By Akinwale Kasali
Pan Yoruba Group, Alliance for Yoruba Democratic Movements, AYDM, has alleged that the attack and burning of a Luxurious Bus travelling from Lagos to Eastern Nigeria may not be unconnected with armed herdsmen operating in Yoruba territories.
The Group said that the attack may have been designed to score political goals being part of a grand plot to stir conflict between Yoruba people and the South East.
The Bus, Ifesinachi Transport Limited, had left Lagos on Saturday but was attacked around Ijebu-Mushin in Ogun State.
The passengers were stripped naked, robbed while the Bus was set ablaze.
In a statement AYDM, a coalition of 130 Yoruba and Itsekiri community based groups, asked the Police to extend its dragnet to the armed herdsmen operating in South West forests.
In the statement signed by General Secretary, Popoola Ajayi the Group said while robbery is not alien to the South West, attacking Luxurious Buses and burning down the bus after looting the vehicle and stealing from the passengers are very strange.
The AYDM warned that more horrific attacks driven by vested political interests to destabilise the country may occur in the future unless effects are made to identify the sponsors and deal decisively with them.
Ajayi said, “We suspect this is the handiwork of an organised crime with political motives. That is the only thing we can read to the burning of the vehicle after looting and stealing of propery” AYDM said
The coalition said the burning down of the vehicle raises the prospect of political motives.
AYDM said Armed Herdsmen continue to operate in forests across the South West warning that the Yoruba State Governors appear not to realise the grave dangers their control of the forest pose to regional and national security.
“We hope it was not politically motivated as part of the plot to destabilise Nigeria and in pursuant of the agenda of a bloc from President Bola Tinubu’s successor, in collaboration with others, who reluctantly handed over and have been looking for ways and means to bring the government down or set Nigerian ethnic groups against each other in order to upturn the country.
Popoola said Nigeria has seen politically motivated crimes in recent months, recalling the kidnap of 280 children in Kaduna State, the kidnap of children of Apostolic School in Ekiti State and the killing of three Yoruba traditional rulers.
It added that the savage attack on a bus going from Lagos to Eastern Nigeria is unacceptable.
“These are very suspicious developments that may not be isolated from the plot of some politically exposed persons.”
He said the choice of a South East bus being attacked on Yoruba territory is suspicious more importantly that the bus was burnt down.
“This might be a conscious attempt to create conflict among ethnic groups in the South. This is why it is very important for the police to do diligent work to expose and punish the criminals.”
Speaking on the incidence, the Ogun State Police Command Spokesperson, SP Omolola Odutola said “It happened in Oke Ado junction at Ijebu Mushin. A luxury Mercedes Benz bus was burnt down. The vehicle was coming from Maza Maza before it encountered the hoodlums. No reference to gun was made.They (the hoodlums) wielded cutlasses.”
Chude Nnamdi, a passenger in the bus said
“Ifesinachi Motors, we were travelling in the night to come back to the East for Easter celebration, and criminals attacked us in Ijebu Ode along Ore-Benin Expressway.
“They robbed us of everything we had, some they stripped half-naked. They locked us inside the 59-seater luxury bus and set it ablaze. We thank God that we later escaped; nobody died, but everything we had was collected.
“We thank God that we didn’t lose anyone but we lost everything we were travelling with and some sustained injuries.
“This is Ifesinachi Motors that we are travelling with on Friday night and this attack happened around 2am.
“They stripped us half-naked. You can see it; the people in the vehicle are completely stranded. There are some people who were macheted and some who broke their legs. We have children among us”, he recalled.
