Gani Adams raises alarm over infiltration of mercenaries in southwest

Fri, Jan 10, 2020
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Featured, Politics

By Anayo Ezugwu

GANI Adams, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, has raised alarm that the southwest is still under siege of herdsmen and their mercenaries. He said the region has been infiltrated by unknown gunmen, and the people are not the Fulani people who had been living with them for a long time.

In an interview with Realnews, Adams said the region was witnessing some strange Fulani people, who disguise as herdsmen, but are mercenaries kidnapping and killing people in different communities in Yoruba land. “With regards to security threat in the southwest that we have been witnessing for almost four years now, we realized that the southwest has been infiltrated by unknown gunmen, and people who are not the Fulani people that have been living with us for a long time.

“We witnessed some strange Fulani people, who disguise as herdsmen and at the end of the day we discovered that they are mercenaries. Then we realized that they are staging rampant kidnapping in different communities in Yoruba land. At the same time, the issue of cultism is becoming rampant. When we were young, what we witnessed was secret cults in tertiary institutions, but now we have vulcanizers, Agboros (touts), shoemakers all having secret cults unions.

“We even have cults on the ordinary streets. So the rising crime rate can be as a result of these groups in different locations. Presently, people are moving into agricultural business and farming, but because of the infiltration of these mercenaries from Mali, Libya and other West African countries, because of instability in those areas, we have been seriously infiltrated,” he said.

Adams regretted that none of these mercenaries are facing trial in the country. “These people kill victims like chicken and apart from the one that affected Chief Olu Falae, no other suspect arrested in connection with kidnapping in southwest is undergoing prosecution since it started in Yorubaland.

“It is only because Chief Olu Falae is a high personality and with pressure from different groups in Yorubaland and Nigeria that they tried to prosecute them. Others even though they were arrested you will not know how they escaped prosecution.”

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland believed that the establishment of Amotekun will give relief to the people. “I think it is a welcome development. Amotekun will solve a lot of problem in Yorubaland. Psychologically, it will give us peace and tranquility. It will even create more employment for the youths and most of the youths that will be trained for the Amotekun operation will be a very good product for the society.

“So I think Amotekun will complement the efforts of the security agencies because we don’t need to deceive ourselves, insecurity in southwest have grown beyond the power of Nigerian security agencies. They are trying their best and they have developed different strategies, but we realized that those who live in a vicinity of the criminals know them more than the police deployed from different states of the country to the southwest,” he said.

– Jan. 10, 2020 @ 16:55 GMT |

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