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Again, Mohammed justifies use of AK-47, take over of forests by Fulani herders

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Fish out criminals among you

 

BY NICHOLAS ABE


Bauchi State governor, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, has continued to defend his position, justifying why Fulani herders carry the assault rifles, AK-47.

Mohammed, in attempt to modify his earlier comment at a media event in Bauchi, stoutly condoning the bearing of arms by Fulani cattle herders, further dug himself into the pit.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governor had in his first statement dubbed his counterparts, the governors of Benue State, Samuel Ortom and Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, as Fulani haters. He blamed Ortom for the perceived negative image of the Fulani, in Nigeria.

Following a deluge of negative public reaction that trailed his support for the use of arms by the Fulani herders, Mohammed embarked on series of media appearances to amend his position. But he has continued to sink deeper into the hole.

Speaking Friday on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Mohammed told his audience that his justification of the use of AK-47 weapon by Fulani herdsmen was a “figure of speech” for protection.

“It is a figure of speech to show you the despondence, the desperation and frustration and the agony that this particular person (the Fulani herder) is exposed to by his own people, by his own tribe and by other tribes who have all seen him as a criminal and therefore, he has the inalienable right to protect himself,” the governor said.

READ: Governor justifies use of guns by Fulani herdsmen, says forests owned by FG

He laboriously argued that Fulani herdsmen were exposed and needed to protect themselves.

“What I said in that context, I was addressing the media people. And the topic was the use of the media to foster national unity and I was trying to situate the problem,” the former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) vented.

He continued: “The Fulani man is so exposed, dehumanised, demonised in fact, because he is being seen as a bandit and so, anywhere he goes, he is being pursued. Not only in the southwest or the southeast, even in the north because he is in the cattle route, his commonwealth which I call his cows, are being taken and rustled and of course, sometimes, they are fined beyond your imagination. If one cow strays into the farm because the cattle route has been taken away illegally without the authority giving permission, he will be fined seriously, mercilessly.

“And so, he is exposed and then he has no option but to protect himself. We have so many vigilante groups in Nigeria even at the level of government, subregional groups, sub nationals are establishing vigilante groups to make sure that their communities are protected. Why wouldn’t the Fulani man protect himself? And if he carries a gun in order to protect himself, it may not be a legal carriage, it may be legal. He may also register and carry it to protect himself.”

Mohammed added that Nigerians do not need the permission of the government, whether federal or state, to live in the forests in any part of the country.

According to him, “Land is in the hands of the state and federal governments in trust but Nigerians don’t need the permission of governors or the federal government to settle everywhere. You don’t need the permission of the governor of Bauchi or the governor of Ondo to be in the forests of Ondo if you choose to live in the forests because under Section 41 of the constitution, you are free to settle anywhere.”

READ: Nigerians have lost confidence in you – Ortom to Buhari

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), the umbrella association of cattle herders in Nigeria, has already hailed Mohammed as a hero and defender of the Fulani tribe for speaking up in their favour, while accusing Ortom and Akeredolu of hatred.

In a statement titled, ‘His Excellency Abdulkadir Bala Mohammed – Executive Governor, Bauchi State: The gradual emergence of a courageous northern leader’, the National Secretary, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Mr. Saleh Alhassan, described the Bauchi State governor as the only lone voice among his peers in the North in defence of Fulani pastoralists.

The statement read, “Governor Bala Mohammed has treaded where angels are scared to tread in the past. He has taken what every politician will consider as political risk in the past by holding divergent views where others have failed or chickened out. So, his current position on the herders/farmers conversation is not strange or out of context.”

On governors Ortom and Akeredolu, the association said, “Governor Bala Mohammed has refused to be like Governor of Benue State H.E. Samuel Ortom, whose only achievement is the rising of ethnic militia and gang leaders that have been visiting mayhem of killings in his state.

“Akeredolu will be held accountable for the ongoing genocide against innocent pastoralists and northerners living in the South-West.”

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