Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State in Northeast Nigeria says herders carry weapons, such as AK-47 rifles, to protect themselves, because they have “no option”.
The governor was reacting to the numerous allegations that herdsmen are responsible for kidnappings and killings across the country, especially in the southwest.
Mohammed, who spoke on Thursday during the press week celebration in Bauchi, said herders have resorted to carrying weapons because of the failure of society and government to guarantee their safety while in the forest.
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He also warned against the criminalisation of the entire Fulani tribe.
“Because the Fulani man is practising the tradition of pastoralism, he has been exposed to the vagaries of the forest, cattle rustlers who carry guns, kill him and take away his commonwealth, which is the cows,” the governor said.
“He has no option than to carry AK47 because the society and the government are not protecting him, what is his fault; it’s the fault of the government and the people. You don’t criminalise all of them, because, in every tribe, there are criminals.”
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Mohammed slammed his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom, whom he accused of fuelling the criminalisation of the Fulani tribe.
He wondered why the Benue governor could not accommodate the Fulani when Benue natives and other tribes are accommodated in Bauchi.
“The governor that is most wrong is the governor of Benue State, my brother and colleague Governor Samuel Ortom; he started all these,” the governor said.
“If you don’t accommodate other tribes, we are also accommodating your tribes in Bauchi and other places. We have so many Tiv people farming in Alkaleri, in Tafawa Balewa, farming in Bogoro LGAs; has anybody told them to go?
“We have not; because it’s their own inalienable rights to be there. We have Yoruba people in Bauchi, for over 150 years, even before the birth of Nigeria; some of them have risen to become permanent Secretaries in Bauchi, in Gombe and in Borno.
“You can see what our colleagues in the south-west and some from the south-east are doing. If cyber crime is practised by one tribe, you don’t criminalise all the tribe that they are criminals.”
© ControlTV 2021.
