Contrary to national expectation, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bauchi State branch, has condemned the Northern Governors Forum held in Kaduna on Monday, adding that the governors excluded the Fulanis in their celebrations.
According to Fulani representative, the governors failed during their meeting to address the alleged humiliation that herders were being subjected to on grazing reserves in the Southern parts of the country, especially by “powers that are infringing on their rights to movement and association.”
Chairman of the Association, Muhammad Hussaini, said it was disheartening that Northern governors and emirs, who are representatives of the people, could sit to discuss issues affecting the region without recourse to the plight of the Fulani.
According to him, the Fulani tribe, especially the herders who roam about in search of greener pasture for their animals, were being “humiliated, maimed and even killed” in the southern part of the country.
He added that their movements were being restricted “on their fatherland,” saying it is contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
Husaini, who spoke at a meeting of the association in Bauchi on Wednesday, to review the alleged treatment being meted on their kinsmen in the south, wondering how the northern governors and emirs bothered about political issues such as power shift between the country’s regions to the detriment of lives of their people or subjects
He said: “Instead of the Northern governors to show concern to the forms of treatment of herders by Southern governors, they simply sat and discussed issues of personal vendetta without recourse to the people they govern.
“For this, we condemn in totality the Northern Governors’ Forum meeting, with emirs in attendance.
“They sat to discuss their self-aggrandised motives, leveraging on ways and means to enrich themselves to the impairment of the people.”
He also regretted that the APC-led Federal Government could not help matters on issues affecting the Fulani, specifically the nomadic herders, whose preoccupation is to look for greener pastures for their animals.
These ugly drifts, he noted, were also coupled with the current economic meltdown, lack of palliation on the part of the government, and abject poverty bedevilling citizens, with Fulani, not an exception.
