instance point to the guns in the hands of Fulani herdsmen and other militia groups whose members have been deploying the weapons to killing and maiming other Nigerians freely without the government doing much to stop the carnage.
But the Yoruba, under the aegis of The Yoruba Summit Group have taken a different position on the president’s decision, saying they are for it.
However, the group has warned Buhari against according the Fulani any preferential treatment that will affect the other ethnic nationalities negatively and cause bad blood and engender friction.
The members of the group drawn from the who is who in the region met over the weekend and drew up a communique.
Present at the meeting which took place at Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s house, were the host and patron, Chief Ayo Adebanjo himself, Chief Supo Sonibare, Senator Dr Femi Okurounmu, Dr Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, Mr Yinka Odumakin, Bashorun Akin Osuntokun, Professor Banji Akintoye, Dr Akingba, Mr Eric Oluwole, Evangelist Kunle Adesokan, Chief Olaitan Barrister Demola Folarin, Barrister Tunde Odanye, Alagba Jimoh Aliu, Chief Mrs Bola Doherty, Chief Bode George, Mr Akin Àjọṣe-Adeogun, Otunba Deji Osibogun, Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, The Representative of The 15th Ààrẹ Ọ̀nà Kakaǹfò of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, among others.
The Communique issued same day May 25, 2019 at the end of the meeting of The Yoruba Summit Group and signed by Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo read:
The Yoruba Summit Group, the Body for All Yoruba groups, met and and resolved as follows:
1, That the Yoruba collectively acknowledge the statement made by former President Obasanjo on the existential threat to others by the clear and present danger of the well documented acts of those hell bent on dominating the rest. That we collectively thank him for confirming what all non-fulani peoples of Nigeria already know as the Yoruba,have all along recognized the attempt through all means:land grabbing, kidnapping, killing of famers, raping of our women, burning of our villages, damage to our farms and displacement of our people to which we have hundreds of evidences as a step towards full Fulanisation and genocide.
To this we support the position of president Obasanjo and others who have come to this reality.
2. That all Yorùbá men and women as they occur in the core 6 states and in two other states of Kwara and Kogi, naturally, should begin the serious effort of defending themselves against the very clear intent of genocide, deprivation, arson, killings, kidnappings with every means available to them.
This is a call to all, irrespective of the established methods of seeking redress. The act of self defense is safely international. Everyone has a right to protect himself against threats to life and property.
The Yoruba Summit Group owes it a duty to protect the 50 million strong Yoruba within the Yoruba space, and by this communique, every Yoruba is reminded of his right to life, of his right to property, of his right to defend himself with the Yoruba central authority, the Yoruba Summit Group, in full endorsement of these rights available to every Yoruba, calls now upon every Yoruba not to live in fear anymore.
As it is the security agencies as presently constituted lopsidedly have failed the non-Fulani peoples of Nigeria, therefore this legitimate call is hereby sanctioned by the Yoruba central authority.
3. That the Yoruba people collectively will hold on strongly and steadfastly to these resolves in as much as our collectively survival rests on us and on no one else; the leaders, elders and the generality of our people, for the common cause to confront all challenges of insecurity including genocide.
That those not in support of these resolves shall be considered traitors to the cause and will be treated as such.
4, That by this communique, the Yoruba are sending a clear message to president, Mohammadu Buhari to take it upon himself to immediately de -escalate forthwith on the obvious preferences given to the Fulani group.
He will need to stop paying, pandering, pampering to the Fulani as we note the establishment of an exclusive Fulani radio station, the rumored payment of a N100 billion incentive to more criminality, to Miyetti Allah and the enforcement of the Fulani sense of ownership to the land of the indigenous peoples of Nigeria.
And for the president to know he is creating for himself a legacy, to which his name will become the reference point in history as to the entity that has allowed for the situation to which Nigeria may be on the way to Sudan and Rwanda.
The president also needs to know that if it is not his intention for a legacy of this sort, now is the time to reverse his actions that have led to this present state.
Let the president know that the Yoruba do not want war, but we will definitely defend ourselves should these instances of unprovoked attacks by the Fulani continue.
The Fulani cannot subjugate the rest of the peoples of Nigeria, rather, the reverse will be the case to the detriment of the innocent Fulani!