By Sadiq Umar – Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has charged hunters and local vigilante groups in the 16 local government areas of the state to be on red alert to ward off any possible attack on the people of the state by Fulani herdsmen.
Mr. Fayose warned governors hoping for federal protection for their citizens against the rampaging herdsmen that help would not come as expected because according to him, Abuja itself needs help.
The governor addressed hundreds of armed hunters at the Government House Pavilion in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, disclosing that security reports suggested that the rampaging herdsmen were making an incursion into the state’s Forest Reserve.
Mr. Fayose boasted that he would never have cause to meet or beg President Muhammadu Buhari for any assistance.
Mr. Fayose also asked Buhari to urgently declare the rampaging herdsmen as terrorists following the unprecedented massacre which they carried out in Benue and other parts of the country recently.
The governor raised the alarm concerning some persons identified as Bororos who have reportedly begun to move into the outskirts of Ekiti with an alleged aim to kill and maim people and thereby rubbish his anti-grazing law.
He met with all local hunters from the 16 local government areas of the state and charged them to secure the state.
He promised to secure offices for the hunters in all the local government areas and the state capital.
Mr. Fayose equally hosted the Benue people residing in Ekiti and expressed his sympathy over the killings in their home state.
“I sympathise with our brothers, sisters, and people from Benue State that are mourning the brutality of those who killed their kinsmen,” he said.
The governor, who observed a minute silence for the dead in Benue, was clad in a military uniform.
He also urged members of the vigilante group to obtain voter cards, saying it would enable them to vote out the APC government.
“This (military fatige) is done to charge our hunters to secure the state.
“I saw pictures of the killings and I wondered if those were human beings. I asked the questions if people could be that wicked to kill human beings that way.
“They will find no peace. It is no tribal killings but that of mindless people. The blood of the departed will find those people and they won’t know peace.
“It is the duty of the Federal Government to protect its people. We are not protected. We have never had it so bad. People must come to leadership with a conscience. The Federal Government should have sent the army not the police.
“Governor Ortom should fasten his belt and protect his people. Those seeking help in Abuja would not find it because Abuja also needs help. I sympathise with you, this is your home and nobody would kill you. You are all save here,” Mr. Fayose assured.
The governor also spoke to the farmers in the state who were excited to meet him, saying, “I have received letters that the Bororos have entered our reserves; they want to violate our laws. I want to call on the attention of the Federal Government that they have come and wanted to kill men and kids and women in Ekiti,’ he said.
“We will not allow that to happen. I want you all hunters to go back today to protect your people, be vigilant, open your eyes, make sure everyone entering our state is screened.
He warned that, “no one in the guise of grazing should enter our land after 8p.m. For our brothers who harbour criminals, tell them Ekiti is a no-go area.
“If your plan is to make this state ungovernable, you are wasting your time.”
