Not Every Herdsman’s A Fulani – Northern Senators •Warn Against Provocative statements

fulani-herdsmenSenators from the northern part of the country have warned against provocative statements that could fan the embers of division in the country following the recent killings by suspected herdsmen in Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani local government of Enugu State.
They also frowned at the general categorization of all herdsmen as Fulani saying it is wrong and should be stopped.
The Senators under the aegis of Northern Senators Forum, Wednesday said that they “note and appreciate the steps that the Federal Government has taken so far to contain the problems of herdsmen/farmers clashes”.
They specifically asked community leaders (including governors) “to be careful when making statements on these ugly incidences”.
Chairman of the Forum, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who read the communiqué of the lawmakers in Abuja, said that they “resolved to continue their complete support for President Muhammadu Buhari in order to bring about even development to all sections of the country”.
Adamu said that members of the Forum further resolved to work assiduously to enact laws and amend existing ones when and where necessary in order to promote the interest of Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general.
He added that they noted specially the steps taken by the government to wipe out incidences of insurgency and are hopeful that in no distant time, “we shall say bye-bye to the problem of insurgency”.
On tagging every herdsman a Fulani, Adamu said, “We have tried to kill the idea that every herdsman is Fulani. I am a farmer but I am not Fulani by birth. It is very very wrong to say that everybody you find with a cow is Fulani”.
Adamu noted that when former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped, the news went round that the kidnappers were Fulani.
He said that when those responsible for kidnapping the elder statesman were eventually arrested, it was discovered that they were not Fulani.
The senator also noted that when he travelled to the western part of the country, he saw a lot of Yoruba cattle rearers.
He insisted that cattle rearing is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Fulani.
On inflammatory utterances, the Forum said that some groups in the South East have said that the Fulani should leave their part of the country, “if people from the North say the same thing of people from the south East, we wonder where it will lead the country”.