Why should FG ban IPOB but leave Miyetti Allah? – Soyinka

Speaking exclusively to Channels Television’s NewsNight, a pre-recorded programme that airs every Monday, the literary icon wondered why the government was yet to ban the Fulani group, Miyetti Allah, while it had proscribed IPOB.

“My temperament does not accept that anyone should chase me out of my God-given earth. So, it’s a temperamental thing as well,” Soyinka said.

“And then, I’ll make up my mind whether I want to leave. So each outrage, unfortunately, has the opposite effect. Whether the outrage is taking place in Benue, Kaduna, or is taking place in Owo. Or whether it is taking place right here on the (Ogun state) border – we’ve been subjected also to this lunacy, of the subjugation mentality which some minority people hold. And I find it very difficult to accept to be chased out of my entitled portion of the earth.

“Many people just either do not know the history or do not understand the purpose of history. And then there’s a different group also who are very selective about history; they know how to distort or misuse history.

“Take for instance, when the incursion of the Fulani herdsmen began, and the Miyetti Allah spokesman said, I think it was in Borno, “We once ruled this place and we can take back our land anytime we want.

“I remember that statement; I’ve never forgotten it. Amid the trauma of these people, somebody comes gloating and then cites selective portions of history. I said this person should be arrested and locked up.Who says he wants to repeat his history of conquest – he’s admitting either knowledge, before or after, or support, anyway. Isn’t there anything like hate speech anymore? Why are you proscribing IPOB without proscribing Miyetti Allah?”