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Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has
responded to former Kano Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso’s criticism of Yoruba elders over calls for
the exit of Fulani herdsmen from the region due to
several cases of violence and murder traced to the
In a piece published by Vanguard, Fani-Kayode he
expressed sadness over the statement attributed to
Kwankwaso. He disagreed with Kwankwaso’s call for
the education of the Fulani which he said would stop
their nomadic lifestyle.
I am saddened that the former Governor of Kano state,
Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, a man whom I have always
considered a friend and one whom I have always
respected could insult our revered Yoruba elders.
During a function in Ibadan, it was widely reported in
the media that he asserted that the recent demand by
the Yoruba elders that all Fulani herdsmen ought to be
banned from the south west as a consequence of the
hideous atrocities that they have been committing
against our people is somehow inappropriate and
misguided.
Instead of stopping there, he went further by attempting
to give us an unsolicited lecture about his Fulani
heritage and pedigree and about the benefits of having
a good education: imagine that coming from one of
them.
He concluded by telling the Yoruba elders to just ”shut
up.”
Such impudence is rarely seen and this final insult may
represent a defining moment in the history of the
relationship between the Yoruba and the Fulani in our
country.
Worse still, this comes barely a few weeks after Chief
Olu Falae, a much-loved 77-year-old Yoruba elder, was
abducted, incarcerated, stri*ped unclad, beaten, cut
with matchetes, maimed, frog-marched, humiliated and
kidnapped by a group of Fulani herdsmen. Unlike many
others, Chief Falae was lucky to escape with his life
because both before and since his abduction many
other victims of the Fulani cattle rearers did not. These
aliens are herdsmen and cattle rearers by the day and
terrorists, murderers, vagabonds and defilers by the
night.
They have become a terror and an affliction to our
people. That is what we have to live with in the south
west and many other parts of southern Nigeria today.
The Yoruba are still hurting from the abductions,
murders, raids and consistent violence being meted out
to them by these creatures from hell yet no-one seems
to care. Many Yoruba farmers are still living in
trepidation of being attacked and butchered by the
vagabonds and many have had to sit by helplessly as
the heartless beasts defiled and slaughtered their wives
and daughters before their very eyes.
Instead of attempting to calm our nerves and allay our
fears by reaching out to us with an olive branch and
condemning the criminal actions of his Fulani kith and
kin, Rabiu Kwakwanso has instead indulged in his
provocative and dangerous diatribe. It is a
manifestation of the crass arrogance that some Fulani
leaders have cultivated over the years that they feel
that they can insult us in this way and get away with it.
Worse still, they seek to defend, rationalise and
condone the activities of their barbaric and murderous
herdsmen who have murdered, defiled and pillaged
thousands of our people and forcefully taken our lands
and crops over the last few years. I will leave it to
Afenifere, the Yoruba Council of Elders, the OPC and
others to respond to Kwakwanso and those he
represents because these are the groups and people
that speak for the Yoruba nation.
The only thing that I will say is that Kwakwanso’s
thesis and theory about education being the answer to
the menace and criminal activities of the Fulani
herdsmen in the south west does not make sense. It
has no basis in logic, rationality or reason.
In any case, if the herdsmen are not properly educated
and do not know how to behave in a lawful and civilised
manner when they are in the territory of others whose
fault is that? Is it not the fault of Kwakwanso and the
other Fulani leaders who have refused to enlighten and
educate their people over the last 50 years? That is the
bitter truth. You cannot stop those herdsmen that have
chosen to be murderers, vagabonds and defilers by
simply educating them because what they do is
inherent within them. Those that have chosen the path
of criminality and violence are suffering from a
sociopathic and psychotic disposition.
Simply put, they have an insatiable blood-lust and an
irresistible desire to hurt others and to steal, maim,
r*pe and kill. When I say this, I am not referring to all
Fulanis but only to those Fulani herdsmen who insist on
indulging in violent and deviant behavior in our land.
The only thing you can do to stop such people is to
make them face the full wrath of the law for the crimes
they have consistently committed and ban them from
entering our territory. It has nothing to do with
education. We do not want these herdsmen amongst us
anymore because they are like a plague.
All they do is kill, steal and destroy. They have done it
throughout the Middle Belt for the last 50 years and
now they are doing it in the south and particularly in
Yorubaland. Do Kwakwanso and the other Fulani
leaders expect us to keep quiet whilst their people are
terrorising, slaughtering and robbing ours? If so, they
are in for a big shock. We will not only not keep quiet,
but we will also continue to insist that they must get
out of our land.
And if the government refuses to protect us from them,
we shall take strong measures to protect and defend
ourselves and our people. There is no crime in self
defense. The days of talking down to us, treating us
with contempt and treating us like slaves are long over.
Kwakwanso and those he represents should not test our
will or underestimate our resolve. We want peace but it
cannot be at the expense of our lives and the liberty
and safety of our people.
The Yoruba cannot be butchered at will or treated like
sacrificial lambs to the slaughter by anyone or any
group of people.
Senator Kwakwanso’s insult on the Yoruba elders will
not go unanswered. Education is not the solution to the
problem of the murderous Fulani herdsmen. Expulsion
is.
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