A Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has demanded that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration arrest former president Olusegun Obasanjo for accusing Fulani herdsmen of being the root cause of insecurity in Nigeria.
In a letter on Monday, July 15, 2019, Obasanjo asked President Buhari to take decisive action against the rising incidents of kidnapping, banditry, and killings perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen. The former president said the world has been warning Nigeria against descending into a state of violence because any outbreak would be difficult to contain.
The organisation, through its national secretary, Alhassan Saleh, asked President Buhari to immediately arrest Obasanjo arguing that the latter does not mean well for the country’s progress. While speaking with journalists on Monday, July 15, Saleh said the Fulani should not be blamed for the escalating 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,” he said.
“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 advised the federal government to take decisive action against all elements and their sponsors causing instability in the country, adding that Obasanjo may want to destabilise the government. His words,
“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.”
