By Hamilton Nwosa( Head, The New Diplomat’s Polling, Research & Data desk)
Eminent Lagos lawyer and Human rights actvist, Femi Falana(SAN) has faulted Sunday Igboho’s action in issuing quit notice to Fulani herdsmen in Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, warning that such act was not only unlawful but most unacceptable and amounts to a breach of the Constitution of the Nigeria.
The radical Lagos lawyer who spoke in an interview with BBC Wednesday said nobody has the authority to issue a quit order to citizens of Nigeria residing anywhere in the country because the Constitution guarantees the rights of “every citizen to own and acquire properties in any parts of the country.”
He said: “Nobody can do that, not even the government because section 43 of the constitution says every citizen shall have the right to own and acquire properties in any parts of the country.”
According to Falana(SAN), it has been part of the larger campaign of the NIgerian Human rights community that “if one is born in a place, or has lived for not less than ten years in any part of the country, that person should be considered an indigene and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the so-called indigenes of the state.”
He added: “So, for me, there is no way I can embrace anyone who has given quit notice to any group of people. We must stop the idea of criminal profiling.
“If anybody has committed an offence or a group of people has committed an offence, we must fish them out and have them tried under the law but you can’t wake up and say all Yoruba people, all Hausa people are criminals, all Igbo people are criminals. No, it is a fallacy of generalisation.”
It would be recalled that an Ibadan-based politician and Yoruba youth activist, Sunday Igboho had issued seven-day ultimatum to the Fulani community in Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government area of Oyo state, over cases of alleged rising insecurity and kidnapping in the area, which they alleged were traceable to herdsmen operating the area.
Sunday Igboho who issued the quit notice on last Saturday, had subsequently led youths to the Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, to express his disappointment over recent cases of reported killings and kidnappings in the axis, asking the Fulani herdsmen to vacate the area.
However, Falana who also urged the government to ensure that the lives of the citizens were secured, said it is the seeming abdication of this vital role by government that has promoted the Sunday Igbohos to be relevant as at today.
He said: “That is why private citizens give quit notices to people from other parts of the country. It is not the right way to fight this problem.
“We need to have ranches, in Oyo State in particular. The largest abattoir in West Africa is located in Oyo State but the state government has not allowed the abattoir to function for the past nine years. Is that how to run a country?
“The scientific way of solving this problem has been abandoned. So, why would a Sunday Igboho not take over the government of that state? That is what is going on.”
Falana who warned that there are growing fears and apprehension among citizens that the lives and properties in that state and in many states of the country were not safe, stressed that government must move quickly to address the basis of this quit notice by ensuring that lives and property of every person in Nigeria in safe and secured.
