The president of Yoruba World Congress, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has said Nigerians were never safe since the Fulani government of President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015.
Akintoye who is one of prominent voices in the Southwest clamoring for self determination for the region, has previously lamented Northern hegemony saying there's no point claiming one Nigeria when the president himself is part of the grand plan to take over the country.
He said, "There is so much injustice in Nigeria, and it is only here you have this kind of injustice, and oppression. There has been so much Fulani domination, and oppression of other groups in the country, and we can’t continue this way and this is why we feel that the best option for Yoruba is to exercise their right to self-determination.
"A country where one group is always aspiring to conquer other sections can no longer be called a country. The situation in the country today is so bad that it has gone beyond restructuring, which some people are even calling for.
"The Fulani people have a hidden agenda, and unfortunately President Muhammadu Buhari is helping the Fulani to actualise their agenda of dominating other Nigerians through his political appointments and general ways he has been running his government, and other Nigerians can no longer fold their hands and continue watching things going on this way.
"Another annoying thing is that the Fulani in Nigeria are even bringing Fulani from outside Nigeria to participate in the conquest of other Nigerians. This is no longer acceptable. Countries fight wars but when they do so, it is against outsiders, and not against their own people like the Fulani are doing to others in Nigeria.
"A country where a section is aspiring to conquer other sections can no longer be referred to as a country. The Fulani say Nigeria belongs to them, and that they are going to take lands that belong to other ethnic nationalities, and this is why you have all these invasions taking place in the Middle-Belt, Southern Kaduna, and other parts of the country. The reality of the situation is that we the Yoruba can’t continue to live with another group that believes in the subjugation, and conquest of others," he added.
Akintoye expresses similar concern following recent calls for herdsmen to vacate forest reserves in Ondo State, and the Buhari administration's rebuttal of the move saying it was wrong for the Ondo State government to "unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals."
Akintoye while reacting in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, said, "The Presidency is now initiating a very dangerous doctrine of governance in Nigeria. The presidency is now saying that the state's authority no longer includes the security of the people of the state.
"That is not only bad but dangerous to the existence of Nigeria. It is an assessment of the quality of governance in Nigeria by the rest of the world.
"All Nigerians who are being assaulted, raped, and killed by the Fulani must defend themselves; not only Yorubas or those living in Ondo. If we continue to wait for the Federal Government, these herdsmen will kill all of us. We must rise to defend ourselves.
"The Nigerian government has shown again that it is working for the Fulani. I don't think anybody should be afraid to say that because it is the truth. The Fulani has been committing crimes on a massive scale since 2015 in Nigeria.
"The government has never owned up that they are committing the crime. They have been going around kidnapping, killing people, and destroying farms, properties, and villages on a persistent scale and those things are crimes under the laws of Nigeria. In some parts of the country, it looks as if the army is colluding with them (herdsmen)."
Commending the Ondo State government for the decision, he added, "Akeredolu should be commended for his decision, for his courage and show of knowledge of the land. We support what he is doing. We are waiting for what government would come and do in Ondo State."