Afenifere, OPC seek probe into alleged Bayelsa ownership of terrorists’ hideout
A YORUBA socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) have called for investigation into the allegation by the Ojora of Ijora, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aromire, that the house where nine suspected terrorists, including a Chadian, were arrested in Ijora-Badia in Lagos, belongs to Bayelsa State government.
A statement Tuesday by the National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the attention of the organisation was drawn to the allegation while Oba Aromire was receiving a delegation of Hausa community. We quote him: “Discovery of such factory in Ijora was very sad to me and the entire family of Ojora. It was God that saved the whole Lagos because the attack was meant to destroy the state as a whole and not Ijora alone.”
Afenifere noted that Aromire also urged the delegate to warn their men very well, “Lagos is no-go area for miscreants… I also want to say that the blame should also go to the Bayelsa State government for not taking care of its abandoned house where the evildoers are using as a hideout.”
Afenifere also said the monarch in his statement explained that “the community has been talking to Bayelsa State for a very long time to lease the property to the people that will make use of it, but they refused.”
Odumakin said it is important at this stage to call for a thorough investigation of the incident to ascertain the following: who these suspects are and what links they have with the blood-sucking Boko Haram or the Amy; why the Bayelsa State government would maintain an abandoned property in Ijora-Badia of all places in Lagos?
Afenifere also wanted to know the veracity of claims that the Bayelsa State government had been approached several times by the community to demolish the house or give it to people who may use it without any response.
He said: “A satisfactory explanation to the three questions would dispel the conspiracy theory that Boko Haram may have become a franchise under which fifth columnists may be operating to disrupt the peace of Yoruba land and instigate a national crisis with our land as a possible battle ground.”
He warned that Afenifere or any other Yoruba organisation would not accept any shoddy handling of this case as has happened to many of such incidents in recent times with suspects paraded and nothing is heard again. “We also warn all agents of terror to stay away from Yoruba nation in order not to invoke the wrath of our ancestors.”
According to him, “Yoruba people are peace-loving and our land is a place where people from all nationalities from Nigeria are at home, without any fear of molestation. Any group or individual who wants to shatter the peace of the region can only meet its waterloo.”
He, however, called on residents of the South-West region to be vigilant at all times and report suspicious movements to the appropriate authority.
The Coordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Gani Adams, said such terrorists’ infiltration into Yoruba land was dangerous at this period “not only for Yoruba land but also for the entire country.”
According to him, “With the ravaged situation of the northern part of the country due to the menace of the Boko Haram sect, if a similar insurgence penetrates the South-West, it would completely discourage and drive away foreign investors in the country.”
Adams also urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the Boko Haram menace, saying: “It is too dangerous for the corporate existence of the nation.”
Culled from Nigerian Guardian
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