Ibadan —Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE yesterday faulted the
recent visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Plateau State
where about 135 people were killed by Fulani herders, saying it
was “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”
This came as the council asked governors in the South West
parts of the country to assure people in the zone of their safety
given the influx of Hausa/Fulani into all nooks and crannies of
Yorubaland.
The organization also flayed the deployment of police
commissioners describing it as “very tokenistic” and merely
scratching the problem on the surface.
The elders’ council said this through its Secretary General, Dr
Kunle Olajide after it rose from a meeting at the state
headquarters, Ibadan.
Citing previous spate of attacks across the country, they said,
“Nigerians are not impressed with condolence visits by the
President or Vice President which can be described as “full of
sound and fury signifying nothing.
“We have been perennially treated to these visits since January
2018 yet the killing continues unabated.”
What could be the antidote to nip the persistent killings in the
bud, according to the apex Yoruba organisation, “the President
should reconfigure the nation’s security architecture to reflect
the federal character provision in the constitution. Total
overhaul is imperative.
“YCE urges Mr President to demonstrate real concern for lives of
Nigerians by arresting the perpetrators of this ignoble act and
prosecuting them. The water of the relative peace in the South
West has been seriously fouled by this militia invasion,
something must be done urgently to stop the invasion”, the
group said.
While assuring President Buhari of the organisation’s co-
operation, YCE vowed, “we will not sit idly by and watch the
Yorubaland invaded by these rampaging militias. We urge all
Yoruba to keep calm in the face of this provocation and wait
patiently to use their PVCs to patiently express their wishes in
2019 election”.
“More worrisome to the YCE is the nonchalant approach of the
President to the very loud demands by patriotic Nigerians for
restructuring of this dysfunctional and unproductive pseudo
federal essentially unitary structure of government that is not
working.”
They reminded the president that the “unitary system of
government is responsible for the collapse of security
apparatus; the lethargic economy that is not growing as
expected; the destruction of educational system; the near
absence of health services for the Nigerian people and for the
grinding poverty”.
The organization called on President Buhari “to forward the bills
for devolution of powers prepared by the APC’s El-Rufai
committee to the National Assembly immediately. Mr
President’s comments on restructuring is to say the least
provocative. To wave off the demands of well meaning
Nigerians nonchalantly is anti democratic”.
