The National Coordinator of Yoruba militia group, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Chief Gani Adams, on Monday, said true federalism remained the only way out to curb the incessant Fulani herdsmen attacks and insecurities in the country.
Adams, who stated this in Akure, Ondo State capital, during the 2016 Democracy Day lecture, organised by the Ondo State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), entitled: “Herdsmen/Farmers Clashes: What Implication for Inter-ethnic Relations, Nigerian Economy,” called on traditional rulers and community leaders across the region to defend their communities against the herdsmen invasion.
The OPC leader chided President Muhammadu Buhari for what he termed his tactical silence on the incessant attacks of the herdsmen on the citizens of the country.
He stated that Nigeria, as it was being governed at the moment, was not sustainable, saying “If we have a federal republic that is nothing but a sham, a big fraud, why then are we surprised that a group of Boko Haram members, masquerading as herdsmen have been terrorising innocent farmers across the country?”
He explained that the country needed proper restructuring, faulting the nation’s federal system of government and pointed out that it was an aberration from the Western countries, where the states came together to form the central government.
He pointed out the defects of the system which rendered state governors toothless dogs and powerless in maintaining security of their respective states, and advocated for the creation of state police to reduce crime rate.
He said “In Nigeria, it was the Centre or Federal Government that created the states for political reasons and to achieve what the eminent Igbo scholar, Chinweizu, refers to as Caliphate Colonialism, a system whereby some people are born to rule,” he said.
“If, for instance, there is state police, would the herdsmen have found it easy to attack farmers, rape women and slaughter them afterwards, burn down entire villages, and even carry out major robberies on major highways while the security agencies look the other way?
“For how long shall we have Chief Security Officers (governors) of states who do not even have the police under their control? By the way, what manner of security officer does not even have a gun in his possession? Can a person who cannot organise his own security protect others?”
The Oodua leader, who highlighted the economic advantage of ranch system over the outdated nomadic cattle rearing, said “Cattle ranching bring more profit. It is even cheaper in the long run than the nomadic system which is operated through the blood and sweat of farmers across the country,” he said.
Adams advocated for the implementation of the 2014 Confab resolutions, which according to him, provided the solutions to all the challenges facing the nation and said
“Let us go back to what we had in the First Republic, a system whereby the component units of this country would control their own resources and determine how to live their lives and what form of government to operate. If we do this, we will have a decisive framework for dealing with issues such as the one addressed in this brief lecture.
“Until the report is implemented, we will just be going round in circles and life in Nigeria will continue to be nasty, short and brutish. The time to change our path is now,”
He assured the people of the Yoruba nation of the readiness of his group to defend the people but said people must be ready to defend themselves saying “a reformed and reunited OPC should metamorphose from ethnic militia into