Northern youths attacks Buhari says ‘Fulani herdsmen are criminals, terrorists’
Benue Killings – Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has expressed anger at President Muhammadu Buhari’s treatment of killer herdsmen.
The group said it was disturbed that Buhari has yet to declare the perpetrators terrorists.
AYCF’s position is contained in a statement by Comrade Mohammed Kudu Abubakar, Deputy National President.
Abubakar lamented that the President has kept silent for long despite calls on him to take proactive actions in curbing the excesses of Fulani herdsmen.
He reiterated that the herdsmen should be regarded as terrorists and dealt with in line with the law.
“A criminal is a criminal; they are terrorists and have to be dealt with regarding whether they are from any tribe.
”The president should follow the constitution and deal with them accordingly. The killing is very criminal and the herdsmen should not go unpunished”, he said.
Abubakar also demanded that a committee is set up to investigate how herdsmen evolved from nomads into gun-wielding cattle rearers.
“The federal government has to make a panel to investigate who these herdsmen are and why they behave the way they do.
”We need to ask where they get the guns they used in the killing and where they learned how to shoot guns”, he added.
On the Anti-Open Grazing Bill (effective in Benue and Ekiti states) which Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian (MACBAN) opposed, Abubakar agreed that each state has the right to pass a law that will protect it.
“If Benue State comes out with the law through its National Assembly and bars movement of Fulani herdsmen, they have the right to do so. It is their state, that is how they want to stay and there is nothing wrong in that.
”They (herdsmen) should move away from the state rather than forcing themselves and be causing trouble because a lot of lives are going down,” he added.
