The people of Igangan in Oyo State appear not to be through yet with the embattled Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Saliu.
The natives, especially the youths, say they are exploring all options to challenge the legality and appropriateness of the appointment of Sarkin as traditional ruler of Fulanis in the Ibarapa area of the state.
The Convener, Igangan Development Advocates, Mr Oladokun Oladiran, told The Nation on Friday that having a Sarkin Fulani in the area was akin to having another king to rival the traditional ruler of the natives.
Oladiran said: “One thing I want to ask is why should the Fulani have Sarkin in the first place?
“If I am staying in the north, for instance, we can have groups and associations of Yoruba, but we cannot appoint Baale or king among us because a monarch must have land.
“A monarch must rule over people, not just land; that is the strategy. There can’t be a monarch without people and land. So when you appoint a monarch, a sarkin is a kind of monarch, a pseudo-monarch.
“When you appoint a monarch, you must assign them not just their people but you must get them land to rule over.
“So, having sarkin in our land is like having a monarch. It means his people are not bound by our law. They report to their sarkin and not to our own monarch. It means they have autonomy and they can begin to do whatever they want to do.
“That is why we can say no carrying of arms but they can say no, they will carry arms because their sarkin has not ordered them not to carry arms.
“And so they come into our midst with arms and we cannot do anything about it. So, the idea of having a sarkin will have to be revisited.
“Although we don’t have the jurisdiction to say no, I don’t know the legal implications of that. We don’t have the jurisdiction, but if we can have it legally, we will fight it, but I don’t know the legal aspect of that.
“But one thing I want to say is that if this is looked into, if Igbo people are with us, the Ijaw people are with us, the Jukun are with us, they meet together and form family and bond together and meet together as unions to look after the interest of others without having a monarch, why should the Fulani have a monarch in our midst?
“For now, when there is a hot situation, the Yoruba people say that the sea cannot be boiling and you roll violently, what I will advise the stakeholders to look into is first of all, allow the storm to still. Decisions made during a stormy session can be wrong decisions at the end of the day.
“Allow the storm to be still, allow time, allow everything to cool down and then look for a strategic way forward. So, this rush to bring the sarkin back, this rush will only cause more storms.”
Reiterating that the people of the community have unanimously rejected the return of the Sarkin Fulani, Oladokun said the Governor can choose to keep the Sarkin at the Government House, but the people of Igangan do not want him back.
“The governor mentioned that the Sarkin has been in Igangan for 50 years or thereabouts.
“The people of Ibarapa reject the return of Sarkin and will not accept him.”
