Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has challenged Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde to arrest him if he can over the eviction order he issued to herdsmen last week, The Nation reports.
Ighoho had issued a seven-day ultimatum to Fulanis in Igangan in Ibarapa East local government to quit over alleged kidnapping and banditry.
But Makinde countered the order in a state broadcast, declaring nobody has the right to evict anybody from any parts of Oyo State.
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Igboho, however, defied the order on Friday when he stormed Igangan with his supporters who vowed to flush herdsmen from every part of Yorubaland.
The hugely widely activist has struck a right chord in many Yoruba-born, who consider the presence of herdsmen a security threat.
The Governor and Igboho have been on a collision war after the latter dumped Makinde who he supported in the 2019 elections.
In a viral undated video, which emerged on Friday, Igboho blasted Makinde in Yoruba language.
Though he didn’t mention the Governor’s name, he said enough for viewers to know he was referring to Governor Makinde.
He accused the Governor of backing herdsmen, recalling how Makinde relied on him to win votes in 2019.
According to him: “You can bring all Fulanis to Yorubaland if you like, you unfortunate ones. It will not be well with you.
“You are threatening me in my fatherland with Fulanis. You will not prosper.
“Is it the Fulani’s that make the laws of the land? Have you forgotten when you were ‘bankrolling’ me when you wanted to become Governor and all I did for you all during the elections, and now you dare threaten me?
“Well, I don’t believe that you are serious with your threats yet until you bring all the soldiers and policemen to arrest me in my house before I know you are serious. You are all fools.”
Meanwhile, Governor Makinde on Friday, declared that his government would not allow anyone hiding under the guise of protecting Yoruba interest to cause ethnic tension and perpetrate crisis in the state.
He maintained that the war which the state and the security agencies need to wage is not against any particular ethnic group but against criminal elements, irrespective of their tribes, religions, or creed.
The governor added that his administration would not allow anyone to threaten the peace of the state by acting unlawfully and saying things that are alien to the Nigerian Constitution, noting that acts that are capable of causing chaos in the state will not be accepted.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that Makinde stated these while receiving the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko, declaring that the government will not relent in placing priority on the welfare of the officers and men of the Police Force in the state.
Makinde made it clear that his administration would continue to synergise with all security agencies in the state to fight criminals, hoodlums and bandits irrespective of their tribes, religions, or creed, while urging the police to arrest miscreants causing tension and threatening the peace of the state.
The governor said: “For people stoking ethnic tension, they are criminals and once you get them, they should be arrested and treated like common criminals.
“For this administration, the major pillar for us is security, because we know that all the good economic plans we have won’t be possible in an atmosphere of chaos and insecurity.
“So, when people say things that are neither lawful nor within the spirit of Nigeria’s Constitution, it is not acceptable here. And they cannot hide under the guise of protecting Yoruba’s interest to perpetuate chaos in the state.
“I am sure that since you came in, you must have heard about some things happening at Ibarapa axis of the state. I will still say it here that we are not after Hausa-Fulani. We are after criminals.
“We are after hoodlums and bandits irrespective of their tribe, religion, or creed. Those are the people we are after. If you look into the records, when we had the armed robbery incident at Okeho in Kajola Local Government Area of the state, some people were killed, some were arrested and we found out that they were from Ebira, from Kogi State. So, we want to go after the criminals – whether they are Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani or whoever they are,” Makinde said.
