New Telegraph

Ondo’s bold action as new test

As the nation’s internal security continues to threaten food security BIYI ADEGOROYE in this analysis examines the spate of kidnappings and the need for federal and state governments to collaborate in search of solution

 

Daily, the cracks in the Nigerian State seems to get widened as contemporary issues challenge the current structure and or interpretation of its laws, generating discourse as part of gradual evolution which would redefine its existence.

 

For a country whose challenges are as diverse as its 250 ethnic groups, such issues ranging from constitutional to those which are socio-cultural in nature, every section is beset, giving government officials across party lines opportunities to identify their stance in addressing the numerous problems pragmatically to bring succor to the people.

 

Up till now, the dust that greeted the Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Rev Bishop Hassan Kukah’s comments on the level of insecurity in the country is yet to settle as the Muslim Solidarity Forum asked him to tender an unreserved apology to the entire Muslim Ummah over an alleged “malicious comments” against Islam or vacate Sokoto.

 

Of particular interest is the issue of national and internal security which has assumed a new dimension despite successes recorded against terrorism and insurgency.

 

A couple of weeks ago, top on the agenda of the North Central Governors Forum was the security of the zone. That only came many months after the South-West Governors’ Forum incubated and established Amotekun in their respective states.

 

To say Ondo State has witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in criminality, especially kidnapping and murder in recent times is an understatement. Dozens of people, high and low have either been mauled or abducted in recent times only to regain freedom after parting with millions of naira.

 

On November 6, 2020, 16 market women on transit from Akoko axis to Akure, the state capital for the monthly meeting of market leaders, were abducted on the busy Owo/Akure highway by a 10-man gang of kidnappers.

 

They disappeared into the bush immediately. A few days after, the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adeusi became the victim of the kidnappers as he fell to their bullets, having been attacked at Elegbeka in Ose Local Government Local Government Area of the state along Benin-Owo-Akure highway.

 

Not done, the wife of the Chief of Staff to Governor Akeredolu, Mrs. Ale was kidnapped a few hours after, alongside two other women at Owena axis of Ondo/Akure highway in Idanre Local Government Area of the state while in transit from Lagos State.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Gbenga Ibikunle and his wife were kidnapped by gunmen at Uso along the same Akure- Owo Expressway in the Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State while returning from Ebonyi State. Ibikunle identified his abductors as daring Fulani herdsmen, between14 and 17 years of age but were armed to the teeth.

 

They flogged him, his wife and some other detainees in the forest for days while negotiating with victims’ relations. The Ibikunles only bought their freedom after the payment of over N5.7million ransom. The latest victim was the Deputy Registrar of the Federal University of Technology, (FUTA), Dr. Amos Arijesuyo who was killed with a shot on the chest by suspected herdsmen and kidnappers on the Ilesha-Akure Road.

 

And in conformity with the Yoruba axiom, it is only a mad man who will go to bed, leaving his roof on fire, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who was at the vanguard of the establishment of Akeredolu took the bull by the horn to regulate activities of herdsmen operating in the forests in the state.

 

At a meeting with Hausa/Fulani residents in the state, he gave a seven-day ultimatum to herdsmen operating in the state’s forests to register with the government or vacate the state.

 

He also banned underage grazing, night grazing, movement of cattle within the cities and the highways. Expectedly, the ultimatum that all who wished to carry on with their cattle-rearing business should register with appropriate authorities within the next seven days or risk evacuation fromthe state has generated much debate.

 

This did not seem to have settled with some, including, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu who said the order was “atavistic and cruel.”

 

Advocating the need to “delink terrorism and crime from ethnicity, geographical origin and religion,” Shehu added that Mr. Akeredolu “will be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.

 

“If this were to be the case, rights groups will be right in expressing worries that the action could set off a chain of events which the makers of our constitution  foresaw   and tried to guard against,” arguing that ”insecurity is not alien to any group, the language they speak, their geographical location or their faith.”

 

Shehu posited that rather, the ultimatum and contradiction that may follow the order, the state government and the leadership of the Fulani communities in Ondo State should dialogue for a good understanding that will bring to an urgent end the nightmarish security challenges facing the state”.

 

However, Ondo State government had clarified that he never asked herdsmen to vacate the state. So much was made clear through the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, who added that the Presidency statement had stated “unambiguously, the position of the Federal Government.

 

“The Ondo State Government did not ask Fulani to leave the state. The governor said herdsmen who are unregistered should leave our forests. The statement from Garba Shehu is a brazen display of emotional attachments and it’s very inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.

 

“We need clearly defined actions on the part of the Federal Government to decimate the erroneous impression that the inspiration of these criminal elements  masquerading as herdsmen is that of power. Our unity is threatened, no doubt. “It (statement) states in a breath that the governor fights crime with passion while it is prevaricating on the atrocities.

 

The question is, are the herdsmen who are perpetrating murder, kidnapping and robbery more important than government and even the Federal Government in this case?

 

Ethnic nationality and activism on the part of anyone hiding under the Presidency or Federal Government is an ill wind,” the commissioner added.

 

Despite the clarification, the Northern Elders Forum, (NEF), Northern Elders Forum expressed shock at alleged orders to vacate the state, stating that no Nigerian had the power to take punitive action against citizens on political grounds, stressing that the forum believes that the action of the governor is provocative and unhelpful.

 

Rather than paying attention to the details of the directives, a statement issued by Dr. Akeem Baba Ahmed said that if there were criminal elements among the Fulani who live in the state, the governor should take appropriate steps to identify them and deal with them.

 

Similarly, the Fulani do not enjoy legal immunity in any part of Nigeria. The comments have engendered so many reactions, some in support and others against.

 

For instance, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, flayed it, described government action as tantamount to protecting Fulani herdsmen against the generality of Nigeria.

 

“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 non – pretense 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.”

 

He said 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 that cares will continue to fold its arms. Afenifere wondered whether Ondo Forest Reserves was under Ondo State Government or Federal Government and Miyetti Allah, even as it agreed with the Ondo State Government that the “insensibility of Garba Shehu violates the corporate existence of Nigeria.

 

“What has this government done to assure our people that it can protect our lives with the open murders of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, The Olufon of Ifon and the Deputy Registrar of FUTA 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 Fulani from the laws,” he said.

 

Afenifere called on all true Yoruba to stand behind Governor Akeredolu in these trying times, urging the governor to do all within the law to flush Ondo forests of all criminals. He also called on other governors to emulate the governor who is the Chairman of South-West Governors’ Forum and free Yoruba land from the Fulanis who have surrounded it with the shield of the Federal Government.

 

Fayose and Ortom experiences

 

In May, 2016, the then governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, signed into law the “Prohibition of Cattle and Other Ruminants Grazing in Ekiti, 2016,” which outlawed cattle grazing in the state. It came after suspected Fulani herdsmen killed two persons at Oke-Alo, Ikole Local Government Area.

 

The law, which was greeted by outrage from some sections of the country, criminalised the movement of cattle from one location to another in the state and penalties included confiscation of any cattle seen anywhere in the state apart from ranches created for them by their owners.

 

Similarly, Governor Samuel Ortom, governor of the state, signed the Open Grazing Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches Law 2017 on May 22, 2017, after at least 90 residents, Catholic priests and a traditional ruler were killed and several towns and villages in the state were sacked by suspected herdsmen.

 

Though lauded all over the world because of its potency to restore safety and order, it is on record that it met vehement opposition from many notable Nigerians, and Ortom had to choose between the safety of his people and his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), when he was disqualified by the party.

 

The legal angle

 

Others issues which have emanated from the ultimatum to register or quit include that of fundamental human rights to live anywhere in the country and whether or not state governments have powers to control the forest under the Land Use Act.

 

Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said that Governor Akeredolu was right in ordering herdsmen who are unwilling to register to leave his state. “In accordance with Section 1 of the Land Use Act 1978, state governors can exercise the power to grant statutory rights of occupancy in any part of the state, at which point a proof of the right of occupancy, which is known as a certificate of occupancy, is issued by the state governor.

 

“Additionally, Section 28 of the LUA 1978 provides for the powers of the governor to revoke rights of occupancy for overriding public interest. Similarly, the instances in which these rights can be revoked are provided for in the same Section (28).” Also, Lagos lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye threw his weight behind Ondo State government stating that “every herdsman occupying any part of Ondo State forest without lawful permit is a criminal.

 

“Why? Every inch of Ondo State’s forest is owned either privately, communally or publicly by the government. Invasion of these forests by non-indigenous herdsmen, therefore, is an act of criminal trespass!”

 

Similarly, across all social media platforms, the position of Shehu as being synonymous with that of the Presidency and penchant for passionate response issues involving Fulani herdsmen came into the fore, even as a number of Nigerians are viewing the issue from ethnic perspective. Olaseni Egbeyemi described the statement from Shehu as a dangerous one which will further embolden the criminals/herdsmen, with possible calamitous consequences on the fate of the country.

 

Opposition to Amotekun

 

Such opposition to state or regional security efforts is hardly new. When the South-West governors moved to set up Amotekun as a regional security outfit, the Federal Government through the Attorney-General of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami rose vehemently against it.

 

Malami and Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector- General of Police stated that such was illegal and unacceptable in a federal system which, except for curious constitutional clause should have its police departments like other countries operating true federalism.

 

The opposition was met with equal doggedness which culminated in the passage into law the bill for state security outfits by the individual state governments, more so when religious police, Hisbar has existed in the North since 2003 without any objection.

 

One indubitable fact is that state governments have a duty to ensure safety of lives and property in their respective states, and orders, directives and legislations come within strategies for achieving this.

 

And by their intrepid actions Fayose and Ortom set precedence for Akeredolu, a legal luminary who, though failed to take the same route, should be buoyed by his passion and commitment to security to test this current move even at the Supreme Court. It is curious to see a government that makes linking registered SIM cards to National Identification Number (NIN) within a few weeks, for security reasons would in the same breath kick against state government’s justifiable moves to document operators within its forest for the same reason.

 

Whether bandits or criminal herdsmen, one fact is that Nigeria has a common enemy in these people. Irrespective of their tribe, nationality and religion, without baseless generalization, the criminal activities of these felons call for serious action.

 

If the top government officials and prominent Nigerians give half of the oxygen and energy they commit to protection of the constitutional rights of identified few herdsmen to fight insecurity, Nigeria would enjoy greater internal security.

 

Such concerted and rigorous moves are critical if the current efforts to ensure that Nigeria’s productive farmers must feel very secure in their farms. The nation’s food basket must be preserved and its threatened food security addressed while protecting those plying their trade within the ambit of the law.

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