Group leader says Fulani, Yoruba killings in Oyo not revenge attacks

A Fulani leader in the South-West, Salihu Abdulkadir has said recent killing of a Fulani boy and a farmer in Igangan Area of Ibarapa North West Local Government area of Oyo State was not a revenge mission. He spoke against the backdrop of the controversy generated by the killing which led to the arrest of […]

A Fulani leader in the South-West, Salihu Abdulkadir has said recent killing of a Fulani boy and a farmer in Igangan Area of Ibarapa North West Local Government area of Oyo State was not a revenge mission.

He spoke against the backdrop of the controversy generated by the killing which led to the arrest of two suspects by the Oyo State Police Command.

Daily Trust learnt that on Sunday October 1, 2017, a Fulani man was hacked to death following an altercation with a farmer who allegedly accused him of stealing his yam tubers.

The unnamed Fulani man died before arrival at hospital.

But on Thursday October 5, another farmer also in the same Igangan area reportedly was killed by a Fulani man in the nearby village of Egberuwa.

Both suspects – the Fulani man and the other Yoruba suspect — are in police custody.

However, the Fulani leader who is also the President of Jamu Nati Fulbe Association, a socio-cultural group of Fulani herders in the South-West in a telephone chat with our correspondent said the issue was not an act of revenge as being insinuated.

According to him, the first incident happened at Akoya village which is far from where the killing of the Yoruba man took place.

He said however that the impression being created was that Fulani was responsible for the two killings.

Abdulkadir said, “It is being reported in the news that the Fulanis were responsible for the killing. Nobody is saying that one Fulani man was killed in Akoya village and one Yoruba man in another village which is far from each other. As a matter of fact, I was the one that handed that boy (Fulani) over to the police.”

 He also appealed for calm among the Fulanis in the area even as he cautioned members of the Fulani community against any form of criminality.

“Everything is calm now and people are going about their normal business and I still call on our people to be calm and peaceful and avoid getting involved in any form of trouble”, he said.