The leader of Yoruba World Congress, YWC, Professor Banji Akintoye, on Wednesday, warned that the South-West would no longer tolerate the influx of Almajirai into the zone, saying most of them have been infected with the COVID-19.
He called on the governors to tighten the border patrols in their respective states to prevent the influx of Almajirai into the South-West.
Akintoye spoke about Almajirai in the South-West with Vanguard in an interview, noting that “the northern governors seem to have woken up from the Almajiri problem created by the northern culture.
“Now, they are forcing the Almajirai to go back to their places of origin, but many of them don’t want to be taken back. So, many are finding their way southwards.
“It is a very terrible situation because these are not just ordinary times. Coronavirus is out there and in the North is massive. So most of those who are fleeing do not want to be taken back to their places of origin.”
According to the YWC leader, “they choose to roam wherever they want and most of those coming southwards are infected with COVID-19. We do not know how many of them are infected, but we know that some of them are.
“So, they are bringing for us in the South a very complex problem because already, we, the South-West, are the gateway to Nigeria. Almost all of the contacts with the outside world come through Lagos.
“We are only lucky that we have governors, who are rising up to the task of tackling the coronavirus, especially the governor of Lagos State.
“So now, to bring the infection from the North to the South-West through the Almajirai is to create a totally unacceptable situation. We, Yoruba, cannot accept those people from the North.
“In addition to what we already have, they cannot bring their own coronavirus to the South. We cannot accept that. This is not politics, this is a matter of life and death and the northerners should begin to recognise that and tell their people not to flee South-West because we will not accept them in the South-West.
“I want to congratulate our governors for turning them back. All I will ask them to do is to strengthen the border patrol and send every one of them back to where they are coming from,” the YWC leader added.
