Date: 2021-06-09

Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, who was evicted from his Igangan home in Oyo State four months ago, has denied media reports that he was behind the fresh attack on Igangan community of Ibarapa area of state.

The Seriki, who also condemned the attacks on Igangan, tasked the security agencies to do their job in arresting the perpetrators of the attacks.

Abdulkadir spoke in reaction to the comment by the Asigangan of Igangan, Oba Lasisi Adeoye, who accused him of masterminding the Sunday's attacks on Igangan where suspected herders killed scores of farmers.

Seriki said it was wrong for Oba Adeoye to have linked the attack to him.

He said many herders also suffered casualties during the attacks and even said one Fulani man who was neither a cattle rearer nor trader and who has been living in Igangan since 1960s was killed on Monday in reprisal attack on several Fulani settlements.

The Seriki stressed that he has no hand in the attacks and has no any mercenary anywhere to attack the people on his behalf.

He said since he was evicted from the community by armed youths led by Sunday Igboho, he has lost many of his people, properties and all his investments.

The evicted Seriki who is currently in Ilorin, Kwara State, blamed the attack on failure of security agencies, saying if the security agencies had been proactive and up and doing, such would not have occurred.

Abdulkadir, however, tasked them to go after the perpetrators, insisting that the unrest in Ibarapa was worsened by ethnic profiling where only Fulani herders were tagged as criminals.

He said on many occasions, the Yoruba people were arrested for kidnapping and other criminalities in Ibarapa zone but their arrests never got prominence because they are not Fulani.

He said since his eviction in January, Fulani herders have been living in fears in the communities in Ibarapa including Aiyete, Tapa and Igangan, adding that he has advised those who are afraid to flee for their lives and refrain from taking the laws into their hands.

The Seriki called on the Federal Government to intervene in the happenings in Ibarapa zone, saying while the state government was doing its part to restore peace to the warring communities, there was the need for the federal government to provide support in order to achieve a lasting peace in the area.