A national leader of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Adesina Akinpelu, on Wednesday criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for failing to address the rising insecurity and violent attacks against Yoruba communities in North Central Nigeria, particularly Kwara South, during his national broadcast marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary.
While President Tinubu, in his address, highlighted the federal government’s efforts against Boko Haram in the North-East, IPOB/ESN in the South-East, and banditry in the North-West, there was no mention of the insecurity faced by Yoruba communities in the North Central region.
Tinubu had claimed that “peace has returned to hundreds of our liberated communities in the North-West and North-East,” adding that “thousands of our people have returned safely to their homes.”
But OPC’s Akinpelu described the speech as “insensitive and incomplete,” lamenting that the growing invasion of Yoruba villages by armed Fulani bandits in Kwara South was conspicuously ignored.
“The President’s silence on the plight of Yorubas in Kwara South is deeply worrisome. Our people are being killed, our villages invaded, yet there is no mention of our suffering in the President’s speech,” Akinpelu said.
Akinpelu detailed how several Yoruba villages, including Oreke, Babalola, Sagbe, Babasango, Alasoro, and Olorunte in the Ile-Ire District of Ifelodun Local Government Area, have been overtaken by Fulani bandits, with residents fleeing in fear for their lives.
He also cited attacks in the Oyetedo/Oro-Ago District, where Chief Depo Aina Kebe was killed inside his hotel and another victim, Tunde Olaoye, was kidnapped on September 12 and remains missing despite ransom payments.
“Just last Sunday, twenty innocent people were murdered in cold blood in Oke-Ode town. Among them was Alhaji Abdullahi Olowonla, a respected OPC member who had recently retired to his hometown after years of service in Lagos,” Akinpelu revealed.
The OPC leader called on President Tinubu, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and other security agencies to act swiftly and decisively to end the bloodshed.
“It is unacceptable that Yoruba communities in Kwara South are left at the mercy of armed bandits while those elected to protect lives and property look the other way. Something must be done, and fast.”
Akinpelu also used the occasion of Independence Day to call on all factions of the OPC, including the Fredrick Fasehun, Gani Adams, New Era, and Reformed OPC groups, to unite against the siege on Yoruba land.
“We are ready to assist the federal government in restoring peace. But we must act collectively, as Yoruba people, to defend our land from further invasion,” he declared.
He noted the irony that Kwara South is the home region of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, yet has become one of the least protected regions in terms of security presence.
Akinpelu stressed that the Yoruba nation would no longer stay silent while communities are overrun and people killed in their sleep.
By Wuraola Oyedokun
, Adesina Akinpelu, on Wednesday criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for failing to address the rising insecurity){kind=link}