The Yoruba Summit Group (YSG) has said that with the statement credited to the presidency, it is evident that dark clouds are all over Nigeria.
YSG, which is the umbrella body for all Yorùbá Groups expressed worry that rather than supporting the quit notice order by governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) against illegal herders in Ondo state forests reserves, the presidency, with the statement had already fanned the ember of discord to the southwest.
“The Yorùbá Summit Group has come to see yet another peripatetic excursion by the presidency venturing into a now-familiar unending confrontational monarchy with the southwest. This time around, it is about Ondo State and her Forest reserves”.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the apex Yoruba group, Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, the group said Garba Shehu had, with the statement, displayed ignorance of Buhari’s government.
“There is no more doubt that the corporate existence of Nigeria is at its shakiest ever. Everywhere there is war, which is mostly due to the marauding, itinerant Fulani. Yet the federal government continues on its path of unforced errors towards a certain precipice by always siding with evil, with the murderous Fulani, who engage in kidnapping, maiming and destruction of farms”
“Suppose the Yorùbá like the Fulani embark on inviting Yorùbá in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and all over Africa and beyond to come to Nigeria to cause mayhem. Suppose other ethnicities also do this”.
Mogaji Adejumo, however, faulted the Federal Government’s motives behind the statement, describing Shehu as an extension of ignorance of the government he represents.
“The drums of war that Garba Shehu and his cohorts are strumming upon in issuing such an irresponsible statement against a lawful government will fail them utterly when pitched against the law!.
“In accordance with relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution, Land Use Act and state law/Regulations on agricultural produce/practices, the state government, in order to control and regulate economic activities in the reserved areas, regulate business activities in the state and provide security for both lives and properties in the state, has every legal stand to require anyone to register their economic activities in the state or to vacate her land and properties, in this case, The Ondo state Forest Reserves.”
” Can an igbó man sell beer in Kano, or can Yorùbá man sell pork in Daura!? Why the Fulani sense of entitlement fueled by this presidency because President Buhari is Fulani!? Suppose another president comes and should such a president, if he comes from the East, insist on beer being sold in Kano or from the West, insists on pork being sold in Daura”.
” Garba Shehu and his principals must be tutored to know that Forest reserves are not just any forest, but protected areas established under a conservation scheme for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological interest, which are reserved and managed by the state government, Exclusively. And it is the duty of a responsible state government to ensure her Forest Reserves are no common residence to Bandits and herdsmen”, Adejumo said.
VANGUARD
