The Executive Governor of
Kano state, Umar Ganduje yesterday, made a startling revelation on the
activities of armed herdsmen in the country.
While Nigeria has been battling with the menace of herdsmen
killings, there have been confusion as to the identities of these murderers.
Fingers have been pointed at Miyetti Allah which in turn, have
called the killers impostors.
Meanwhile, some lucky victims have come out to confirm that
indeed, their captors spoke the Fulani language.
This revelation from the Governor has further confirmed that
indeed, these criminals are of the Fulani stock although from outside the
country.
The governor made this remark
during the commissioning of 25 housing units which are RUGA projects aimed at
creating settlements at the Dansoshiya forest, in Kiru local government area of
the state.
According to the governor,
the measure became important to “successfully and effectively prevent the
coming of herdsmen from other African countries, because they come to this
country with guns and other weapons. Which flame the clash between herders and
farmers.
“As they come with such
weapons, they take crimes and criminalities to the country,
With this, the Governor also
confirmed that the movement of these killer herdsmen is what brings to us all
sorts of clashes between herders and other communities, apart from the usual
herder-farmers clashes.
The governor had asked the
Federal Government to put a stop to the movement of herdsmen from other
countries to Nigeria.
This, he said, will curb
crimes and criminalities commonly caused by Fulani-herders conflict across the
country,
According to a recent study
by ThisDay, It is worthy of mention that between 2017 and May 2, 2020, a total
number of 654 attacks have been conducted by the Fulani herdsmen, 2,539 have
been killed and 253 kidnapped in Nigeria.
The special report titled,
‘Working Document — Fulani Militias’ Terror: Compilation of News (2017-2020),’
showed evidence of blood-curdling statistics of deadly attacks, deaths, and
kidnappings by the herdsmen.
The report further stated
that the attacks meted to the farmers by the herdsmen in Nigeria were “regular,
systematic, targeted attacks.”
The author of the report,
José Luis Bazán, a sole researcher and analyst said, “Nigerians are suffering
widespread and systematic terrorist attacks by, mainly, Boko Haram, the
ISIL-aligned Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), Fulani militias, and
Ansaru.”
Several times, Nigerians have
continued calling out the security agencies and concerned bodies to the menace
caused by these groups.
Recently, Nigerians have been
battling to understand a purported statement from the leader of the Miyetti Allah
organization.
In an alleged interview which
the group has since denied, the leader made some very inciting comments on the
ownership of the country and also said that they, the Fulani tribe owned
Nigeria and would settle anywhere they liked.
This puts to credit the
continuous cries form southern Nigeria that the President and security agencies
should put a stop to the incessant unwarranted grazing in southern farmlands
which have always fueled the crises which have led to the numerous slaughters
in the region.
Responding in a series of
tweets, a former minister of aviation and a fierce critic of this
administration, Femi Fani Kayode wrote:
“The humiliation, persecution
and marginalization of Christians in Nigeria over the last five years is self-evident.
The ethnic and religious cleansing and wholesale slaughter of northern
Christians is undeniable. Those that deny it are the sponsors of the genocidal
maniacs and mass murderers.
“Nnamdi Kanu, Asari Dokubo,
Annkio Briggs, Shola Salako, Tony Nnandi, Baron Roy, Gani Adams, CAN, leaders
of the MB and the South, Church leaders, Christian clerics, yours truly and
millions of others that have pointed out this reality over the last few years
have said the truth.
“The attempt by the Presidency to deny these heinous crimes
against humanity, though shameless and irresponsible is to be expected. To say
that Christians are not being slaughtered in Nigeria is like saying Hitler and
the Nazis never murdered six million Jews during the holocaust.
Recall the Presidency had yesterday, said it has uncovered an
ongoing plot by the IPOB to cause a misunderstanding between Nigeria against
some of its great allies such as the US, UK, and the European Union.
The report also said they had discovered the outlawed IPOB had spent
over $85,000 monthly, to destabilize the country in its continuous media war
against the country.
In the statement, the presidency tried to alert Nigerians and
the international community of the move which it termed as misleading but
however, the statement from Ganduje and the continuous onslaught against
Christians in Nigeria say otherwise.
The questions to be thrown to the security agencies and the
border authorities then is, how did these killer herdsmen find their way into
the country?
Why are our borders porous?
These are some of the pertinent questions we need to answer and
not forcing down RUGA down the throat of Nigerians or using SARS to harass
innocent students.
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