Fayose warns Fulani herdsmen over attack on Ekiti communities, says “we will protect our people”

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has warned that there could be

reprisal attacks on Fulani herdsmen in the State if they do not desist

from invading communities in Ekiti and attacking the people,

describing the Fulani herdsmen that invaded Oke Ako in Ikole local

government area of the State on Friday, killing two residents of the

town and injuring others as 'agents of the devil that must be fished

out and punished accordingly.'
Governor Fayose, who commiserated with the people of Oke-Ako,

especially the family of the deceased, vowed to do everything humanly

possible to forestall the reoccurrence of such attack and safeguard

the lives of Ekiti people.
According to a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public

Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said the

Fulani herdsmen were becoming major threat to the unity of Nigeria and

its people, saying; 'I will not fold my hands while armed herdsmen

invade communities in Ekiti, killing people and destroying farmlands

at will as they have done in other States.
'I have directed the police and other security agencies in the State

to fish out the killer herdsmen. I am in constant touch with the

security agencies and I hope that the killer herdsmen will be fished

out wherever they are and made to face the full wrath of the law.

'The people of Oke-Ako should therefore remain calm while the security

agents do their job. However, the security agents must be mindful of

the fact that the people's patience has a limit and they must

therefore act promptly and decisively.'

The governor, who described activities of the Fulani Herdsmen as

inimical to the revival of agriculture in the country said; 'Farmlands

costing billions of naira have been destroyed in States in the

South-West, South-East and North-Central zones of the country. One

wonders how Nigerians can go back to farming when those already in the

farms are losing billions of naira worth of crops to destruction of

their farmlands by the Fulani Herdsmen and the Federal Government is

not doing anything about it.'
He said; 'I am sounding a note of warning to the Fulani herdsmen and

those who can talk to them should also do so now. If they continue

with these wanton attacks, killing of the people and destruction of

farmlands in Ekiti, I cannot guarantee that there won't be reprisal

attacks.
'I can also not guarantee the level that the reprisal attacks can get

to because as a governor, it is my responsibility to defend and

protect my people.'
He called on President Mohammadu Buhari to stop paying lips service to

the Fulani herdsmen’s menace, saying “as patron of the Miyetti Allah

Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), President Buhari has

the capacity to call the herdsmen to order.
'President Buhari should therefore call his people to order because

this is Ekiti; our people have the rights to defend themselves.

'Most importantly, President Buhari must be reminded of how he was so

concerned about the killing of Fulani herdsmen in in Saki, Oke Ogun

Area of Oyo State such that he, as a private citizen led Arewa to

Ibadan on October 13, 2000, to confront the then Governor of Oyo

State, late Alhaji Lam Adesina.'