Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has been urged to follow the footsteps of his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu, in tackling insecurity in the State by ridding the forests in Ekiti State of all herdsmen.
The Ekiti Justice Group (EJG), which decried the governor’s failure to take any drastic action against the menace of Fulani bandits, hiding under cattle rearing to commit the crime of kidnapping in Ekiti State, said it was strange that Governor Fayemi is acting like he is more concerned with his ambition of becoming the Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate of the ruling APC in 2023.
EJG, in a release issued on Tuesday, and signed by its National Coordinator, Dr Tunji Oluwasanmi expressed worries that all the forests in Ekiti State have been taken over by criminals who are masquerading as herdsmen and now that they have moved their kidnapping business to the heart of Ado Ekiti, the State capital, the only option available to a responsible government will be to order all herdsmen to vacate the forests.
The group said from stories narrated by victims of the bandits, they are Fulanis and are operating in active connivance with some criminal herdsmen.
EJG admonished Governor Fayemi to stop playing politics with the lives of Ekiti people, saying; “It is on record that when one of his aides, the Coordinator of Anti-Grazing Task Force Marshals, Sola Durodola insisted that Fulani herdsmen must be registered in Ekiti, the governor sacked him.
“Also, during his electioneering campaign in 2018, Fayemi said that killings by herdsmen will only stop if lands were provided for the herdsmen as their permanent settlements.
“He reportedly added then that it was better to give lands to herdsmen and live than for them to be killing people.”
The group lamented that it was becoming more than obvious that Governor Fayemi truly agreed to protect the Fulani herdsmen at the detriment of the people of Ekiti.
It called on traditional rulers and notable leaders in Ekiti State to prevail on the governor to face governance in the state and take necessary steps to protect the people of the State.
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