Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has described as “provocative” a statement credited to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that kidnapping in the South West geopolitical zone was politically motivated.
According to the group, Osinbajo made the statement in the United States on Sunday.
The group advised the vice president to be guided by the fact that the government of the United Kingdom had issued travel advisories urging its citizens to avoid travelling to 21 states in Nigeria.
In a communique issued at the end of a monthly meeting of Afenifere leaders at the home of its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, Ondo State, the group decried the alleged incursion of Fulani herdsmen into the zone.
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Yinka Odumakin, who read the communique, said that the Fulani herdsmen turned into kidnappers and militias and have wreaked havoc on residents of the six states in the zone as well as Kwara and Kogi states.
The group said that the insecurity experienced in the zone and other parts of the country was a sign of the failure of the present administration.
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According to Afenifere, “All the reports provided clear indications of failure of the state as the security forces are largely incapable or unwilling to safeguard the lives of our people against these criminals as we are not aware of any of them that has been arrested or is under trial at the moment just as all the Federal Government has done so far is to make excuses for the Boko Haram and Miyetti Allah groups that have been accused of so many crimes against the people of Nigeria.
“It is against this backdrop that the meeting was scandalised by the opportunistic and provocative utterances of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in New York on Sunday dismissing the danger we are faced in Yorubaland as well as by other zones in Nigeria as being “politically motivated .”
“As if he is unaware that we are in a digital world, which explains why America and Britain have issued travel directives to their citizens not to travel to more than 2/3 of Nigeria, the VP without much thought for his integrity stated that: ‘With respect to general kidnapping which we have seen in parts of the country, again, this is not entirely new. In fact, some of the kidnapping stories you read or listen to are simply not true anywhere, some are fueled by politics.”
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Afenifere accused Osinbajo of politicking with the lives of Nigerians, an act which it said had brought shame to the Yoruba people.
The communique further read, “Aside from the daily tales of horror across Yorubaland in the hands of these Fulani marauders, the meeting (Afenifere) would like Osinbajo to answer the following questions: Is the report of the kidnap of a District Head from President Buhari’s town from May 1 (2019) till date politically motivated? Was the President speaking of another country when he handed kidnappers on the rampage to God?
“Was the former Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, playing politics when it was announced that his son was kidnapped? What politics was afoot when the Ondo State Governor recently announced that his convoy was waylaid by kidnappers?
“If he cannot answer these questions, he should kneel before his God and ask for forgiveness for violating ‘Thou shall not lie’ commandment.
“We further admonish him not to allow whatever ambition and political interest he serves to push him to make such infuriating comments as the number one man in the country again.”
Afenifere urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “separate the office of the President of Nigeria which he occupies from being also the grand patron of Miyetti Allah which we suspect makes it very difficult for security agents to go after members of this group whenever they commit or are accused of crimes.”
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