I exposed Yoruba, Fulani kidnappers — Igangan Seriki Fulani

Gerewu village, in the outskirt of Ilorin, the Kwara state capital is the ancestral home of Sarkin Fulani of Igangan community in Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Seriki Salihu AbdulKadir was sacked from Ibarapa last month by Yoruba freedom fighter, Mr Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho and his supporters. He was said to be providing cover and even assisted killer herdsmen in Ifangan.

Seriki AbdulKadir’s house, an unpainted, fenced and plastered bungalow building of three bedroom flat, was one of the few buildings in the community. The 78-year-old Sarkin Salihu AbdulKadir was surrounded by his wives and kinsmen discussing the misfortune that befell the family when Saturday Vanguard arrived.

Speaking in an interview with Demola Akinyemi, he said he was greatly troubled on the loss of his family members and property, which included 207 cows, sheep and local chickens among others that were still in Igangan which he had been trying to recover. He therefore appealed for assistance from well meaning Nigerians to make him survive. Saturday Vanguard sought out the old man to tell the story of the Ibarapa kidnapping saga and his root in Ilorin. Excerpts:

You are aware that tension has heightened in Kwara State since you relocated there while the residents are not convinced that you are from Ilorin as you claim, that you are only here to seek asylum

I am a bonafide indigene of Ilorin. My mother hailed from Baboko. My father was a herder who had his root at Abe-Emi in Ilorin, but because of the family’s occupation, my forebears relocated to Temidire in Asa Local Government Area. That was where I was born. My great-grandfather was born in Temidire, to tell you how long we have been in Temidire. Our exit from Temidire was occasioned by a fire outbreak in Kuho village.

I was ten years old then, but I remember the incident vividly. A man called Ajibade rode a bicycle to our  ‘Gaa’ (settlement) in the wee hours of the morning to break the news of the fire incident. There would probably be some elders who would recall this incident. Typically of our occupation, we moved from this community and relocated to the Western State. We first settled in a place near Oyo but moved to Ibarapa with my father just after the Nigerian civil war. This was in the very early 70s. I have been in Igangan since that time.

Something positive happened to us shortly after we arrived in Igangan. This was at a time when the Federal Government created the Western State Grazing Reserve in the area. But it also brought the initial enmity between us and the community because they were of the view that government ceded the Grazing Reserve to us, the Fulanis. But I have never for once forgotten my Ilorin root since I became a man. I often come to Ilorin because I have my family here. I have sons who work in the Kwara State Civil Service as well as the Civil Defence. I built my house here in Ilorin some years back and I have never stopped coming home.