The Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has slammed the presidency for the statement it issued in response to the vacation order Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu gave unregistered herdsmen to vacate the state’s forest reserves.
Afenifere said that the present government has shown that it sides with the interest of Fulanis against other regions in the country.
Akeredolu had on Monday said he gave the directive owing to the rising spate of kidnappings and insurgency in the state,
But in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu on Tuesday, the president urged both the government and the Fulani communities to show restraint and dialogue on the matter.
Afenifere were on Wednesday reacting to the statement of the presidency through a press statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin on Wednesday,
The Statement titled, Ondo Forests: Fulani Presidency Again” said, “The intervention by what we mistakenly call the Federal Government of Nigeria on behalf of marauding Fulanis in Ondo State against the lawful government in that state did not come to Afenifere as a surprise as it is in line with the non-pretence by this regime that it represents only Fulani interests against those of Yoruba, Igbo, Junkun, Ijaw and other tribes in Nigeria.
“That the Federal Government and its minion, Garba Shehu, could only hear Ondo State when Governor Akeredolu was very loud and clear about herders to vacate forest reserves in the state is symptomatic that this government has a serious problem with heating the rest of us when the issue involves its anointed Fulanis.
“The Fulani criminals have caused untold hardships in Ondo State and other Yoruba towns and cities in recent time and only an irresponsible government that wants to behave like our Federal Government will continue to fold its arms.
“Are Ondo forest reserves under Ondo State Government or the Federal Government and Miyetti Allah? We agree with the Ondo State Government that the insensibility of Garba Shehu violates the corporate existence of Nigeria.”
The statement continued that the presidency has shown no willingness to protect the lives of non-Fulani communities.
“What has this government done to assure our people that it can protect our lives with the open murders of Mrs Funke Olakunri, the Olufon of Ifon and the Deputy Registrar of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, among many others?
“The lives of our people and other non-Fulani communities are daily being taken by local and foreign Fulani bandits without any sign that these lives matter to the government with its desire to shield the Fulanis from the laws.
“Nobody would ever have believed that it would get to this irresponsible stage that the Federal Government will one come to this barbaric level Garba Shehu has taken it and the peak of their direct salvos against Amotekun since it started.”
