A former governor of Oyo state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has urged all the Southwest governors to ensure they tackle kidnapping, armed robbery and other social vices affecting the region collectively, while putting aside their political differences.
Ladoja gave this admonition during an interview with journalists at his Bodija Ibadan country-home after observing the Eid-el-Fitr prayers with former secretary to state government, Chief Sharafadeen Alli.
He said there is nothing bad in the governors coming together, irrespective of party affiliations in order to tackle insecurity in the region.
Speaking on the controversies over allegations that the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, plans to Islamise and Fulanise Nigeria, Ladoja said it is not possible to islamise the country, adding that if the allegation of fulanisation is true, then there would be problems.
He said: “Boko Haram started by saying ‘Western education is a sin.’ They never called themselves an Islamic group. But at times, if it is what people live on, you will see some extremists there. There are extremists in Islam and also in Christianity, as well as traditional religion.
“I don’t think any government, no matter what it does, can Islamise Nigeria. Will I say a child of mine, who married a Christian should be killed in the name of religion? No. We have mixed up more than that. The plan cannot stand if it ever exists.
“But if you are talking about fulanisation, that is where problem may come in. What is happening now is unprecedented. The Yoruba and Fulani have been living together from the time immemorial. But as the population is growing, the consumption of meat is also increasing. And the number of people in agriculture is going down. Many places that used to be forest have become farms.
“We need to find a way out. The Fulani have been saying how they rear their cattle has become a tradition. But we need to make them realise that the population of people nowadays is more than what we had then. There are better ways of rearing cattle these days, than sticking to the old tradition of grazing them all around and from one place to another.
“If it is all about giving food to the cattle, we can solve it. But if the Federal Government has ulterior motives that it wants to fulanise Nigeria, I don’t think this will be possible. What we know the Fulani for is that they always want feeds for their cattle. If we find a way they will be feeding their cattle, and the farmers are also cultivating their farms beside each other, there will be no crisis.
“When I was young, there was no way you could find cows in Ibadan. If you wanted to buy cheese, you have to go to Oyo or Iwo. Nowadays, however, hardly would you find an area where there is no ‘Gaa’ (Fulani settlement). So, if it is true that the Federal Government plans to Islamise Nigeria, they should discard such plan with immediate effect,” Ladoja urged.
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