Femi Falana condemns quit notice issued by Sunday Igboho

Nigerian activist, Femi Falana, has condemned the quit notice issued to Fulani Herdsmen in the Southeast by Sunday Igboho.

Sunday Igboho has been trending online since he issued an ultimatum to Fulani herdsmen to vacate his town due to the high rate of crime in the area.

We also earlier reported that the house of prominent activist, Sunday Igboho in Soka, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, was burnt by suspected arsonists.

Confirming the incident, the Oyo state police command said hoodlums who rode in a hummer bus and a Micra stormed the apartment, fired sporadic gunshots before setting the house ablaze.

Reacting to the turn of events, Femi Falana described Igboho’s eviction order as unlawful and wrong, stating that Fulani people have every right to live in Ibarapa land.

Speaking with BBC, the Senior Advocate cautioned against the generalisation of criminal elements.

He said:

“With profound respect under our laws, even a squatter cannot be ejected and that is why on a daily basis, tenants are given quit notices by landlords or owners of properties.

“So, a private citizen cannot wake up and say anybody should leave the community, you must embrace the rule of law. Nobody can do that, not even the government because section 43 of the constitution says every citizen shall have the right to own and acquire properties in any parts of the country.

“The campaign of the human rights community is that if you are born in a place, or you have lived for not less than ten years in any part of the country, you should be considered an indigene and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the so-called indigenes of the state. So, for me, there is no way I can embrace anyone who has given quit notice to any group of people.

“We must stop the idea of criminal profiling. If anybody has committed an offence or a group of people has committed an offence, we must fish them out and have them tried under the law but you can’t wake up and say all Yoruba people, all Hausa people are criminals, all Igbo people are criminals. No, it is a fallacy of generalisation.”

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