- Bello Abdullahi Bodejo said Fulani people have been wrongly criticised for clashes in the country
- He said politicians are also heating up the politics
- He said some looters are fighting President Buhari
The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Socio-
cultural Association, Bello Abdullahi
Bodejo, has accused politicians of
escalating the clashes between farmers
and herdsmen.
In an interview with The Sun, Bodejo said farmers and herdsmen have always had clashes in the past but they were usually settled by local rulers.
He however said things have changed
now as the issue has been politicised by
politicians.
Bodejo also noted that Fulani herdsmen
have been at the receiving end of
criticism when in fact most of the killings
were done by non-Fulanis.
He said: "There is a long history of clashes
between the Fulani and the farmers in this
country. Almost about 50 years ago, the
Fulani and the farmers have been having
clashes but the clashes were usually
settled between the local chiefs and Fulani
leaders but now since the last eight years,
everything has changed. What is
happening in Nigeria today is not a
normal clash between the Fulani and the
farmers.
"The whole thing has been politicized and
politicians are getting involved in the
problem. In 2014 during the
administration of former President
Goodluck Jonathan, there were clashes in
Benue, Plateau and Taraba states but the
media did not sensationalise it like what
is happening now. In the present case,
people are using all kinds of propaganda.
Any time the nation wants to go into a
general election to entrench a new
government, people would start all kinds
of propaganda.
When one or two people are killed now, they would carry propaganda like a whole village has been wiped off.
Now, there is no farming in the
bush but anything that happens, they say it is the Fulani and farmers.
"Before, both the farmers and the Fulani, if they had a problem in the bush, they could easily settle themselves but now
politicians are involved and they are
preaching so much hatred between the
Fulani and the farmers.
The problem is that the Fulani do not have access to the media because many of them are in the bush rearing their cattle.
If for instance, you want to call a Fulani in Benue to know what is happening to them there, it may not be possible because you do not have the number of anybody there in the bush.
"But the media especially the social media, they always write one side of the story.
There is no balance in the stories that are being pushed out and because the Fulani are not in control of the media, anything or crime can be imposed on them and the people would erroneously believe it.
The normal thing the media should do is if they hear the side of the farmers, they should also go and find the position of the Fulani.
"What is happening now is that some
politicians who are finding it difficult to
come back to power are causing the
problem.
Ask yourself how many farmers can buy the AK47 rifles that they say the Fulani herdsmen carry about.
Instead of finding a way to end the crisis, the politicians are using propaganda to escalate it.
Every time, they say it is Fulani but if you go to other countries where the Fulani are herding their cattle, have you heard any killings that were caused by the Fulani?
“They killed people in Taraba and they
said it was the handiwork of the Fulani
but the people who did it are not the
Fulani.
If there are such killings, the
security authorities like the police should be contacted and they should be able to tell the truth.
Like I said, they are stigmatizing us using the media because the Fulani do not have access to the media.
“In the last two or three weeks, the police have arrested some people with AK47 rifles but those people are not Fulani.
They are mentioning some politicians who are not Fulani for buying AK47 for them and I believe them because the poor cattleherders cannot buy AK 47.
"Now, even if a husband and wife quarrel, they would say it is a problem caused by the Fulani.
I know why they are saying all
these; it is because President Buhari is a
Fulani man.
Buhari is fighting corruption and all these people who looted our money are not happy and they are fighting back in many ways.
Many of them are being chased about by the EFCC and they are not happy and they want to cause problems because election is approaching. President Muhammadu Buhari is a very straight leader and is not protecting anybody.
"And let me tell you, if Buhari did not win
the 2015 presidential election, I do not
know where Nigeria would have been by
now and I do not know what would have
been the fate of the Fulani in Nigeria
today. Maybe if Buhari did not win, the
Fulani by now would be migrating to
Cameroun, Niger, Chad and other places.
“Nobody should try to remove Buhari in
2019. All the Fulani in Nigeria today, our
eyes are open. All of us are behind Buhari; we have seen that they want to destroy the Fulani because of Buhari.
We would not allow anybody to intimidate the Federal Government or to take Buhari’s mandate; we would be ready to follow him and fight it. We are ready to do anything to ensure that Buhari comes back to complete the good work he is doing.
The people criticizing him are just few and nothing would affect his chances of
coming back.”
Meanwhile, former Sokoto governor
Attahiru Bafarawa has advised both the
Benue and federal governments to evolve a political solution to end the violence instead of trading blames.
“What is required to end the crisis is a
workable solution that would be
acceptable to all sides; trying to establish who is right or wrong is not what matters now,” Bafarawa said on Friday, February 2, in Makurdi, when he paid a condolence visit to Governor Samuel Ortom.
He opined that a military approach to
tackling the crisis would not solve the
problem.
“A military approach will not solve the
problem; the solution to it is political. We
need to involve the traditional institution.
This problem is not only a Benue problem, it is a national problem and we all need tocome together to solve it."
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