Identify killer herdsmen as criminals not as Fulanis, Sultan cautions

Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Jama’atul Nasir Islam, Sa’ad Abubakar lll, has cautioned that killer herdsmen, who have continued to kill innocent Nigerians across the country should be identified as criminals and not as Fulanis, if the evil must be stopped.

He stated this on Monday in Enugu at a grand reception in honour of Nigerian Professional Football League Champions, Rangers International of Enugu, at the Michael Okparaa Square.

He argued that the Fulani people were not responsible for herdsmen’s attacks in different parts of the country, adding that other tribes in the country also rear cows.

Sultan said that it was wrong to attribute all herdsmen-related attacks to the Fulani, and that “It is not only the Fulani that are herdsmen, there are herdsmen from other ethnic groups in the country,” he said, adding that those who commit crimes in the guise of cattle rearing should be described as criminals, and not as Fulani herdsmen.

“If anybody commits any crime, he should be given his real name, which is a criminal, whether he is Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo or Ibibio.

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“Fulanis have been living in peace with the people in communities where they rear their cattles, will they wake up one day and start attacking and killing these people? It is not possible. Something must be wrong somewhere.

“We (Fulanis) will never support killing, we will not support killing. I want to tell you that the Fulani people cannot do that.

“Until we give these killers their real name, which is criminals, we will not overcome the security challenges we have.”

Once regarded as a phenomenon confined to the northern half of the country, incessant attacks by herdsmen have assumed a frightening dimension with a few states like Ekiti enacting laws and setting up a vigilante group to stem the incidence.

Though the Sultan has never failed to condemn the attacks and killings perpetrated by killer herdsmen across the country, he has, however, maintained that Nigerian Fulanis have not been responsible.

 

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