From a top personality steeped in discipline and who knows that such virtue is a key ingredient for societal cohesion, has come words of advice for the authorities.
Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, has called for the prompt arrest and meting of decisive punishment for politicians and other persons making inciting statements.
He stressed that such official response will send warning signals to others that nobody is above the law and also serve as future deterrence.
Irabor, who was CDS during the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, made the call today (Thursday, 13 August) during an interview session on Channels Television.
His position on the trending national conversation came against the backdrop of a recent statement by the Senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi, who was captured in a viral video telling his supporters to kill members of the Accord Party ahead of this weekend’s governorship election in the state.
Accord Party is the ruling party in the South-West state, the party of Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking re-election in the poll.
Fadahunsi represents the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which Adeleke removed from office by popular ballot four years ago, with the party seeking to stage a comeback to Government House, Osogbo.
The former CDS said: “For me as a person, any time we hear individuals making inciting comments, I think that such people should be picked up immediately, and that is why I am glad that even though the statement made by Senator Fadahunsi is a political one, but I think that it also borders on incitement to violence.
“I think the police have done the right thing by inviting him, and he should be questioned even beyond that.”
The no-nonsense former military top brass also demanded the arrest of Islamic clerics Sani Jingir and Ahmad Gumi over inciting statements they had made at different times.
Irabor said: “Added to that is, of course, the Sheikh in Kano, Sheikh Jingir, who also made some comments which, of course, I believe are also inciting, that could also add to the bouquet of threats that we have.
“He also should be arrested and I also believe that the various comments that someone like Gumi has been making also demands that he be called not just to order, but, of course, invited and arrested in order to let the populace know that there is nobody who is above the law and then when you say things that are not right, you should be called in to answer.”
Recall that Senator Fadahunsi, speaking in Yoruba while addressing APC supporters during a protest at the palace of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, His Imperial Majesty Oba Clement Adesuyi Haastrup (Ajimoko III), over what he described as incessant killings of APC members, directed them to take the laws into their hands by going after the lives of Accord Party supporters/voters.
In the video circulating online, the senator, who was accompanied by other APC leaders, accused Accord Party members of killing people.
Senator Fadahunsi said: “The cap they wear – it is Yellow Fever cap, it is the cap of an animal,” in reference to Accord Party’s yellow brand.
Each remark he made against Accord Party members was received with approving cheers from the crowd.
“It is animal that kills. Have you ever heard that APC killed anyone? Are those being killed not your people?
“So, we have come to tell you: up till the day of the election, if we see them, it is killing,” he said.
The statement sparked huge outrage across the country with prominent Nigerians, civil society organizations and others calling for the arrest and sanctions of the senator.
Apparently backtracking in the face of the heat, Fadahunsi said opponents and others infused his words uttered on the occasion with AI fakery, adding that he never used those words as reported. The police later invited and questioned him, but Fadahunsi escaped being detained.
On his part, Jingir described Christians as infidels even as he expressed backing for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in 2027, adding that the Quran supports his position on both matters –comments which attracted widespread condemnation across the country, even from among fellow Northern Muslims.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Gen. Irabor,in his service days. File photo.
