- Afenifere Demands Investigation Into The Claims That Bayelsa Government Owns The Terrorists Hideout
The Afenifere a Yoruba pan organization has lend its voice to the allegation made by the Ojora of Ijora, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aromire that the house where nine suspected terrorists, including a Chadian, were arrested in Ijora-Badia in Lagos belongs to Bayelsa State Government. According to the monarch who made the assertion while speaking to a delegation of Hausa community said: “Discovery of such factory in Ijora was very sad to me and the entire family of Ojora. It was God that saved the whole Lagos because the attack was meant to destroy the state as a whole and not Ijora alone. But let me state here clearly that you should warn your men very well. Lagos is no-go area for miscreants. Although, they call the perpetrators Malians and Chadians, but they reside among your people here in Ijora.”
Speaking further the Ojora said; “Please, talk to them and call them to order because if they refuse to desist, the result will be disastrous for them. I also want to say that the blame should also go to the Bayelsa State government for not taking care of their abandoned house where the evil doers are using as the hideout. We have been talking to them for a very long time to come and lease it out for the people that will make use of it, but they refused.”
The Ojora also said that a lot of efforts has be on; “If you ask the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in this area, he will tell you all our efforts to ensure that they come to either demolish or give it to the people that will make use of it, but they are yet to respond.”
Meanwhile the Afenifere in its statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary Yinka Odumaking said that the claim by the Ojora raises a red flag that cannot be ignored given the psychological warfare that has been waged against Yorubaland of possible terror attack for about a year now. What has largely been perceived as threat is assuming a near reality with the discovery of this terror hideout; as they added that they are compelled at this stage to call for a thorough investigation of this incidence to ascertain the following: “Who these suspects are and what links they have with the blood-sucking Boko Haram or Army? Why the Bayelsa state Government would maintain an abandoned property in Ijora-Badia of all places in Lagos?”
Speaking further in its statement it also said that; “The veracity of claims that the Bayelsa state Government has been approached several times by the community to demolish the house or give it to people who may use it without any response. A satisfactory explanation would dispel the conspiracy theory that Boko Haram may have become a franchise under which fifth columnists may be operating to disrupt the peace of Yorubaland and instigate a national crisis with our land as a possible battle ground.”
Meanwhile Afenifere said that it would not accept any shoddy handling of this case as has happened to many of such incidents in recent with suspects paraded and nothing is heard again. We also warn all agents of terror to stay away from Yoruba nation in order not to invoke the wrath of our ancestors; “Yoruba people are peace loving and our land a place where people from all nationalities from Nigeria are at home without any fear of molestation. Any group or individuals who want to shatter the peace of the region can only meet their Waterloo. Finally, we call on our people to be vigilant at all times and report suspicious movements to the appreciate authority.”
