…….says Yoruba rich are being secretly kidnapped, huge
ransom paid
Ibadan May 14, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLIC RELEASE..There are exactly 1,123 cells belonging to
armed Fulani herdsmen mainly in forests and highlands located across Yoruba
territories.
The cells are well organized and they appear to network with
each other.
The mission of the cells are unknown except that there have
been increase in the preponderance of their organization skill.
They appear to have
lately adopted martial training in these cells. Some of the Fulani armed
herdsmen speak French suggesting the Franco-African origin of some of them.
In a media release on Tuesday, Apapo Oodua Koya, (AOKOYA)
said the cells are manned by between 30 to 50 young armed Fulani herdsmen whose
focus is kidnapping and rape and the imposition of siege, a state of fear and
anomie across Yorubaland.
AOKOYA, a coalition of several Pan Yoruba self-determination
groups including Yoruba Nationalist League, (YONL) Association of Yoruba
Retired Officers, (AYORO), Federation of Ilaje Peoples, (FEIP), Itsekiri
Peoples Alliance, (IPA), Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC), Oodua Revolutionary
Coalition, (OREC), Agbekoya, Oodua Students Alliance, (OSA) and many others
said the study was conducted over a period of six months using some of the best
intelligence gathering equipment.
It further said that satellite images have been personally
submitted to State Governors in the South West and some traditional rulers.
The group said
“We have taken our time to do an intelligence survey using
modern equipment and google mapping with elementary satellite imaging to know
the number of armed cells established and controlled by the Fulani herdsmen
spread across Yoruba territories of Kwara, Kogi, Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun,
Ekiti and Itsekiri part of Delta State.
Our findings are shocking. There are 1, 123 cells run by armed Fulani
militia. The cells are populated with Fulani armed men. Some of them are in military
uniforms and in some instances we find young girls cooking for the men”, the
release signed by the Secretary for Strategy of the group, United States-based
Col Abimbola Sowunmi and Deputy Secretary for Publicity, Mr Ismail Abiodun
said.
AOKOYA also said that its intelligence report indicate that
many Yoruba rich are being kidnapped in silence.
“We discovered that
many Yoruba rich men and women are being kidnapped and they are compelled to
pay ransom. It is traditional that many of them fear to speak out and in cases
where rape of women are involved, the victims are too traumatised to speak out.
"The Yoruba rich suffer in silence. They are raped.
They are so traumatized to speak out. We reveal with pain in our hearts that
the proprietor of a very big Petrol Filling station in Yoruband one of the
finest Yoruba business woman was kidnapped. She paid a lot of money.
Another woman, Mrs
who runs an Industry with speciality in ethanol was kidnapped near Ayede
in Ekiti state..She has since relocated to London. AOKOYA representatives have
met some of these victims who have given confidential information.
Another very rich woman in Abeikuta was kidnapped late last
year on her way to Lagos.
She was kept for two weeks. She paid a huge sum as ransom.
The wife of a
prominent Pastor in Lagos was seized in February this year on her way to Akure
in Ondo State.
She infact paid 25 million to be free. Students of many of
the highbrow private Universities are victims. They know their parents are very
rich. They target them and pick them up in towns and on the roads. Their
parents pay in silence. The herdsmen have information of resumption dates of
these schools and use the opportunity to target the students.
The Fulani herdmen
threaten them that their children would be killed if they report to the police.
AOKOYA said students of Afe Babalola University, Babcock and
Covenant Universities are prime targets.
"It added that
wives of traditional rulers are also targets. They are so scared to report to
the authorities.”
In one instance,
Yoruba billionaire, Bode Akindele was accosted on Ibadan-Lagos Highway. He
managed to escape.
We observe that they operate with intelligence networking
with some contacts within the state security
services that provide information for them and through an extensive
network involving Maiguards.
They go out to mosques on Fridays and churches in Sundays
where they target and trail owners of exotic cars to their private homes from
where they station agents who act as Okada riders but who in actual fact
monitor the movement of these people.
" Its a sophisticated network that has recently
succeded in breaking into network of some banks in order to know the rich and
trace the addresses provided in those bank details.
There are infact too
many instances to be mentioned.
AOKOYA said Denying these facts will not help Yorubaland,
the issue is to rise up to the challenge and confront headlong.
AOKOYA said it does not expect the authorities in Yorubaland
to accept these reports but that events in the few months ahead will confirm
the veracity as the Fulani herdsmen are poised to be on greater rampage.
“They have four strategies that have helped them. The first
is that they maintain the purity of the Fulani control of the kidnap ring.
This has its own strength and weakness. It makes it
difficult for penetration by the state or the host communities so as not to
discover their modus.
On the other hand of
its advantage, it nullifies the potential of locals getting involved in
kidnapping.
Given the degree of poverty in the land, this is an
advantage because the Yoruba youths adopting kidnapping as a means of survival
will lead to greater social upheavals in Yorubaland.
The second strategy is that they have access to
sophisticacted arms supplied by experts.
These arms are
brought to them in dismantled forms, making it difficult for security
operatives to discover them in transit.
The third strategy is that they are able to organize
intensive training for their members
without being discovered. This is the most dangerous aspect.
It will mean that they can engage in military combat and
this places them at advantage ahead of innocent and peaceful host communities.
They have contact with some bad eggs in Nigerian security
network who supply them with information.
AOKOYA made contacts with police officials who supplied the
phone numbers of some of the Fulani herdsmen arrested in the past.
It indicated that they have a strong network with some
influential Fulani politicians in the North and are also not far from the
Miyetti Allah group.
The forth is that they have full control over the
territories they occupy since many Yoruba people have been prevented from going
to their farms. The women are also scared of going to farms..This gives the Fulani
herdsmen the opportunity to dominate their environment and do what ever they
like in those forests which they contunuosly destroy, burn and vanguish.
Our patient is thin because we cannot imagine Yoruba armed
men going to Sokoto or Katsina to kidnap their people and occupy their
ancestral forests or grassland. The situation in Yorubaland is both an insult
and a humiliating embarrassment.
“We did a
comprehensive data analysis of the telephone numbers of some of the herdsmen
arrested. Some of the Fulani herdsmen arrested have on their phones history of
consistent communication with leaders of Miyetti Allah and even some prominent
Northern Emirs.
AOKOYA said "We see a great danger ahead. We are
worries that these armed groups pose a serious threat to the livelihood of
Yoruba people. We fear that there is what is akin to an army of occupation in
Yorubaland.
The signs are clear that if there is any crisis in
Yorubaland today, there is the possibility that our people will be
overwhelmed.
AOKOYA urge Yoruba people all over the world to realise that
they can never be protected by the corrupt and villanous Nigerian
state.."We have to take the bull by the horn. If not, the massacre of
Yoruba people in the face of imminent crisis will be unprecedented.
This report has been edited to preserve many confidential
reports some of which have been passed on to some important Yoruba leaders.
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