Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has suggested that the Federal Government of Nigeria should include Miyetti Allah in its decision to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Soyinka viewed that the inciting statements made by some leaders of the Miyetti Allah group and the threat against other citizens of the country calls for the attention of the government.
He proposed this while speaking with Channels Television in a pre-recorded program that airs every Monday.
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According to the literary icon, if IPOB can be deterred from vying a secession plan, then the Miyetti Allah cattle group should also be banned for its roles and vulnerable statements in the frequent farmer-herders clashes in the country.
He maintained that the government needed to be extra strategic in dealing with the security challenges rocking the country.
Soyinka questioned proclamations from some officials of the Miyetti Allah group noting their desire to repeat an ethnic history of conquest against some other regions in a sovereign nation.
He said;
“My temperament does not accept that anyone should chase me out of my God-given earth. So, it’s a temperamental thing as well.
“The idea that you can unleash terror on me because you want my little patch of territory or you want my soul, that is you want to subjugate me, you want to turn me into a slave. Well, I would sort that out first.
“And then I’ll make up my mind whether I want to leave. So each outrage, unfortunately, has the opposite effect. Whether the outrage is taking place in Benue, in Kaduna, or is taking place in Owo.
“Or whether it is taking place right here on the (Ogun state) border – we’ve been subjected also to this lunacy, of the subjugation mentality which some minority people hold.
“And I find it very difficult to accept to be chased out of my own entitled portion of the earth.
“Many people just either do not know history or do not understand the purpose of history. And then there’s a different group also who are very selective about history; they know how to distort or misuse history.
“Take for instance when the incursion of the Fulani herdsmen began, and the Miyetti Allah. Their spokesman said, I think it was in Borno, ‘we once ruled this place, and we can take back our land anytime we want.’ I remember that statement; I’ve never forgotten.
“In the midst of the trauma of these people, somebody comes gloating and then citing selective portions of history. I said this person should be arrested and locked up, who says he wants to repeat his history of conquest – he’s admitting either knowledge, before or after, or support, anyway. Isn’t there anything like hate speech anymore? Why are you proscribing IPOB without proscribing Miyetti Allah?”
