Ekiti Killings: We Must Protect Our Citizens, Fayose Warns Fulani Herdsmen

      Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, has
warned that there could be reprisal attacks on
Fulani herdsmen in the State if they do not
desist from invading communities in Ekiti and
attacking the people, describing the Fulani
herdsmen that invaded Oke Ako in Ikole
local government area of the State on Friday,
killing two residents of the
town and injuring others as “agents of the devil
that must be fished out and punished
accordingly.”
Governor Fayose, who commiserated with the
people of Oke-Ako, especially the family of the
deceased, vowed to do everything
humanly possible to forestall the reoccurrence of
such attack and safeguard the lives of Ekiti
people.
According to a statement issued by his Special
Assistant on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said
the Fulani herdsmen were becoming major threat
to the unity of Nigeria and its people, saying, “I
will not fold my hands while armed
herdsmen invade communities in Ekiti, killing
people and destroying farmlands at will as they
have done in other States.
“I have directed the police and other security
agencies in the State to fish out the killer
herdsmen. I am in constant touch with
the security agencies and I hope that the killer
herdsmen will be fished out wherever they are
and made to face the full wrath of the law.
“The people of Oke-Ako should therefore remain
calm while the security agents do their job.
However, the security agents must be mindful
of the fact that the people’s patience has a limit
and they must therefore act promptly and
decisively.”
The governor, who described activities of the
Fulani Herdsmen as inimical to the revival of
agriculture in the country said;
“Farmlands costing billions of naira have been
destroyed in States in the South-West, South-
East and North-Central zones of the country.
One wonders how Nigerians can go back to
farming when those already in the
farms are losing billions of naira worth of crops
to destruction of their farmlands by the Fulani
Herdsmen and the Federal Government is not
doing anything about it.”
He said, “I am sounding a note of warning to the
Fulani herdsmen and those who can talk to them
should also do so now. If they continue with
these wanton attacks, killing of the people and
destruction of farmlands in Ekiti, I cannot
guarantee that there won’t be reprisal attacks.
“I can also not guarantee the level that the
reprisal attacks can get to because as a
governor, it is my responsibility to defend
and protect my people.”
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to
stop paying lips service to the Fulani herdsmen's
menace, saying "as patron of the Miyetti
Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria
(MACBAN), President Buhari has the capacity to
call the herdsmen to order.
“President Buhari should therefore call his people
to order because this is Ekiti; our people have
the rights to defend themselves.
“Most importantly, President Buhari must be
reminded of how he was so concerned about the
killing of Fulani herdsmen in in Saki, Oke
Ogun Area of Oyo State such that he, as a
private citizen led Arewa to Ibadan on October
13, 2000, to confront the then Governo

r of
Oyo State, late Alhaji Lam Adesina."