Sarkin Fulani of Igangan, Abdulkadir opens up on why he was evicted from Oyo

Evicted Sarkin Fulani of Igangan, Salihu Abdulkadir, has opened up on why Sunday Igboho and the natives of Igangan are allegedly after his life.

In an interview with newsmen in Ilorin on Saturday, 78 years old Abdulkadir, accused a politician in the state of being the mastermind behind the attack on him and his people.

He said, ”The politician led Sunday Igboho to his house to issue the quit notice to him which was followed by the attack on his house on January 22, 2021.”

The Sarkin Fulani said thugs of the politician who are also alleged to be kidnappers were reported to the police in 2020, with some arrested and now in police net.

“I have assisted the police several times to apprehend kidnap suspects irrespective of whether they are of Fulani or Yoruba origin.

“At a point, that man approached me to rescue twins arrested over an alleged kidnap case and now in prison,” he stated.

The Sarkin Fulani dismissed the allegations against him saying ” How do I now become a kidnap kingpin when I am the one who reports and helps the police to apprehend suspects in kidnap cases.”?

He lamented that despite his positive contributions to the socio-economic development of Igangan town in the last 50 years, the people of the town paid him in bad coins.

Abdulkadir said he had been conferred several awards and chieftaincy titles as a result of his contributions to humanity, even by the Nigeria Union of journalists, NUJ, Kwara State council in 2014.

The Sarkin Fulani said during the January 22, attack, a block of separate four-bedroom flats, eight vehicles owned by him, his children, and others, 206 cows, as well as over N1m cash meant for procurement of materials were burnt to ashes.

He also traced the enmity between the community and Fulani to the period when the Federal government created the Western region grazing reserve in the area, which gave the impression that the government had ceded the grazing reserve to the Fulani.

He allayed the fear of residents in Ilorin, its environs and the state generally, that his relocation to Ilorin, would not create any threat as being speculated by the people, following the influx of herders into the state after his eviction from Igangan.

“I am not a criminal, I have never bailed anyone of my six graduate children who are doing well and some overseas, so how do I constitute a threat to the people of my state.

“I am a bonafide indigene of Ilorin. My mother hailed from Baboko quarters of Ilorin, my father was a herder who had his roots at Abe-Emi, in Ilorin West Local Government of Kwara State.

“But because of our family’s occupation, my forebears relocated to Temidire in the Asa Local Government Area of the state, where I was born. My great grandfather was born at Temidire too,” he stated.

According to him, ” Typical of our occupation, we moved from the community and relocated to the then Western region, first to a place near Oyo town, but later moved to Ibarapa with my father just after the Nigerian civil war in the 70s, and I have been in Igangan until the quit notice issued by Sunday Igboho.”