The Fulani socio-cultural organisation in Nigeria, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has called on President Buhari to as a matter of urgency, arrest former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent remarks on insecurity in the country.
The group said the former President in his open letter to President Buhari released today July 15th, accused Fulani herdsmen of being the root cause of insecurity in the country.
The former President in his open letter, said it is quite unfortunate that criminality has now been attached to the Fulani tribe because President Buhari is from the Fulani extraction.
”The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more, unfortunately, many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship. Perception may be as potent as reality at times. Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis, if any, they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate, be addressed; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue”.
Reacting to the content of his letter, the National Secretary of the Miyetti Allah, Alhassan Saleh, in an interview with newsmen, said the Fulani should not be blamed for the rate of insecurity in the country.
“The fact that there is insecurity, I don’t think the Fulani are responsible for it. The narrative that we are responsible for the insecurity is even the problem we have with the Nigerian state. When any crime happens, even before there is an investigation, people rush to the press and start accusing Fulani herdsmen. Herdsmen are supposed to be carrying herds of cows but if somebody is a criminal or an armed robber, he should be treated as such.
But if Obasanjo, in particular, having ruled this country for so many years and with his network of security contacts, both locally and internationally, has information, I think he can volunteer it” he said
He went on to call on the Federal government to immediately arrest Obasanjo who he accused of attempting to destabilise the government.
“The earlier they get him (Obasanjo) arrested and dealt with, according to the laws of the land, the better. He doesn’t mean well for the country. We just elected a new government; we have a National Assembly that was just inaugurated. Nobody needs any conference, except they are pushing for something else. The unfortunate thing is that intellectuals like Wole Soyinka are also joining the bandwagon of these discredited politicians. But our worry is that they seem to associate every crime that happens now to the Fulani, simply because the President is a Fulani man. We are just waiting and watching carefully because we are not demanding too much from the Nigerian state. All we are saying is give us space to graze our animals. That is not difficult.” Saleh said
