[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n March 28th a hitherto unknown northern group known as the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, through its spokesman, one Yerima Shetima, had the nerve and effrontery to accuse Afenifere and the Yoruba nation of a “subtle campaign of ethnic cleansing” and went on to threaten us with what they described as “reprisals against the millions of Yoruba living in the north” if we did not stop complaining about the fact that our people were slaughtered in Ile-Ife and that the police were handling the whole matter in a selective, inappropriate and unjust manner.
It is clear that this is not an empty threat because for the last two weeks fake and horrendous videos and graphic pictures of what purport to be the killings of Hausa Fulanis by the Yoruba and the people of Ile-Ife are being circulated all over the internet and social media by those that seek to promote anarchy, violence and carnage and those that are set to kill.
This is not the time to escalate the tension and we must do all we can to exercise restraint and keep the peace but clearly the stage is being set by some in the north for ethnic pogroms and reprisals against the Yoruba.
Yet we are not in the least bit perturbed and someone should advise the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum and those that they represent that pulling the tail of the tiger can be a very dangerous thing indeed.
Like Shakespeare’s King Henry V once said they must “wake not our sleeping sword lightly.”
They and whoever sent them can be rest assured that the Yoruba are not intimidated or deterred by their boastful threats and that we will lose no sleep over their irresponsible and reckless words.
Whether they and their sponsors like it or not we shall continue to complain and to protest and we eagerly await the full manifestation and execution of their cold-blooded and unwarranted threat.
Yesterday evening the Arewa Consultative Forum itself, the body of elders and leaders that speaks for the north, chose to stop hiding behind their youths and waded into the ring.
They issued a formal statement, through one Muhammadu Ibrahim, who is apparantly their spokesman, cautioning Yoruba elders and leaders not to “give ethnic coloration to the Ile-Ife crises” and that if they continued to do so they should be mindful of and ready for what he described as “reprisal consequences”.
This is yet another not so well-couched warning and veiled threat. They have made their point and we have taken our stand. The next move is theirs.
Meanwhile I find it curious that not one prominent voice from outside Yorubaland, except for a handful of notable, insightful and deeply courageous essayists and political commentators like Reno Omokri and Jude Ndukwe, has spoken out against the evil and injustice that the people of Ile-Ife have been subjected to by both the Hausa Fulani community and the Nigerian Police Force.
It appears that the Yoruba have been left to carry their cross on their own even though when the Fulani militants and herdsmen, or indeed anyone else, commit genocide and mass murder against innocent people in other parts of the country the Yoruba are always at the forefront of speaking up for the victims.
Yet despite this wonderful quality of more often than not being our brothers keeper, the people of the south west still harbour a number of so-called leaders within their ranks who are more comfortable with sleeping with the enemy than in defending or speaking up for their own.
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Permit me to give just one example. A few renegades from the south-west, whom I regard as the enemy within and the sons of perfidy, have complained that my two part essay on the Hausa Fulani and Yoruba clash in Ile Ife (tltled “The Hausa Fulani, The Yoruba and The Slaughter In Ile-Ife”) was “too harsh” and that it may even have “compounded the problem”.
They also complained about the follow-up that I wrote to that article titled “The Sons and Daughters Of Ile-Ife: Butchered, Paraded and Now Prisoners Of War” which came out last week.
Frankly I am at a loss to comprehend their baseless concerns and criticisms or appreciate their warped logic.
How can one “compound the problem” by speaking the bitter truth?
How can one “compound the problem” by resisting evil and standing up for ones own?
How can one “compound the problem” by standing against tyranny and ethnic domination?
How can one “compound the problem” by objecting to mass murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity?
How can one “compund the problem” by pointing out that the Hausa Fulani must stop killing other Nigerians wherever they go?
How can one can one “compound the problem” by saying that we refuse to be sacrificial lambs or second class citizens in our own land?
How can one “compound the problem” by asserting that it is ungodly and unacceptable for others to storm our territory, rape our women, burn our homes, occupy our land, steal our farms, desecrate our places of worship, kill our children and terrorise our people?
How can one “compound the problem” by contending that it is not only a grave insult but also an affront to decency and justice that only the Yoruba were arrested by the police after the carnage at Ile Ife even though people from both sides were killed?
How can one “compound the problem” by rejecting the conspiracy of silence, refusing to be a coward and saying “enough is enough?”
How can one “compound the problem” by saying that if the brutal killings of our people does not stop that we will have no choice but to reconsider being part of Nigeria and no qualms about exercising our right of self-determination and thereby light the glorious flame of the sovereign state and independent nation of Oduduwa?
Needless to say I offer no apology and neither do I have any regrets for any of the things that I have said or written even if the primitive and barely educated in our midst see things differently.
Some of the things they wrote, particularly in the pro-Government newspapers and websites, were brought to my attention and frankly I saw nothing but unadulterated rubbish.
I have never read so much puerile nonsense, infantile balderdash and disjointed verbiage before in my entire life.
The traitors that joined hands with our collective enemies and led our people into the jaws of death and the poisonous fangs of the ravenous and insatiable Fulani monster still dont know who and what they are up against or who and what they are dealing with.
They are slaves and cowards in body, spirit and soul. I have always known that but what I didn’t know is that they would also go as far as to cast aspertions on the character and noble efforts of those of us that are risking our lives and liberty by confronting the beast.
Instead of applauding us for doing what THEY ought to be doing they are denigrating us and belittling our efforts.
They believe that if they say and do the right things the Hausa Fulani will leave them alone and allow our people to live in peace. Little do they know the monster.
They have also said that the area known as “Sabo” where the Hausa Fulani live was the only place that their APC got votes in Ile-Ife during the governorship and presidential elections.
Consequently they believe that they must protect the Hausa Fulanis that live there and sacrifice the Yoruba.
People that reason, think and talk like that are evil. They are nothing but vermin. They are scum and so are ALL those that share their views.
They are traitors, cowards and cockroaches and they have sold the Ifes and the Yoruba down the river.
They are playing politics with this grave and very serious issue whilst the blood of their people is being shed and their traditional rulers and sons and daughters are being falsely accused, detained and locked up in distant and dingy underground cells.
They helped President Muhammadu Buhari to win power in 2015 yet they have remained silent as his Hausa Fulani kinsmen have slaughtered people ALL over the country in the last two years.
Not one word of objection or protest did they offer when confronted with this monstrous outrage.
They even applauded and encouraged the killings and patted the genocidal maniacs on the back.
When the beasts were done with the people of Southern Kaduna, Benue, Enugu, Abia, Taraba, Delta, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, Anambra, Imo, Edo, Ebonyi and elsewhere and the same thing was done to their own Yoruba kith and kin in Ile-Ife they were shocked beyond belief but they did nothing except beg their Hausa Fulani friends.
They crawled and bowed before Rabiu Kwankwaso when he came to Ile Ife to insult our people asking for compensation after the massacre.
They shivered and went on their knees before Abdulrahman Dambazau when he came to Ile Ife to intimidate our people saying the Ifes must behave themselves after the carnage.
They trembled and bowed before the Nigerian police when they paraded our sons and daughters and a reverred traditional ruler before the television cameras, labelled them as murderers and common criminals and said they would prosecute them.
They clapped with joy and shouted “bravo” when the security and intelligence agencies refused to arrest even ONE Hausa Fulani person after they slaughtered and beheaded our people in the sanctity of their own homes.
They sang and danced with joy and servile adoration when the northern Inspector General of Police labelled the Yoruba as “criminals” and attempted to justify the fact that no Hausa Fulani person was arrested after the conflict.
Now they have been commissioned by the same Hausa Fulani-led govermment to denigrate and insult those of us that have courageously stood up, resisted the evil, exposed the truth, called the murderers to order and encouraged our people to stand firm and stand tall.
What a useless heap of dung these cowardly animals are. It is no wonder that so many people in our country WRONGLY label the Yoruba as cowards that cannot be trusted in a fight.
They do not know that these cowardly dogs do not represent the Yoruba but only their own stomachs.
The only thing that is worse than the evil agenda of those that slaughter others at will in Nigeria are the slaves that are prepared to work for them and destroy the destiny of millions of Yoruba for a pittance.
Yet they can be rest assured of one thing: their plan to dampen our enthusiasm, break our resolve and destroy our efforts will not work.
Whatever they do or say we shall continue to sensitise our people about the great evil that confronts them today and we shall strengthen our resolve to resist the Buhari administration’s scurillous attempt to break our will, intimidate our people and destroy our future. (TO BE CONTINUED).
Femi Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
