How cattle breeders come by AK 47 is a question for Nigeria’s security agencies – Aláàfin of Ọ̀yọ́

This essay was first posted here on January 23, 2018 but erroneously posted under another category. TOLA, April 4, 2019.

“… Today with the arms [AK 47] at their disposal, some Fulani breeders choose to target green leaves of farmers’ crops for their cattle. The big question, therefore, is how do those cattle breeders come across the sophisticated weapons with which they arm themselves as if they are going to war?” Ọba Lamidi Adeyẹmi III, Aláàfin of Ọyọ

Ọba Lamidi Adeyẹmi III, Aláàfin of Ọyọ & President Jonathan trying his hands on Yoruba’s “talking drum” during a courtesy visit to the Ọba in 2014

Armed with AK47, a Fulani herdsman flaunts illegal weapon despite denials [google images]

Neither Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari nor any of Nigeria’s security agencies ever issued a statement while Fulani herdsmen (of Buhari’s ethnic group and employees of cattle owners, an organization that Buhari as a former military head of state once headed and led down south to demand a ransome for purported losses to herdsmen) stopped carrying sticks to rein in their cattle, and how they came about assault rifles. More telling is the fact that Buhari has been perceived by southerners to be on the side of the rampaging Fulani killing herdsmen.

FULL PRESS STATEMENT:   https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/herdsmen-farmers-clashes-watch-words-alaafin-cautions-fellow-monarchs/

REFERENCE:    Today, the Alaafin rules over Ọyọ Kingdom, center of the old Yoruba Oyo Empire in what is today Western and North central Nigeria that is made up of several states of Yorubaland and held sway to nearby African states. Oyo Empire rose through the outstanding organizational and administrative skills of the Yoruba people, wealth gained from trade and its powerful cavalry men. The Oyo Empire was the most politically-important state in the region from the mid-17th to the late 18th century.  TOLA.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018. 6:19 P.M. [GMT]