It was on 13 October 2000, when words went round that General Muhammadu Buhari was leading the Arewa team to the governor’s 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. At about 2 p.m., Buhari arrived in a long convoy at the governor’s office in company of the former governor of Lagos State, General Buba Marwa, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed, Alhaji Abdulrazak and Alhaji Hassan. They all wore long faces. In fact, the anger in them was palpable as all pleasantries extended to them were ignored. “This is trouble” was the expression on the faces of all of us in the governor’s 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.

The meeting was called to order after
Lam walked into the Executive
Chambers. Introductions over, Buhari
spoke on their mission to the
governor’s office. Emitting fire, the
general accused Lam and the government of Oyo State of complicity
in the killing of over 68 Fulani people
in Oke Ogun area and perversion of
justice. His words: “Your Excellency, our visit
here is to discuss with you and your
government our displeasure about the
incident of clashes between two
peoples… the Fulani cattle rearers
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. “ That some arrests were made by Oyo
State Police Command in the
massacre with their immediate release
without court trial. This was said to
have been ordered by Oyo State
authorities and they were so released to their amazement. The release of
the arrested suspects gave the clear
impression that the authorities are
backing and protecting them to
continue the unjust and illegal killings
of Fulani cattle rearers…” According to the general, they
therefore wanted immediate stoppage
of the killings, justice and
compensation to the Fulanis. As weighty and indicting as Buhari’s
allegations were, Lam remained
unperturbed. He fired back with his
own well coordinated arsenals. Lam identified all the points raised by
Buhari and simply asked the heads of
the organizations directly involved to
respond to the allegations. First to speak was the Commissioner
of Police who debunked all the claims.
Instead of the allegation that the
natives were killing Fulanis, the
commissioner said pointedly that the
opposite was the case. “ The killing of the natives by the
Fulanis was duly reported to the
police and, of course, we can’t make
arrest because, as soon as they kill,
they migrate to other areas. Who are
you going to arrest? That is the problem”. On the killing of Fulanis,
which he said was as result of “piled
up anger”, the commissioner disclosed
that arrests had been made and the
suspects were in police custody.

Next was the Director of SSS, who
equally debuked the allegations by
Buhari. “The natives don’t have
problem with the Fulanis who are
resident but those who are coming in,
they don’t care about 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.” Not done yet, Lam called in his Deputy,
Barrister Iyiola Oladokun; his SSG,
Chief Michael Koleoso, both from Oke
Ogun, and the chairman of one of the
affected local government 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. 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 said: “ Before I 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… 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. “My appeal will be that effort must be
made to unite this country and that will
be ïn 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”. On all the allegations, he said: “From
what they have written in the petition,
this government is completely
blameless because we don’t interfere
either with the judiciary or with the
police functions. I always preach peaceful co-existence in Oyo State
and Nigeria as a whole. We are all
Nigerians 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 by the grace of
Allah. “I 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’s 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… It is
my pleasure to inform you that at the
Presidential Lodge, we have made
some arrangements for refreshments
so that before you go we can refresh together”. Buhari and his team did not wait for
any refreshments. They came in angry
and left bewildered. ADIEU! GREAT
LAM!

why disturbin your selves so much about buhari?

and can buhari listen to the people of this great nation?

Thank you for that piece from history.
I have always known the herdmen situation had his backing and all his zombies won't say anything inorder not to lose depleting relevance - horrible heartless people.

#letGodarise
#Getyourpvc

For saki, the Fulanis respect themselves now..
Since they are now marrying Yoruba ladies(same can't be said of the other though).
They have been stopped from bringing cutlasses into town.

They have only been cases of robbery in kwara border with oyo...

Ironically, some Yoruba's were arrested robbing, although posing as a Fulani

Buhari is an hypocrite. A big one for that matter.

So I think General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating them… It is my pleasure to inform you that at the Presidential Lodge, we have made some arrangements for refreshments so that before you go we can refresh together”. Buhari and his team did not wait for any refreshments. They came in angry
and left bewildered.

Simple and short
RIP Lam Adesina

Lam,one Of Oyo Great Leader, Rip

That's history for us all, whoever said the past is nothing to reckon with has dig his own grave, lalasticlala. pls push this.

Tmex:
That's history for us all, whoever said the past is nothing to reckon with has dig his own grave, lalasticlala. pls push this.

doesn't need pushing baba.