By Kayode Emola
When the late Obadiah Mailafia, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), gave his bombshell interview in 2020, alleging that there was a plot afoot in Nigeria of a Fulani jihad, many Yoruba leaders, especially the ‘Obas’, did not take it seriously. Why they didn’t, I don’t know; whether because they didn’t understand what he was saying, or that they just didn’t care about his warnings.
Mailafia himself was subsequently killed in mysterious circumstances. Within one year of that explosive interview, his prophecies have begun to come to pass.
Mailafia stated that the Fulani planned to begin their jihad around 2022, with the first stage involving elimination of the Obas in the hinterland, after which they will move to the cities. Since then, incidents have claimed the lives of countless numbers of our Obas, including first class Obas – Oba Adegoke Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon kingdom, in November 2020, for example.
Then, in January 2024, the Fulani threatened to unleash mayhem in every part of Nigeria if the Federal Government failed to release Bello Bodejo, the President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore within 72hrs of their threat. True to their word, this week alone they have attacked towns and villages in Ekiti, Kwara, and Kogi states, killing at least three Yoruba Obas, and kidnapping their wives and other relatives.
If this affront on the Yoruba people cannot stir our Yoruba Obas, Governors and other prominent people into action, then I don’t know what else need happen to rouse them from their slumber. We Yoruba should make no mistake; we are at war and the earlier we realise this, the better our chances of survival.
In their statement issued on 24 January 2024, Umar Amir Shehu and Salisu Ahmadu were explicit that their plan is to bring down the Nigerian government and burn down everything in Nigeria. We must not make the mistake of thinking that these are empty threats. These maniacs, who have not built anything in their lives, are therefore unashamedly ready to destroy what others have built. It is our responsibility not to let that happen.
We cannot allow a full-scale war to break out in Nigeria. Yes, it may ultimately give us our Yoruba nation, but what sort of nation will be left? It will be appalling if we allow these marauders to dictate the direction of our separation.
The battle for Yoruba nation is not merely for the self-determination activists alone. Until our politicians and royal fathers are striving toward the same goal, we will continue to go round in circles. When we get our Yoruba nation, we will have to share the same country with these present politicians, regardless of our feelings about them, therefore we need to develop strategies to work together to achieve Yoruba nation as a matter of urgency.
This requires every Yoruba person to know that we need to organise ourselves very quickly to prevail over this oncoming jihad. We need to comb every part of our forests where these evil marauders are hibernating and flush them out. We must degrade their capabilities and send them back to Futajalon where they are originally from to ensure they never raise their ugly heads again in our land.
This is not a suggestion; it is an action that is overdue. We either send this people out of our lands and forests or we allow them to send us out of our God-given land, the choice is ours. We all need now to contribute to a special Yoruba fund and come up with one central command in which all Yoruba must rally behind both home and abroad to ensure victory is ascertained.
This is not the time for bickering or dilly-dallying, it is time for action and our response must be swift and precise, directly on our enemies who plan to do us harm. When 3 American servicemen were killed in Jordan last week, America did not waste time to send retaliatory strike to several targets in Iraq and Syria, therefore, we need not warn our enemies of our next move or wait for the world before we send out a strong deterrent.
If we fail to respond in kind swiftly with the spate of killing by these evil marauders, then we are acquiescing to their wanton killing of our people. These cannot be left for the government that is directionless to handle. Every Yoruba person both home and abroad must band together now to save our people back home from these existential crises. We must act quickly as time is of the essence as a stitch in time saves nine.
If the majority of our Obas and our people have taken the words of Mailafia seriously, then perhaps those Obas and innocent people that have died this week would have been alive. We need not wait anymore before we start any retaliatory attack on those who attack our towns and villages. Our hunters and vigilantes must be fully equipped by us and fully prepared to defend our people and be ready to comb our forests and villages to ensure any threat to our civilisation is extinguished once and for all.
