The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo has said that his group was prepared to ensure that only those that love the Fulani win national elections in 2023.

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the leader of the Fulani socio-cultural group accused local vigilantes in Taraba and Zamfara states of killing herdsmen and rustling their cattle while the government and security agencies keep mute. He spoke on other issues.

There has been an appreciable reduction in herdsmen, farmers’ clashes. Could this be the outcome of the Interactive Policy Dialogue and Cultural Day Festival you organised recently for the Fulani?

Yes. During the dialogue, I tried to bring the Fulani together and talked to them. It was the first and biggest gathering of our ethnic group. Most of them were the youths; so, the peace you are reaping today is the fruit of that event. Fulani, have great respect for me; they need a person who will guide and give them direction, which is what I have been doing. Because of the negative things people were saying about them, those who were supposed to speak for them, to direct them, have abandoned them. I have been with them, I’m a typical Fulani, and I cannot abandon them. By God’s grace, I have been able to change the ugly narratives about my ethnic group, and those who didn’t want to identify with us before are looking for ways to come in now that I have changed the narrative. What I’m doing is because of God, the love for Fulani and Nigeria. We tell our people that Nigeria is one and they should see everyone as a Nigerian. Even kidnapping has come down; people who were doing it and wanted it to be seen as Fulani are retracing their footsteps. That programme contributed to douse the tension in the country.

How do you mean that those who should speak for the Fulani have abandoned them? Are the Fulani not in positions of authority?

What I was driving at is that before, those who were adjudged to speak for Fulani were scared because of the propaganda carried out against the race, which made them to keep away from their people. They didn’t want to be identified with their people. Example, former Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, was a commissioner in the state, and from there, he became a minister and then he became a governor and served for eight years.  When he held sway as the governor, he didn’t drill any borehole for the Fulani, he didn’t build any school for them, and he didn’t create any grazing reserve for them. But now, he is jumping up and down, running from here and there, and is trying to say that he is the leader of Fulani. Is it not surprising for somebody who has been a governor for eight years and didn’t remember the Fulani to at least build a borehole for them to be claiming to be their leader? As the executive governor of the state, he has the power to create a grazing reserve for them, and now he is running around claiming to be the leader of the Fulani in Nigeria, probably to use that for politics or election. He wants to use that to corner some desperate politicians. In 2019, he went to meet the Fulani in Bauchi State, and was moving from house to house telling them to come out and vote M. A. Abubakar, but no one agreed to follow him; they didn’t vote for his preferred candidate and now he is back again looking for power at all cost. He will fail again. He can’t trade with our people’s votes.     

Since you said the programme has solved the herders, farmers clashes, is there still any reason to insist on grazing reserves as a solution to the conflicts?

Everywhere the Fulani are in this country, they are not comfortable; they are just managing. There are no defined places they are grazing their cows; there is no place for them to stay. Look at what is happening in Taraba State, where local vigilantes are killing Fulani, razing their houses and rustling their cows. These vigilantes have ordered the Fulani to leave three of the local governments. These crises happening in Zamfara and Taraba states are just the result of these vigilantes taking the law into their hands. In these states, you see a vigilante moving around with AK-47 rifle, while the security agencies watch them and do nothing. This is the report we are receiving. Nobody has given them any place to stay and do their grazing; they are just managing wherever they found themselves. We have written to state governments and the federal government to expedite action to create grazing reserves for our people. What is the essence of asking Fulani to leave your local government? You kill them, take away their cows to your house. IGP and the Commissioner of Police in Taraba State are aware of this development. The vigilante men are carrying AK- 47 guns moving around, killing our people. This is similar to what happened in Zamfara that led to the crisis that has persisted in that state. Local vigilantes arrested some Fulani, killed them and took away their cows, which brought about the banditry in Zamfara and Katsina states.

But many people accuse the Fulani herdsmen of moving with AK-47 guns. So, the vigilantes are also armed with the same assault rifles?

From the reports we have, and we have asked our lawyer to do a petition over this – it is the local vigilantes armed with AK-47 guns that are pursuing the Fulani, asking them to leave. Before you knew it, they would kill them, throw away their corpses and take away their cows, while the government of Taraba keeps mute. This is a recent incident. Over 40 of our people came to my office to give the report and asked me to report the matter to the Federal Government, IGP and other security agencies to halt the killing of our people there. They burnt over 500 Fulani houses in two local governments.

Benue governor, Ortom has set up a security outfit to halt what he described as ‘herdsmen menace or killings’ of their people. What is your take on this?

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Since Ortom emerged as governor, the Fulani have never had peace in Benue State. He came up with the anti-grazing law to send our people out from the state. His latest antics is not the end; he would still come up with more. I don’t know the reason he hates the Fulani so much, but I have tried to make him to understand that he is a state governor and not the governor of Tiv tribe. As a governor, you are supposed to carry everybody along, not only your ethnic group, but Ortom’s own is different. They have taken over 20,000 cows from herdsmen. This security outfit is to consolidate his hatred for our people; we are still in court with him over anti-grazing law. You arrest over 20,000 of our people’s cows, you take some to your house, you sell some of them, and you ask them to come and bail each cow with N10, 000.  This is the same country; the same Nigeria.

You said your people are not comfortable in Nigeria. Will it be a determinant factor in deciding who to vote in 2023?

We are not happy and that is why we are trying to take control of our destiny by directing our people to get their PVCs. In less than ten months, Ortom will be a former governor and will never be governor again all through his lifetime. Some of these present governors who hate Fulani will soon be former governors, and we will help to bring to power new governors who would love our people; and they will not have the same character with the likes of Ortom.

We have our plan to contribute to the political development of this country. All these Fulani haters will lose elections from presidential election down. Our ordeal in the hands of state governors has made us to re-strategize for next year’s election. We are going to bring in those who love us, and can give us peace to do our business. Since that time of voters registration, we’ll set up a committee to carry out massive awareness among our people, the way it has never been done before, to get their PVCs and get prepared for 2023, so that we direct or tell them what we want them to do or who they should vote for during the elections. It is going to be different from the way it used to be.         

What is your organisation doing to boost good relations between the Fulani and other Nigerians in the Northeast and the South?

We are coming out with a programme designed to make the Fulani and the people of the south, whether South-West, South-East, South-South and also North Central and others to live together in peace and harmony.  There is no need for them to continue to fight and waste human lives. We have spoken to the Fulani that they should not see Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw, Tiv, Hausa, Ibibio, etc as their enemies, the same with other ethnic groups, they should not see the Fulani as their enemies; we all are one in this country.

Even today, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore had meeting with youths from different parts of the country in order to ensure peace.  It is also to tell them that the Fulani are very peaceful and where you see them; they are just concerned with their cows. Their problem is just how to feed their cattle; they are not claiming land or peoples properties. What they need is just grazing reserve where they will stay. They don’t need the facilities and amenities you have in towns. It is not a difficult thing to do. If the Federal Government is sincere in ending these clashes, it won’t take her three months to create grazing reserves. Herdsmen are known with their sticks, but the people carrying guns are not from Nigeria. Take a closer look at their pictures; you will know that they are not Fulani from Nigeria. A Fulani that is carrying his children and wives, how can he go and look for trouble?  We are trying to make communities to understand the Fulani.

Unlike before, terrorists seem to have infiltrated the South-West, with killings and kidnappings in some communities in Ondo, Ekiti and others. How can the government tackle this?    

If terrorists have entered the South-West, South-East or any other place, the security agencies are there, and they should know who the terrorist are and to uproot them. If these terrorists go and commit atrocities, people will start mentioning Fulani as being responsible. The security should try to nip it in the bud before it develops into another thing because people will accuse herdsmen as being responsible for whatever havoc done by these bad people.

There is insecurity is everywhere. Last weekend, a serving senator was almost assassinated in the South-East. What is your advice on how to arrest this ugly trend?

The government should collaborate with local people to solve these security challenges because every crime is local. The government should work with local vigilantes. However, the problem is that when these vigilantes start to operate, the herdsmen will become victims. They would leave the people they were supposed to protect to begin to attack herders, accusing them of terrorism. We are seeing local vigilantes in some states in the North killing innocent Fulani in the name of fighting banditry. The government should relate with local vigilantes and monitor or supervise their operations.