One of the leaders of Fulani settlers in Oyo State, Saliu Abdulkadiri, has reportedly come under attack from an irate mob, following the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum for immediate evacuation of Nigerians of Fulani origin from the state.
The Seriki Fulani told SaharaReporters that his house and cars were razed by a mob late Friday in the full glare of police personnel.
“Our cars, numbering about 11, have been burnt,” the online medium reported Mr. Abdulkadiri to have said in Ibadan. “Police, Operation Burst and other security agencies were there when they set my house ablaze.”
Self acclaimed Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo alias Igboho had, a week ago, ordered all Fulani dwellers out of Ibarapa and Igangan areas of the state within seven days.
Governor Seyi Makinde had strongly pushed back against the unconstitutional vacation order, while threatening to take decisive action against promoters of the ultimatum.
Seemingly undeterred, Mr. Adeyemo was reported to have stormed some Oyo communities Friday to monitor compliance with his evacuation notice to residents of Fulani extraction.
A video which surfaced on the internet Friday evening, showed Mr. Adeyemo assuring his throng of supporters of the successful ejection of Fulanis from the state.
“The Fulani have gone, we have sent them out of our land and they cannot come back again,” the activist said in the viral footage.
He, however, vowed to extend the crackdown on Fulanis to other parts of the Southwest.
“This one we have started here in Oyo State will not end here. We are going to other parts of the South-West. Tell Fulani herdsmen in Ekiti State, Ondo State and Osun States; in fact, in all Southwest states that they should get ready for us because we are coming,” Mr. Adeyemo said, in an apparent move to escalate already heightened ethnic tensions across the country.
The Fulanis have been largely touted as the major instigators of farmer-herder clashes, kidnappings and other violent crimes in Oyo and neighbouring southwestern states.
Governor Makinde has, nonetheless, abhorred the singling out of an ethnic group for victimisation when the real enemy, he recently said, are a select group of individuals who perpetrate crime.