Afenifere, the pan Yoruba nation group, has warned the Boko Haram sect not to strike in Lagos or any place in Yoruba land, as their ancestors will crush the sect.
Afenifere, the pan Yoruba nation group, has warned the Boko Haram sect not to strike in Lagos or any place in Yoruba land, as their ancestors will crush the sect.
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The group was reacting yesterday to an allegation by the Ojora of Ijora, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aromire that a house where nine suspected terrorists, including a Chadian, were arrested in Ijora-Badia in Lagos belongs to the Bayelsa State Government.
Receiving a delegation of the Hausa community, the traditional ruler was quoted as saying that it was only God that saved the State of Lagos because the attack was meant to destroy the state as a whole and not Ijora alone.
“Let me state here clearly that you should warn your men very well. Lagos is no-go area for miscreants,” Oba Aromire reportedly told his guests. “Although, they call the perpetrators Malians and Chadians, but they reside among your people here in Ijora…I also want to say that the blame should also go to the Bayelsa State government for not taking care of their abandoned house where the evil doers are using as the hideout…”
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In a statement, the national publicity secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin described the claim by the Ojora as raising a red flag that cannot be ignored given the psychological warfare that has been waged against Yorubaland of possible terror attack for about a year now.
“What has largely been perceived as threat is assuming a near reality with the discovery of this terror hideout, calling for a thorough investigation,” he said.
According to him, the investigation must answer the following issues:
• Who are these suspects are and what links they have with the blood-sucking Boko Haram or Army?
• Why would the Bayelsa state Government maintain an abandoned property in Ijora-Badia of all places in Lagos?
• The veracity of claims that the Bayelsa state Government has been approached several times by the community to demolish the house or give it to people who may use it, without any response.
Afenifere said that a satisfactory explanation to that third question 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 Yorubaland and instigate a national crisis with Yorubaland as a possible battle ground.
“We would not accept any shoddy handling of this case as has happened to many of such incidents in recent with suspects paraded and nothing is heard again,” the statement warned.
“We also warn all agents of terror to stay away from Yoruba nation in order not to invoke the wrath of our ancestors. Yoruba people are peace loving and our land a place where people from all nationalities from Nigeria are at home without any fear of molestation. Any group or individuals who want to shatter the peace of the region can only meet their Waterloo.”
It called on people in Yorubaland to be vigilant at all times and report suspicious movements to the appreciate authority.
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