Armed men from Mali hiding in Kogi State, says community leader
By Lukman Medale
A Yoruba community leader in Kogi State has alerted on the presence of armed men from Mali said to have encamped in some Yoruba villages in Kogi State.
The armed men are said to be light skinned and turbaned.
The Community leader, Dr Oluwayomi David Atte, the leader of the Okun Yorùbá in Kogi State said the affected communities have several times petitioned the Kogi State Government without any positive response.
He said “There is a four month old Fulani camp just a few kilometers from my village. They claimed to be from Niger Republic and that they got official letter to come there.”
He said all reports to the Kogi State Government officials were unanswered adding that the Federal Government has remained silent.
“How come that the President ordered that arms in civilian hands be confiscated throughout out Nigeria while Fulani are roaming around openly, including within the metropolis of Abuja, holding AK-47 rifles unmolested.”
He said further “In our area we have concrete facts that Fulanis killed a farmer. Nothing was done in spite of reports to Government agencies. Weeks later the villagers beat back a Fulani attack and one of them was killed. The Police and other security agencies descended on that village thereafter, arrested and incarcerated the villagers.”
He said there is clear evidence in the Middle Belt that, by their inaction, Federal authorities must complicit in elements invading Nigeria and attacking only non-Fulani populations
He said the reported arrest of armed men from the Sahel in Republic of Niger has further fueled fears among the Kogi Communities.
“One can be sure that if Niger Republic people didn’t intercept this group they would travel freely through Nigeria all the way to Lagos or Port Harcourt without being stopped by Nigerian Security forces. If we look at the trail of violence from Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and the thousands of armed Fulani domiciled in Kogi, Kwara, South Wesr and South East today, we will know that something sinister is going on and we have not seen the conclusion.”
He said further “I pray we do not see it as planned. The Government of Nigeria which is responsible for the security of life and property of all Nigerians, has not arrested and punished any of the attackers.”
He said in many places, whole villages were wiped out, the armed men took them over and renamed them yet the Federal Government has looked the other way adding that it is as if the president is conveniently never aware.
He said evidence shows that most of these Fulani are not Nigerians.
“Any reasonable person will arrive at that conclusion. It is to be stated that the attacks in the North West (Katsina and Zamfara) are of a different cause and origin than the general Fulani invasion and take over of the rest of Nigeria.
He said “If there is any evidence of the need for a Restructured Nigeria, the attempt at the invasion and gradual colonisation of Nigeria by Fulani at the behest of North West which effectively controls Nigeria today is one, and a major one at that.
According to him, the choice that really that really faces the South and the Middle Belt today is what he called “freedom from slavery.”
