The Jonde Jam Fulani Youth Association has alleged that the crisis of Fulani herdsmen killings is a ‘conspiracy to tag the Fulani herdsmen as criminals and evict them from other parts of the country, warning that evicting the herdsmen from part of Nigeria will affect the unity of the country.
The national president of the group, Saidu Maikano while speaking to journalists in Jos, the Plateau State capital, admitted that there were some criminal elements among the herdsmen but it was unacceptable to tag all herdsmen criminals, especially in the South South and South West regions of the country.
“Criminality is not peculiar to one ethnic group. Criminality has no ethnic or religious attachment and, therefore, should not be used as a Fulani identity,” Maikano said as he failed to condemn the killings of Fulani herdsmen also known as the Fulani militia, a terrorist group ranked as the 4th most deadly in the world.
Then, the group seemed to equate Fulani, a minority ethnic group in Northern Nigeria as the entire ‘North’. It alleged a ‘grand conspiracy’ to evict Fulani herdsmen from other parts of Nigeria insisting that they would resist such a move.
“This country belongs to all of us; there is no part of the country that has accommodated other ethnic groups like the North and when some of these people commit offences in the North,” the statement said.
“We don’t brand an entire ethnic group as criminals because as civilized people we should only ensure that the criminals are prosecuted and justice is done.”
“Cattle rustling has become a booming business headed by a cartel. Security agents must connect the dots so as to get to the real sponsors,” Maikano finally condemn the stealing of cows, which from all indication, is the only crime that the Fulani seem to see.
Increased murderous attacked by Fulani herdsmen in communities in Central and Southern Nigeria have led to calls for the eviction of Fulani herdsmen by community groups. So far, over 5,000 Nigerians across communities in Central Nigeria, South West, South East, and the South South have been killed in a systematic campaign that has been termed an ethnic cleansing.
This week, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State banned nomadic cattle grazing in his state, calling for vigilante action against the terrorists after the Oke-Ako Ekiti community was attacked by Fulani herdsmen leaving two people dead and several injured.
