NIGERIA
The government appears to back Fulani outlaws
The Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), that the killings by armed Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria continue to escalate because Fulani herders believe President Muhammadu Buhari (who is also a Fulani) is their ally. For that reason, they can do whatever they want and go scot-free.
“Not enough has been done to challenge the herdsmen killings. That could either be because of a so-called ‘hidden agenda’ or simply the absence of courage, determination, patriotism and political will. Cattle, as important as they are, cannot be valued over human beings. That does not mean that cows should be wounded, stolen or killed. Our President should come out clearly, categorically and courageously to explain to his kinsmen why dialogue is the best solution.”
Many Nigerians have called on President Buhari to combat the armed insurgency of his kinsmen by applying appropriate sanctions supported by the laws of Nigeria. They are asking why President Buhari quickly declared the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), whose mainly Christian members are non-violent, as a terror group. Yet Buhari has been finding logically untenable excuses in a futile bid to exonerate armed Fulani herdsmen of blame in the atrocious mass murders of Christian farmers.
In Plateau state, there are reports that armed Fulani herdsmen ransacked and forcefully took over communities from their ancestral owners, who are now in internally displaced people’s camps, and have even renamed their communities. Special Media Adviser to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, told the media that Nigerians are better off alive than dying in a struggling to save their ancestral lands.
President Buhari has openly stated n a meeting with President Bush that the killers of Christians are Libyans, that the killings are sponsored by his political enemies and that his Fulani kinsmen carry only sticks and cutlass. So why has Buhari asked the victims of these attacks whose lands were taken away by the occupying forces of armed Fulani herdsmen to accommodate their attackers if they are Libyans? The President also wants to establish ranches with government money to placate Fulani herdsmen.
The dubious official statements and policies of the current presidency would indicate that the Fulani outlaws have the support of some top persons in government. Indeed the armed Fulani who are seen as mass murderers by millions of Nigerians are spoken of by the President as harmless unarmed and peaceful people.
