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Fulani herdsmen deserve better treatment from Nigerians – Yuguda

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A former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, claimed on Monday the people of Fulani extraction have been treated unfairly by other Nigerians.

Yuguda, who disclosed this to journalists shortly after he revalidated his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Destination Bauchi Hotel, said the Fulani herdsmen deserve better treatment from Nigerians.

The former minister of aviation argued that previous governments in Nigeria credited banditry with their refusal to address the plight of Fulani herdsmen whose cattle routes have been taken by farmers and others.

He insisted that the Fulani herdsmen are being treated unfairly despite their contributions to the Nigerian economy.

Yuguda said: “Most importantly, the neglect of the Fulani especially the cattle rearers who are presently giving Nigeria a minimum of one million cattle every day to slaughter and take as beef called for concern. Their treatment by the Nigerian people has been most unfair.

“Most unfair because at the time when Lord Luggard finished conquering northern Nigeria, the Fulanis were the only source of revenue. They provided the revenue that jumpstarted development in terms of monopolizing infrastructure in the north including Benue State where they have been chased out now.

READ ALSO: Nomadic Fulanis fighting an ethnic war against rest of Nigeria —Gumi

“They are pastoralists, they are people who provide beef for the country and you can see them as agricultural ventures or animal husbandry. There have been billions and trillions of investments in agriculture, in the forms of subsidies for fertilizer and so on, have you ever heard the federal government subsidizing pastoralism?”

“What I am saying, in essence, is that the Nigerian state has not been fair to these people. When the white man came, he respected them because they were his source of revenue, not only that he provided cattle routes from Maiduguri to Otukpo, from Sokoto to Lokoja and Ilorin and these infrastructures were provided by the white people.

“So, let us stop being sentimental for goodness sake, otherwise, this country will crumble and it is crumbling in your hands. I am afraid you the press are the people creating these problems. You have to save this country for yourselves, you are the young ones, or else, you’ll inherit no country.”

The activities of the Fulani herdsmen had generated concern in Nigeria in recent times with various ethnic groups in the country, particularly in the South-East and South-West, demanding the exit of cattle prowlers from their territories.

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