A recent online discussion has sparked concern within the Yoruba community after an Okun man from Kogi State, who identifies more with his Fulani heritage, made alarming remarks directed at the Yoruba people.
During a recorded X-Space discussion titled “No Space for Hate Mongering in Nigeria,” the individual stated, “It’s time for Jihad conversation to start,” raising fears about the intent behind his words.
His statement was filled with threats and intimidation, particularly directed at Yoruba conservatives. The Okun man, who is identified as Abbey in the space, argued that the rights of Muslims to practice Islam are under threat because the Yoruba people have rejected the implementation of Sharia law in the South West region.
He said, “When you now have a particular tribe, and I keep saying it, the Yoruba tribe fell so horribly. I don’t know where we got it wrong but I am ashamed that I even have traces of Yoruba heritage. When I look at what has happened in the last few hours or few months since the ISP (Independent Sharia Panel) conversation took off.
“It is unfortunate that the people we have even been putting our eyes on as being the most tolerant in terms of religion are very far from it. I say openly here that the Yoruba non-Muslims are the most intolerant human beings in all ramifications.
“I mean not just intolerance against Islam, they are the most intolerant, especially those that tag themselves conservatives. And they have one thing in common, these are people that don’t exist off social media, that is one.
“Secondly, these are people that can’t even point you to their father’s house in the so-called Yoruba land. It is no longer a cruise; it is now very clear that there is an agenda to completely ostracise Muslims and Islam from southwest Nigeria.
“This is where the Jihad conversation comes about. For those of you bastards who don’t know the meaning of Jihad, record the conversation; I want to repeat it again. This is now the time that the Jihad conversation should be taking place. Your right to practise your religion is being threatened. That is why you are admonished, that is the only thing you should fight.
“You can fight when people are threatening you from practising your religion; that is what is happening now. Your right to practise your religion peacefully is now being threatened. They don’t want you to exercise your right to practise your religion. That is when the Jihad conversation should come about. That is why we should even be discussing it; what is Jihad all about?
“If you have state governors giving voices to the online mobs and vagabonds, and people who don’t even have a name or a face. You have state governments, you have Christian traditional rulers also amplifying and giving them voices. Then you should know that you are now at the breaking point.”
He said he felt sorry for Muslims in Southwest Nigeria, claiming that their plight is not different from that of Palestinians in Gaza amid Israeli occupation.
He said, “You should know that you are now in a situation whereby you are not in any way better than the Palestinians and people in Gaza. The only difference is that while it is foreigners, the Israelis trying to steal the land of the Palestinians, your so-called Yorubas are the ones trying to render you second-class citizens in your own fatherland.
“They want to ostracise you and your religion simply because they are either too uninformed or the level of their islamophobia cannot just be helped anymore. I would be surprised if we are having a conversation and at the end of the day, we allow people with agenda to come and interject it.”
Describing himself as non-Yoruba, he said he is an Okun man with a Fulani mother. However, he said he identifies more with his Fulani heritage.
Abbey added that the conversation is only setting the stage for what is to come in the coming days and months.
He said, “Like I said, I am not a Yoruba man, I’m an Okun man. I’m not from the southwest; I’m from Kogi State. As a Muslim, the Sultan speaks for me and represents my interests. So when a group of barbarians in the so-called Yorubaland, southwest Nigeria, the Yoruba nation terrorists and their apologists, when you see the unprintable names that they have been calling the Sultan.
“This is just a warning. Alaafin of Oyo is not someone that we cannot also drag, the Ooni of Ife is not somebody that we cannot drag. When you decide to be unfortunate, and we decide to push back, you now say, ‘Oh, I told you, he is not Yoruba; he is a Fulani slave.’ Yes, I am. My mother is Fulani. In fact, I identify more with my Fulani heritage. So this will be just wetting the ground for what will be happening in the coming months, coming days, and the coming weeks.”
He further asserted that he does not require the votes of the Yoruba people, implying a disregard for their political power and influence.
He said, “If I ever come to you to ask for your votes, the hell with you and your votes.
“I don’t need the vote of Lagos, I don’t need the vote of Osun, I don’t even need whatever your so-called Yoruba conservatism has to offer, they are useless to me.
“If I want to contest an election, I will contest in Kogi. My Okun people, we don’t discriminate; we are not even Islamophobes.
He further said, “I think if we want to have a very decent conversation, I don’t know if it is still a cruise to some people but it has now gone beyond cruise when the lives and religion of a group of people are being threatened on their own soil.
“Some groups of people want to turn their fellow countrymen and tribesmen into second-class citizens in their fatherland because they practise a certain religion. It shouldn’t be taken as a joke; no agenda should even be tolerated.
“My joy is that I am not from the southwest, and I am not living in the southwest, and God forbid that I would be in the southwest, and I would have some people who want to dictate to me on how to practise my religion. It will never happen; I would rather die than succumb to that kind of mental slavery. Again, I can never be from the Southwest or live in the Southwest and tolerate what the Muslim Ummah are tolerating in the Southwest today, and it is gradually spreading.
“You could see what they are doing to the Sultan of Sokoto, the president of the NSCIA (Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs), where you have a bunch of vagabonds, a bunch of sub-literates, untrained, uncircumcised Yoruba nation terrorists and their urchins unleashing all sorts of unprintable names on the person and office of the Sultan simply because he explained his role as the leader of the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria.
“But you do not see that kind of attack when the CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) president speaks for northern Christians. You will never see any northern question why the CAN president is meddling in the affairs of Hausa Christians, Fulani Christians, Kanuri Christians, Takanda Christians and so on and so forth.”
His remarks have been widely denounced as hate speech and a threat to Nigeria’s ethnic and religious harmony.
On Thursday, SaharaReporters reported that a group under the aegis of the Society for Yoruba Culture Renaissance had vehemently rejected the establishment of Sharia law and panels in Oyo, Ekiti and other southwestern states.
In a press statement made available to SaharaReporters, the indigenous Yoruba people said the application of Sharia is alien to their society, adding that it has the potential to disrupt the peaceful coexistence among people of different religious beliefs.
SaharaReporters had reported that the Independent Sharia Arbitration Panel in Ekiti State recently held its first public sitting at the popular Oja Oba Central Mosque, Ado-Ekiti.
The Ekiti State Government reacted to that by stating that the existing legal structure in the state does not recognise the Sharia Court or Independent Sharia Arbitration Panel.
However, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, argued that the Sharia panel initiative is legal, as it is provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Section 275).
NSCIA, therefore, urged the governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country to preserve and protect the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains.
The Sultan-led group also emphasised that Muslims should be allowed to practise their faith without hindrance, just like other religious groups.
In response, the Society for Yoruba Culture Renaissance emphasised that Sharia law is an Arabic cultural practice suitable for societies with a dominant Muslim population, which is not the case in Yorubaland.
The group also accused the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, of attempting to incite a religious crisis in southwestern Nigeria by advocating for the implementation of Sharia law in the region.
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