The Northern Senators Forum has cautioned state governors and community leaders against making inflammatory remarks on the crisis of herdsmen attacks plaguing parts of the country.
The senators who gave the caution on Wednesday, kicked against the blanket labelling of all herdsmen as Fulani saying other tribes including Igbos are involved in the cattle business as well.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja the forum, led by Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC Nasarawa West) also pledged their support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that on the heel of the recent heinous attack on Nimbo community in Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had unveiled steps by his administration to rejuvenate armed community vigilantes to help in defending indigenes against attacks by the rampaging cattle herders.
But speaking on the recent herdsmen/farmers clashes, the forum called on state governors to desist from making comments capable of inciting citizens against each other.
Sen. Adamu said the group would work assiduously towards enacting laws and/or amend existing ones in order to promote the interest of Northern Nigeria in particular and the country at large.
Adamu however stressed that the categorization of all herdsmen as Fulanis was wrong because he had seen herdsmen that were Yoruba and Igbo. He said: “I have a farm, I rear cows. I am not Fulani by birth: if you go through Northern states, you will see a lot of them. In fact, if you go to the East, you will see young men who have assimilated with the Fulanis in their various communities and they are involved in cattle rearing.
“It creates the wrong impression that everybody you see with a cow is a Fulani man and therefore becomes a common target for the present problem we are addressing as a government,” he stressed.
He recalled that when former Secretary to the Federal Government, Olu Falae was abducted, Fulani herdsmen were accused but that when the police apprehended the suspects, they were not Fulanis.
On threats by a section of the country asking all Fulani herdsmen to leave, the senator appealed for calm, saying “if we now say that everybody should rise and say herdsmen should leave, we will not have a country.”
The lawmaker also said efforts are underway by the Northern senators to come up with legislation on how to coordinate the activities of herdsmen to avoid frequent clashes with indigenous farmers.
Story text: ORDERPAPER.NG
