{"id":8926,"date":"2016-05-02T23:59:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T23:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=8926"},"modified":"2016-05-02T23:59:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T23:59:24","slug":"2012-day-lam-adesina-clashed-with-buhari-others-over-menace-of-fulani-herdsmen-by-agbaakin-kehinde-olaosebikan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=8926","title":{"rendered":"2012: Day Lam Adesina clashed with Buhari, others over menace of Fulani Herdsmen By Agbaakin Kehinde Olaosebikan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Buhari\"<\/a>Alhaji Lam Onaolapo Adesina,Oyo State governor from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003, passed on to glory\u00a0 on Sunday, 11, November, aged 73 years. Lam rose to the pinnacle of all his callings in life.\u00a0 He got to the zenith of his career as a teacher; as a social crusader, he got state recognition and was\u00a0 tagged a \u2018prisoner of war\u2019. Politically, he did not only realize his ambition of becoming the governor of his state, he achieved the extra ordinary by installing a governor, not while in power but eight years after he had left office. Since Sunday, torrents of tributes have been pouring in from various quarters all extolling the virtues of Alhaji\u00a0 Adesina . He has been described in many superlative words, establishing the fact that\u00a0 he\u00a0 was a great man. But how great really was the husband of the benign Alhaja Sarat Adeola Adesina? As his Chief Press Secretary while he served as the governor of Oyo State, I will transmit a story of how he disciplined a former military Head of State and prevented what could have led to the Nigerian second civil war.<\/p>\n

It was on 13 October 2000, when words went round that General Muhammadu Buhari was leading the Arewa team to the governor\u2019s office to confront the state over alleged killings of Fulani cattle rearers in Saki, Oke Ogun Area of the state. Buhari did actually telephone the governor that he was leading a team to his office. In less than 30 minutes after the general informed the governor of his visit, we noticed that the entire secretariat was already filled with lorry loads of our brothers from the North. This created some tension but we kept our calm.\u00a0 At about 2 p.m., Buhari arrived in a long convoy at the governor\u2019s office in company of the former governor of Lagos State, General Buba Marwa, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed, Alhaji Abdulrazak and Alhaji Hassan. They all wore\u00a0 long faces.\u00a0 In fact, the anger in them was\u00a0 palpable as all pleasantries extended to them were ignored. \u201cThis is trouble\u201d was the expression on the faces of all of us in the governor\u2019s office. Shortly afterwards, the state Director of State Security Service (SSS) and Commissioner of Police arrived. But their presence did not change anything particular on the fears that had already gripped majority of us. The two security chiefs did not come with any operatives, they came almost alone. Late Lam Adesina Photo NAN The meeting was called to order after Lam\u00a0 walked into the Executive Chambers. Introductions over, Buhari spoke on their mission to the governor\u2019s office. Emitting fire, the general accused Lam and the\u00a0 government of Oyo State of complicity in the killing\u00a0 of over 68 Fulani people in Oke Ogun\u00a0 area and perversion of justice.<\/p>\n

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His words: \u201cYour Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your government our displeasure about the incident of clashes between two peoples\u2026 the Fulani cattle rearers\u00a0 and merchants are today being harassed , attacked and killed like in Saki. In the month of May, 2000, 68 bodies of Fulani cattle rearers were recovered and buried under the supervision and protection from a team of Mobile Police from Oyo State Command. \u201c That some arrests were made by Oyo State Police Command in the massacre with their immediate release without court trial. This\u00a0 was said to have been\u00a0 ordered by Oyo State authorities and they were so released to their amazement.\u00a0 The release of the arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the authorities are\u00a0 backing and protecting\u00a0 them to continue the unjust and illegal killings of Fulani cattle rearers\u2026\u201d According to the general, they therefore wanted immediate stoppage of the killings, justice and compensation\u00a0 to the Fulanis.<\/p>\n

As weighty and indicting as Buhari\u2019s\u00a0 allegations were, Lam remained unperturbed. He\u00a0 fired back\u00a0 with his own well coordinated arsenals. Lam identified all the points raised by Buhari\u00a0 and simply asked the heads of the organizations directly involved\u00a0 to respond to the allegations. First to speak was the Commissioner of Police who debunked all the claims.\u00a0 Instead of the allegation that the natives were killing Fulanis, the commissioner said pointedly that the opposite was the case. \u201c The killing of the natives by the Fulanis was\u00a0 duly reported to the police and, of course, we can\u2019t make arrest because, as soon as they kill, they migrate to other areas. Who are you going to arrest? That is the problem\u201d.<\/p>\n

On\u00a0 the killing of Fulanis,\u00a0 which he said was as result of \u201cpiled up anger\u201d,\u00a0 the commissioner disclosed that\u00a0 arrests had been made and the suspects\u00a0 were in police custody. Next was the Director of SSS, who equally debuked\u00a0 the allegations by Buhari. \u201cThe natives don\u2019t have problem with the Fulanis who are resident but those who are coming in, they don\u2019t care\u00a0 about\u00a0 anybody. They just go ahead and when they graze the natives farms, whoever cares to challenge them runs into trouble. You said 68 people were killed , and people driven away. I am not saying there were no killings but they cannot be more than five. The petition is on the harsh side, there is nothing like that.\u201d Not done yet, Lam called in his Deputy, Barrister Iyiola Oladokun; his SSG, Chief Michael Koleoso, both from Oke Ogun, and the chairman\u00a0 of one of the affected local government\u00a0 areas, Mr Ademola Alalade. They stated the true position of things, corroborating the submissions of the security chiefs. At this point, all the tensions and apprehensions evaporated.<\/p>\n

Trust Lam any day, he must rub it in. He spoke for about 20 minutes and the generals were at the edge of their seats for the entire period. They were like chicken that had just been thoroughly beaten by the rain. Lam\u00a0 said: \u201c Before I\u00a0 thank you for this visit, you have come to tell me something. I also want to tell you something and that something is to make an appeal. General Buhari has been a former Head of State, Brigadier Marwa has governed Lagos for some time and with credibility\u2026 so you are national leaders of this country. Even though, by accident of birth, you are from the North, you can be born anywhere; may be next time when I am coming to the world, I will be born in the North or the South-South.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy appeal will be that effort must be made to unite this country and that will be \u00efn the best interest of all Nigerians. I am appealing to the Arewa Consultative Forum, under which auspices our distinguished Nigerians are here; in recent times, they have been sending wrong signals to a number of us who believe in the unity and peace of Nigeria; you have been too critical of the efforts of the Federal Government. I am saying this because Nigeria, at this point, cannot afford to break and the words you northern leaders utter are very weighty, at the South here, we normally analyze them critically\u201d. On all the allegations, he said: \u201cFrom what they have written in the petition, this government\u00a0 is completely blameless because we don\u2019t interfere either with the judiciary or with the police functions. I always preach peaceful co-existence\u00a0 in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole. We are all Nigerians\u00a0\u00a0 and that is what we have been preaching all along and we shall continue to be Nigerians , no matter the present or immediate problems which will be solved\u00a0 by the grace of Allah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say also that we really have to appeal to our people, the itinerant Bororo people, that they should observe less aggression. It is not good , it is not right just coming from somewhere then you just pass through farm lands cultivated may be with the person\u2019s life savings and then over night everything is gone. That is not right, even Allah does not approve of that. We even wonder when they talk about this people carrying dangerous weapons, I say do they really believe in Allah? When you just take life like that and go away! Are we not forbidden not to take human life? So I think General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating them\u2026 It is my pleasure to inform\u00a0 you\u00a0 that at the Presidential Lodge, we have made some arrangements for refreshments so that before you go we can refresh together\u201d. Buhari and his team did not wait for any refreshments. They came in\u00a0 angry and left bewildered. ADIEU! GREAT LAM! *OLAOSEBIKAN, WAS CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY TO ALHAJI LAM ADESINA<\/p>\n

www.vanguardngr.com<\/p>\n

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Alhaji Lam Onaolapo Adesina,Oyo State governor from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003, passed on to glory\u00a0 on Sunday, 11, November, aged 73 years. Lam rose to the pinnacle of all his callings in life.\u00a0 He got to the zenith of his career as a teacher; as a social crusader, he got state recognition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1890,902,197,1891],"class_list":["post-8926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-alhaji-lam-onaolapo-adesina","tag-fulani-herdsmen","tag-mohammadu-buhari","tag-saki"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Buhari.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2jY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8927,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions\/8927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}