Stephen Adewale
On Sunday night, a combined team of Ondo Youth and the state security outfit, Amotekun, stopped and searched 150 Fulani/Hausa men passing through Ondo town.
The visitors were brought into town in a truck around 8 p.m., escorted by Nigerian Police officers. KAFTAN Post learned authoritatively from the Amotekun office in Ondo West, where the travellers were taken, that the travellers are farm workers travelling from Niger State to Edo State.
The travellers were taken to the Amotekun office and thoroughly searched, but no incriminating items were discovered on them. One of the Ondo Youth leaders, Eric Famogun, who was the immediate past youth President of Ondo Kingdom, explained why the travelers were stopped, saying that the presence of nearly 200 men heightened anxiety as residents raised the alarm. He claimed they were arrested because they were unable to clearly explain their mission in town.
According to him, the visitors from Niger State claimed to be on their way to a sugar cane factory in Edo State. However, when they were asked for the name and contact information of the person they were going to meet, they did not provide the requested information. He also stated that they were alarmed by the fact that the travelers were being escorted by police officers, which made them wonder what was so special about them that the police officers would escort them.
“Well, some of our people who had traveled out of town were calling to tell us that they had seen a truck loaded with northerners traveling towards Ondo. When we heard this, we immediately informed the Amotekun officials, who joined us in waiting for them at our town’s border,” said Famogun.
“We intercepted them as soon as they arrived, Ondo, and discovered that the truck was packed to the brim with approximately 200 people. We wondered where all of these people were going, and one of the things that aggravated us was that they were accompanied by armed mobile police officers.
“We led them to the Amotekun Office, where the Amotekun coordinator was fully present. We searched them but found nothing incriminating on them, but we are still concerned about their mission. The police officers who followed them stated that they had a permit to do so. He stated that they were relocating from one location in Niger State to a sugar cane farm in Edo State.
“We have many unanswered questions, but we have decided to release them by escorting them out of Ondo Kingdom,” he added.
While speaking with KAFTAN Post, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Fagun Police Station in Ondo West, Mr Johnson Bartholomew, explained to KAFTAN Post that the travellers were not embarking on any dangerous adventures.
“These people are travelers who were brought from Niger to a farm in Benin City,” he explained.
“They passed through several states and towns and were thoroughly searched before arriving in Ondo. They joined the police officers who had escorted them from Abuja. They are on their way to Benin City for farm work. When they arrived in Ondo, they were stopped by the Amotekun, who searched them thoroughly but found nothing incriminating on them.
“Amotekun would now lead them to the Ondo border so that they could continue their journey to Benin, the DPO concluded.
Meanwhile, the Ondo Ekimogun Youth Congress (OEYC) has called for calm, stating that there is no cause for concern.
The Youth Association explained in a Press Statement titled “Security: There is no reason for apprehension in Ondo Kingdom” that while a truckload of Fulani young men was intercepted in Ondo, the passengers in the truck were thoroughly searched individually and no arm or weapon of any kind was found on any of them.
“The truck was escorted by a Police hilux van, and it had a way bill containing the names of all the passengers in the truck, 150 of them. They are on a trip from a company in Niger State, and going to an Industrial site in Edo State. They had contacted all the police commissioners in every state they will be passing through, including Ondo State,” said the association.
The association went on to say in a statement signed by OEYC’s coordinator, Olusola Akinbinu, and Secretary, Atinuke Fadayomi, that
“The search was necessary to clear the doubts of everyone who was at the scene. It is good that we are at alert to prevent any form of attack in Ondo Kingdom. However, since these people have been searched and they carry nothing incriminating, they have been led peacefully outside of the town for them to continue their journey.
“Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of liberty. However, this situation have been proven not to be a threat, let us therefore tell everyone to remain calm and go on peacefully with their daily activities,” the Statement concluded.
Surely, it would have been illegal, according to our constitution, to stop the northerners in the truck from traveling to any part of the country due to the guaranteed freedom of movement for all Nigerians. However, considering the clear OPEN jihadist pronoincements and threats by various Fulani groups and individuals, it would be stupid of southerners not to CONSTANTLY and CONSISTENTLY monitor northerners in such exodus movements of people from the north to the south. The monitoring should continue all the way until Buhari and his cabinet who are sympathizers of confessed Fulani jihadists, and who openly empower and protect the jihadists (very clearly so), leave the presidency of the country.
Of course, the group did not have arms and ammunition in the truck because they knew that they would be searched at some points in their journey. Naturally, if they are jihadists, their arms and ammunition would have traveled ahead of them, or after them in separate vehicles. A lot of the jihadists in Nigeria today may be stupid or ‘dumb’, but not so stupid that they would travel in such suspicious bunch with their war armaments on board the truck.
So, if Amotekun operatives in the southwest know their onion, THEY MUST INTELLIGENTLY WATCH AND MONITOR SUCH GROUPS OF NORTHERNERS WHO MIGRATE FROM THE NORTH, 24 HOURS OF EVERY DAY, SEVEN DAYS OF EVERY WEEK, EVERY WEEK OF EVERY MONTH, AND EVERY MONTH OF THE REMAINING REIGN OF BUHARI AS PRESIDENT. They must remember that Professor Mailafia Obadiah, who is a northerner, has warned us that Fulani jihadists have plans to strike across the nation in the year 2022, with the allegation that Buhari and his government support the jihad.