Col. Kunle Togun (retd.), a former Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, has raised the alarm that the South-West has been invaded by
Col. Kunle Togun (retd.), a former Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, has raised the alarm that the South-West has been invaded by foreign herdsmen from Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and other West African countries. Togun also said it was unfortunate that some people were playing politics with security issues.
According to SUNDAY PUNCH, Togun said, “The Yoruba nation is under invasion and that is a fact. The entire Yorubaland has been invaded by these foreign herdsmen and unfortunately, some people are supporting this because of political considerations.”
He accused some traditional rulers of selling land to the foreign herders in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State. He said the herdsmen were able to perpetrate criminal activities because they had studied the topography of the area and the psychology of the people. He warned that selling land to them would continue to put the Yoruba people and their generations in danger.
Togun said, “Some people including traditional rulers take cows from these foreign herdsmen and settle them here. This has been happening in Oke-Ogun. They graze on people’s farms and kill anyone who complains. We were told that there is an Oba in Atisbo Local Government Area and that these foreigners went to him with money and cows, asking him to give them land but he turned down the offer. They later went to another monarch, who collected the money and cows and he gave them land.
“These herdsmen now kill the native Fulani and rustle their cows; they rape their wives. These people are Fulani from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. They come here to own Nigerian land. How can the inheritance of our future generation be given to foreigners? The whole of Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa have been invaded; the entire Yorubaland has been invaded. They have brought their youths, who are now commercial motorcyclists in Lagos. They sell carrots, fruits and all that.
“There is no village, town and city in Yorubaland that these people have not invaded and in the evening, you see the people gathering together. If there is any problem, these youths are their foot-soldiers. They have studied our topography; they have studied our movements and they know everything.”
Togun said he predicted the current situation in December 2014 when he was invited to deliver a lecture by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria but that no action was taken on it.
“Nigerians are not security-conscious people but the worst are the Yoruba. Some are looking at the issue from religious and political views. It is unfortunate that foreigners from Mali, from Niger, from Guinea and other now own land in Nigeria,” he added.
