Rising incidents of banditry and kidnapping in recent months in the South West region of Nigeria has loudened the call for Nigeria’s restructuring. Residents of the region accuse mostly Fulani herdsmen of masterminding and perpetrating these crimes, leading to Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu issuing a seven-day deadline for unauthorized herdsmen grazing in the forest reserves in the State to vacate it. Governor Rotimi’s ultimatum was reported in several media as an order for Fulani herdsmen to vacate his State. A meeting of governors of the South West region on Monday, January 25 was to clarify that the governor had been misinterpreted and that his order was targeted only at unauthorised persons entering forest reserves of the State. The brouhaha generated by the controversy has however reverberated across the country with voices agitating for and against national restructuring. Nigerians mostly from the South accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of practising unprecedented nepotism and tribalism, ruling to satisfy ‘his own.’
In a related development, a self-acclaimed activist in Oyo State, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho led a mob to issue an ultimatum to the Sarkin Fulani of Igangan, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir and his kinsmen to leave the State, in order to put an end to criminal activities in the area. Igboho accused the traditional ruler of complicity in several crimes within the community. This degenerated into the razing of Abdulkair’s residence and some of his cars. Following the incident, the State government and the police called for calm in the State, enjoining citizens not to take laws into their hands. This plea notwithstanding, reports soon emerged that one of Igboho’s houses in Ibadan was burnt in what appears to be a reprisal attack.
In the meeting of South West governors and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in Ibadan, Oyo State, it was agreed that all stakeholders should work together to fight against criminality. To this end, night grazing, underage grazing and illegal occupation of forest reserves were banned. The Cattle Breeders Association was also encouraged to embrace modern breeding systems such as ranching.