Former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has faulted the Senate President Ahmed Lawan’s claim accusing the southwest governors of being responsible for the recent killings in Sasha market.
Recall that Mr Lawan had alleged that the utterances of some governors from the Southwest had sparked the recent ethnic clash at Sasha Market in Ibadan.
In a statement issued on Monday, Mr Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegation, saying the governors helped in curtailing the ethnic crisis.
He said: “Let me assure you that people were killed on both sides of the ethnic divide and had it not been for the efforts of the governor of Oyo State and the tacit support and encouragement he got from the other South west governors in terms of appealing to the people of Ibadan to show restraint, what happened in Oyo would have been a hundred times worse.
“If for example, Governor Akeredolu had not banned herdsmen from the forests of Ondo state, after some time, the local population would have gone there themselves to throw them out violently,” he added.
According to Mr Fani-Kayode, the Senate Presidents’ allegation is as a result of his ethnic bias towards the South and Middle Belt.
The statement said: “Why does the Senate President not complain about the violence that northerners are inflicting on Middle Belters and southerners in the north itself?
“Again, why does he not complain about the barbaric attacks and killing of our people in the South west and other parts of the South and Middle Belt by killer Fulani herdsmen who are carrying arms, raping our women, occupying our land and terrorizing out people?
“Is Northern blood more precious than Southern blood?
“He has not complained about what those terrorists are doing to our people and he has exhibited no empathy with the victims simply because they are southerners,” the statement concluded.
