Ayo Adebanjo, chieftain of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group, says Bola Tinubu is afraid to speak on the activities of some herders in the south-west because he does not want to offend President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in an online interview with The PUNCH, on Wednesday, Adebanjo said Tinubu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), believes Buhari will make him president in 2023 so he does not want to oppose the president.

Although Tinubu has not declared that he will be running for president, the APC chieftain is rumoured to be nursing the ambition to lead the country in 2023.

“Everybody knows who Tinubu is. Don’t bring me to that controversy. Tinubu does not represent us. All that is happening in Oyo now, what has he said? When they (gunmen) killed the Oba in Ekiti, what did he say?” Adebanjo said.

“He didn’t say anything that will oppose Buhari because he is thinking Buhari will make him the president. So, he doesn’t want to say anything to offend him. Amongst all the governors he sponsored, Akeredolu has the courage that it is the people of the western region that they are serving.

“I don’t buy the propaganda of the defence of the federal government that how do you know they are Fulani? That is escapist statement.

“For the past five years, we have been talking about the same thing. And when they are caught, they will say, they are not local Fulani. And you can’t explain how these foreign Fulani came to attack your people. You see the absolute negligence, dereliction of duty and incompetence in protecting lives and property as commander-in-chief?

“If you are a competent defender of the Nigerian people, the Fulani herdsmen won’t be committing all forms of atrocities unabated.”

Some herdsmen have been accused of killings and kidnappings in the south-west.

The Cable