Northern Elders Forum, CNGs Order Fulani Herders To Vacate South

By Ayodele Oluwafemi

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the Coalition of the Northern Groups on Tuesday ordered Fulani herders to evacuate the Southern parts of the country for the north where their safety can be guaranteed.

The Northern elders and northern groups gave the directive in the wake of what they claimed as their dissatisfaction towards alleged threats issued by southern leaders directly at Fulani herders.

They lamented that the southern leaders have changed the narrative of the death of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Fasoranti’s daughter at the expense of the safety of Fulani extraction.

It would be recalled that the Coalition of Northern Group issued a 30-day ultimatum on the reconsideration of the rejected RUGA policy by southern leaders.

Addressing a press conference, after the two groups met, NEF’s Chairman, Prof Ango Abdullahi noted that it is of urgent importance that the Fulani in the south return to the north as the  utterances of Southern leaders in recent days could not guarantee their safety.

He further stressed the need to establish a judicial enquiry to address the loss of properties of Fulani herders, in a bid to determine the mode of compensation. 

According to him: “We are worried about their wellbeing. If it is true that their safety can no longer be, we rather have them back in areas where their safety is guaranteed. The bottom line is that their safety is far more important than their stay there. This is a country we all wish to keep together and not at the expense of other sections.”

Also speaking, the CNG’s spokesperson, Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman said that the southern governors had already concluded plans to restrict the unfettered movement of Fulani herders in the region, which formed the crux of their meeting on 9th July.

Sulaiman accused the southern governors of tagging the Fulani herders as criminal elements, arguing that the discriminatory shift of blame to Fulani herders on the death of Pa. Fasoranti’s daughter is a pointer that the Fulani herders might soon be object of attack in southern  states.

According to him: “Throwing caution to the wind, Gani Adams, Fani Kayode, Yinka Odumakin and a host of other southern regionalists shamelessly insisted on changing the narrative around the killing of the Fashoranti lady. In the process, they threatened all forms of violations and breaches against northerners including the threat of an all-out war.

“With all these statements and steps taken by the southern governors and opinion leaders, we are worried that none of the northern governors or federal official has deemed it apt to caution them.

“The failure or neglect of the police to trace a connection between the Fashoranti murder and the seeming prearranged conduct of Fani Kayode, Odumakin and Adams by their haste to shift the blame in order to render the Fulani object of attack is certainly suspicious.

“We are concerned about the sincerity of the federal government in implementing the NLTP going by the manner previous efforts at executing development projects like the Mambila hydro-electric power project and several initiatives on the herdsmen dilemma were invariably stalled.

“We are equally worried that the NLTP is vested in the office of the vice president that is believed to have frustrated previous projects meant for the north.

“We find it difficult to trust the commitments of this government which has for the past four years failed to execute any positive initiative towards resolving the herders problems nor shown any encouraging concern for the dilemma of the Fulani who have been attacked in various states,” he said.

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