The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has lent his voice to the clamour to rid the South West of Fulani herdsmen, insisting they would soon be kicked out of the region.
The monarch’s comment is coming a few days after the Aare Onakakanfo of Yourbaland, Gani Adams issued an ultimatum to the herders to vacate the region or face dire consequences.
Ogunwusi, who spoke when he received the Emir of Borgu, Muhammed Dantoro, in his palace in Ile-Ife recently, decried the high rate of crimes linked to the Fulani herdsmen in the South-West region and declared that enough was enough.
A statement by the spokesperson for the Ooni’s Palace, Moses Olafare, in Osogbo, said the royal father maintained that the criminal elements among the herdsmen would soon be kicked out as traditional institutions in Yorubaland had perfected the plan to expose and kicked out.
The statement read in part, “We keep hammering on the Fulani herdsmen trying to take over everywhere; it is the bad ones that we want to kick out and enough is enough; we will kick them out and do justice to the peace and peaceful coexistence in our country.
“What has been happening in Yorubaland recently is alien to us. We will work towards bringing sanity to our communities; people should not live in fear but should have that freedom to move from one point to the other the way you all have moved freely for several hours driving from New Busa today all the way to Ife.
“Nigeria is our country and we are aware of all security issues confronting us. We know how everybody is panicking; it is about time for us to separate the wheat from the chaff.
“Some days ago, I was with the Sultan of Sokoto as the co-chairmen of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria discussing that it is important for us to stand against all the criminals that are hiding under the auspices of Fulani herdsmen.
“Everybody is saying they are Fulani herdsmen now, kidnapping everywhere. Enough of that! We must separate the wheat from the chaff, putting behind the past and letting peace reign in our land and in our country and that is what we stand for.”
According to the statement, the Emir of Borgu in his remark appreciated the efforts of the Ooni and other traditional rulers in the country in addressing some of the challenges facing the nation.
“This is a homecoming for me today. I said so because of the age-long tie between Borgu kingdom and Ile-Ife. As traditional rulers, we are for our people and we should be seen as working for them to enhance their unity.
“We should not allow anybody or group of persons to divide us with their personal interests; all we want is our country’s growth and development so that we all can be proud that we are Nigerians,” the statement quoted the Emir as saying.
Both traditional rulers solicited the support of all Nigerians in the fight to rid the nation of criminal elements who seek to divide it even as they restated the commitment of the traditional rulers to the indivisibility of the country.
