Amoteku, Factcheck, and Dr. Junaid Mohammed's Dubious Narrative.

Dr. Junaid Mohammed’s cynicism and distrust towards Amotekun and the people of the Yoruba land in general, evidently manifest his age-old resentment of everything Oduduwa and his unhinged animosity towards Southern renaissance.  And that has been his trademark for years since his arrival in the country from where ever he went for his medical education. Where is the leadership in you, Mr. Junaid; and where is your audacity and integrity, when Myetti Allah leadership emerged as the dominant enforcer on the use to make of our highways and ancestral farmlands in the past few years? 

Truth matters, buddy. It is becoming increasingly a divided and lawless nation every day, and no one within the political leadership and security apparatus has the gumption or credibility to brandish a moral compass for moving forward. The blood and lawlessness eating away our fertile landscape is not an Oduduwa’s making. Amotekun is simply filling the void. And as our Moses, it has come to stay. 

Make no mistake, this is unlike the calls for True Federalism or Restructuring. The concerned citizens do not need to be at Abuja to enforce it. Calling it a hiding agenda to implement a secession agenda in the work is the most absurd a narrative to push. It is about self-help in the face of acute Abuja’s intransigence in accepting or confronting a disturbing reality, to wit, it has failed in protecting Nigerians. Today, we are under siege, confronted by forces that harbor no illusion about their invincibility. And they have no compassion or feeling for human kindness. No motorist is safe. And no landowner or farmer is safe. And we are cascading precariously into extinction as a nation-state. 

Like Amotekun, it is the helplessness coming from Abuja in the face of the nation-wide vulnerability of her citizens that makes the call for True Federalism or Restructuring very compelling. Not crude oil. We have long ceded total control and ownership of the crude oil to you. As to our lives; the dire is cast. We cherish it. And we must protect it. And that’s what Amotekun is about. Belated as it is, it must be applauded. And it must live. 

Today, Nigeria is in a state of anomie security-wise. A group of people, barely literate and fully armed with sophisticated weapons by the Myetti Allah leadership, have taken it upon themselves to dictate the scope and extent of our land ownership rights and usage. In a similar fashion, road transportation is now a risky undertaking. Today, not many Governors can boast of traveling by road to their village or constituency. How do you facilitate investments when you cannot police your highways? 

Yet, we are debating whether the Yoruba people have the right to defend themselves? Give me a break! That right is inherent - it is not debatable. It is fundamentally irrelevant that other affected regions have failed to act in a similar fashion or that we have collectively failed as a nation to be bold and be decisive in confronting killers in our midst. 

This is not about Oduduwa. I am not a Yoruba man. I am a Nigerian whose fundamental human rights to live, travel, and congregate with friends and family members where and when I please has been under the dictate and approval of enemies of civilization. This is a crucial moment and it is about saving lives and properties in our communities, farmlands, and along all the major highways connecting the Yoruba land to other parts of Nigeria. So far, our security networks have abdicated on their fundamental responsibility to protect lives and properties. 

April 25, 2016, armed Herdsmen, about 500 of them, descended on Nimbo Village in Enugu State before dawn. At about 7 a.m., the attack started - they went about killing and slaughtering every human-being on sight. Prior to the attack, the Governor was alerted. In turn, he alerted the Commissioner of Police. And Abuja was alerted. But no counterattack came. And no rescue mission came from the Police or from any of the nearby Military units. The attackers entered the village. They killed. They maimed. And they disappeared, untouched as they came. It was breathtaking. Later in the day, the Governor was seen on TV weeping profusely over the sight of butchered cadavers. And as usual, it was all threats and no action from Abuja. 

March 17, 2016, 'Armed men in Military uniform invaded the Ugwuneshi community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State and arrested 76 of their men on the allegation that they were planning a counterattack against Fulani Herdsmen who kidnapped two of their women. The armed men came in Military trucks. When it was all over, about 76 of them were taken away in the Military trucks to Umuhia prison. They were detained for two weeks. About four years later, no one could give an account on who authorized the military invasion, and whether they were a real contingent of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Although they came in Military trucks and fully dressed in military fatigue, the Military did not claim responsibility.

February 14, 2018, one Efe, the head of a vigilante group in a village near Benin City was shot to death execution-style by a member of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The tragic event was exacerbated when the apprehended herdsmen who wreaked havoc on their farmlands were released by the Military Personnel who shot Efe to death. Let me rephrase that. Herdsmen continuously invade the farmlands of a community in the outskirt of Benin City. On one occasion, the villagers, led by their leader, Efe, were able to repulse the attack of the trespassing herders and held some of them, hostage, pending the arrival of security personnel. One of the soldiers who came to the scene shot and killed  Efe on the spot for daring to organize against "protected invaders." And they released the apprehended trespassing herders. 

Why these three instances? Very simple. Abuja is not on your side when it comes to kidnapping and herders’ onslaught. You are on your own. The Nigerian security apparatus is not on your side. This conclusion holds the truth that present leadership is without a roadmap on how to overcome the clear and present danger – real danger – poses by killer-herders and deadly kidnappers. Therefore, Ametokun must live. 

Rationale: Making a Case for Self-Defense

Friday, July 12, 2019, suspected herdsmen in a kidnap attempt at Kajola, Ondo State, shot and killed Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti. When Funke was contending between life and death in the face of her killer’s gun, the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) was not there. When Efe was shot dead execution-style, Malami was not there. When Nimbo village was attacked, Malami was not there. When my vehicle was attacked between Lokoja and Okene in 2016, robbed at gunpoint and told to jump into the bush, Malami was not there. When Aguta village in Benue State was invaded and children were tied into stakes and their throats slit open to bleed to death, Malami was not there. 

These killers without a home, we are told by prominent Northern political leaders (names withheld by the author), are not Nigerian citizens. And I can find a reason to agree with the advocates of that theory. Based on the accounts of the victims, most of the kidnappers and killer-herders do not speak the popular Hausa language.

Therefore, if they are non-Nigerians, and are violently trespassing and invading our farmlands, killing our people, and raping our women unhinged, we have every right to defend ourselves by any means necessary. We are under siege, confronted by forces that harbor no compassion or feeling for human kindness. And we are cascading precariously into extinction as a nation-state. Sadly, no Moses on sight. But make no mistake, AMETOKUN is our Moses, and it has come to stay. 

Therefore, we must move forward to defend ourselves from foes who enthusiastically unleash extorted kisses and brutal sex on our womenfolk over the years; dispossessed struggling Nigerian families of their meager bank savings, desecrated our fertile land with innocent blood and turned a once upon a time globally reputed happiest people on earth into a dispensable species. We are born with that right. And you are justified to attack and disarmed before you are attacked and dispossessed of your life and belongings. It is called preemptive right. It is inherent and it is fundamental. Ametokun came because you failed us; therefore, it must live.