The evicted Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, has denied allegations that he was behind the fresh attacks that rocked Igangan town in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Abdulkadir, while reacting on Tuesday to comments attributed to the Asigangan of Igangan, Oba Lasisi Adeoye, accusing him of masterminding last Sunday’s attacks on Igangan town where suspected herders killed some people, said it was wrong to have linked the attack with him.
He said many herders also suffered casualties during the attacks, adding that one Fulani man who was neither a cattle rearer nor trader and had been living in Igangan since the 60s was killed on Monday in a reprisal attack on several Fulani settlements.
Abdulkadir stressed that he has no hand in the attacks and has no mercenary anywhere to attack the people on his behalf.
He said since he was evicted from the community by armed youths led by Sunday Igboho, he has lost many of his people, properties and all his investments.
The evicted Seriki who is currently in Ilorin, Kwara State, blamed the attack on the failure of security agencies, saying if the security agencies had been proactive and up and doing, such would not have occurred.
He, however, tasked them to go after the perpetrators.
Abdulkadir insisted that the unrest in Ibarapa was worsened by ethnic profiling where only Fulani herders were tagged as criminals.
He said, on many occasions, the Yoruba people were arrested for kidnapping and other criminalities in the Ibarapa zone but their arrests never got prominence because they are not Fulani.
He said since his eviction in January, Fulani herders have been living in fears in the communities in Ibarapa including Ayete, Tapa and Igangan, adding that he has advised those who are afraid to flee for their lives and refrain from taking the laws into their hands.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to intervene in the happenings in the Ibarapa zone, saying while the state government is doing its part to restore peace to the warring communities; it requires the support of the Federal Government to achieve lasting peace in the zone. (Nigerian Tribune)
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