Controversial Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has advised the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on how to treat Fulani herdsmen and other aggrieved groups in the northern part of the country.
Gumi said the Nigerian Government should treat them same way they treated Niger Delta militants in the South-South region.
He stated this on Wednesday at the ‘Pastoralists and Fulbe Security Conference’ jointly organised by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and northern consensus movement (NCM) held in Abuja.
The event themed was ‘Exploring the contemporary security challenges facing pastoralists and Fulbe in Nigeria.’
The cleric said, “Government should focus more attention on these people because they always say that they are aggrieved.
“What I expect from the government is nothing less than what it did when the Niger Delta youths were vandalising the economy.
“These people are also disturbing the Nigerian agriculture which is the backbone of national economy.
“I think the government needs to be more proactive. They need attention. The least they need is the ministry of nomadic affairs that will look into their affairs.”
However, the National President of MACBAN, Husseini Bosso, said herdsmen are also victims of kidnappings and banditry contrary to speculations that pastoralists were behind such crimes.
He said, “What is baffling is that crimes perpetuated against pastoralists have no traction in the media. Our members have been the highest victims of criminality,” he said.
“MACBAN chairmen in Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa states and five other local government chairmen, including Gwagwalada area council, were all recently abducted and killed.
“This buttresses the fact that we are not spared from the atrocities of the kidnappings and banditry in our communities.”
