The Yoruba Regional Alliance of Self-Determination Group has warned Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) against deployment of its newly-formed Nomad Vigilante Group to any part of Yorubaland.
The Yoruba group said the warning became imperative to avoid anarchy.
It would be recalled that the Miyetti Allah KautalHore had last Saturday launched a 1,144-man Nomad Vigilante Group in Nasarawa State to serve as a civilian security for their cattle nationwide.
Chairman of the Yoruba group, Kunle Adesokan and Secretary, Opeoluwa Akinola, during a media briefing in Ibadan, Oyo State, said their groups would not accept invasion of their land by any group under any guise.
They said that ethnic groups in Nigeria are free to train and deploy vigilantes to protect their lives and property as long as they keep such operatives within their recognised community borders, states or homelands, and do not constitute a threat to other ethnic groups or their neighbours.
Akinola said: “If members of this nomadic vigilant group are deployed to any part of Yorubaland, be it Kogi, Kwara, Delta or Edo, or to any part of the South-West in Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo or Ekiti, they will be regarded as an alien, invading force, and will be treated as such.
Also, Adesokan said: “These are trained soldiers disguised as vigilantes and will only continue the grim culture of attacks on our people if they are allowed to function in Yorubaland. A permanent solution is a dissolution of the Nigerian federation where each part can practise the kind of civilisation they so desire.”
