…FG, states must act fast because members want justice – Leaders
…More Fulani leaders react to perceived military air strikes
…The figure we recovered was up to 60, not 42. – Salihu Muhammad
…If the military is not owning the blame, somebody has to take responsibility—who ordered the killings? – Bambado II
The Sarkin Fulani of Lagos State, Muhammadu Bambado, and his counterpart in Nasarawa State, Salihu Muhammad, have condemned the alleged killing by military airstrikes of over 42 Fulani herders, who some military sources say tried to tag bandits in the early hours of Wednesday.
They not only condemned what they described as a wicked killing ostensibly orchestrated, allegedly, by the Benua state governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, but also knocked down attempts by some “faceless military sources” to tag people who they said were clearly normal Nigerians doing their normal businesses but killed unjustly as terrorists.
It is untrue. One of them kicked off by saying those youths lived in a Nasarawa state boundary town with Benue, Rukubi, where Fulani people are settled in Doma local government area, but that their cows, naturally and characteristically, grazed into Benue State territory, leading to their being seized by Benue State Livestock Guards under the claim of enforcing the “so-called” anti-open grazing law of the Ortom-led administration.
The DEFENDER can authoritatively report that Fulani leaders across Nigeria and their outreach internationally are aggrieved, angered, and saddened by the killings they described as “obviously offshoots of the anti-Fulani project of Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom either misleading the military or some elements within the all-important armed forces purposefully colluding with the governor to implement his hate for Fulani people.”
Among them were the Ardo, which is the Sarkin Fulani of Nasarawa State, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric and an active Fulani rights advocate, Mallam Salihu Muhammad, and the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, His Royal Highness Dr. Mohammed Abubakar Bambado II.
Speaking with The DEFENDER Newspaper in the early hours of Thursday from Kaduna, Mallam Salihu Muhammad, who, despite the military’s continued silence or allowing the “evil deeds” to remain the subject of guessing from unconfirmed sources, confirmed the “mischief” in the allegedly obscure military operation, vehemently posited that it was not possible for anyone to claim that those herders killed Wednesday were bandits.
According to Muhammad, “This is not the first time Fulani herders are being unjustly killed on the ground that their shed blood has always been traced to Governor Ortom.” “The Fulani all over the country and right-thinking people globally have no doubt in their minds that Governor Ortom’s mission in government is to help himself and those who share his hate-based political ideology exterminate the Fulani people.”
He said, “Dead people who had the governor of Nasarawa State represented by his deputy, the emirs of Lafia and Doma, and other well-meaning leaders attend their funeral on Wednesday and who were confirming that they were killed unjustly.” How can you say those people were bandits? They had relatives who knew why and when they left homes to go to Ortom’s Livestock Guards to collect their released cows, for which release they paid N29,500,000 among them a lawyer. You can’t be fair to call them terrorists. “”It is a misplacement of justice, and Allah will judge Ortom but let the governments of Nigeria, Nassarawa, and Benue states investigate and act in fulfillment of the duty Allah placed on them.”
In a WhatsApp message he sent before the voice Interview, the Fulani rights advocate said: “Subha-nallah this is what Ortom of Benue State did to our Fulani pastoralist yesterday 24th January 2023 after kidnapping their 1,250 cows and they paid the ransom of ₦29,500,000.00. And he killed them again, and it’s not even in Benue State it’s in Nasarawa State at Rukubi under Doma LGA of Nasarawa State, yesterday (Wednesday).”
In a 30-minute media interview in his palace on Thursday, the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos and Chairman, South West Council of Fulani Chiefs, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar Bambado II, said the killings were sad, wicked, and unacceptable, and must be investigated by the Federal Government and the governments of Nasarawa and Benue state, respectively.
Trusting that the Nigerian Armed Forces under the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky EO Irabor, and Nigerian Air Force under the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladapo Amao, would not give such instruction for any jet fighter to fly into the sky and strike innocent Nigerians without correct intelligence, the Fulani leader expressed hope that they would take necessary actions now and not later.
“For what? Because they are cows’ owners or because they are Fulani people of Nigeria? Military leadership could not do that. That is why they are not coming out to speak but somebody must take responsibility for it,” he said.
Told that although there has been no statement from the military that military sources claimed they did operations and that they only killed bandits, Sarki Bambado II said:
“We, the Fulani people, are an anti-crime group of people.” So, we will never go against any military action to end terrorist or bandit activities anywhere in Nigeria, even if they are found out to be from among the bad eggs of the Fulani tribe like they could be from among the bad eggs of the Yoruba or Igbo tribes. So, if they had airstrikes bandits, who of course are criminals and to whom even many Fulani herders have fallen victim, we would commend them.
“But for you to kill people who are law-abiding and are only doing what they know best how to do, herding, after you have held their cows for a long time, starving them and subjecting them to paying a ransom of N29,500,000 or thereabouts, you still give the military misinformation to go ahead and kill so-called bandits when you know quite well that you were the one that asked them to come and collect their cows after paying heavily for their release, and you call those people bandits? No!
“Something fast must be done by the federal government because our people are demanding justice and it must not be delayed.” Ortom, on the other hand, will pay for everything he has done to the Fulani race in Nigeria because all anti-Fulani hate and campaigns that have occurred across other regions of Nigeria have originated in Benue State under his leadership. Until he joined the government, the Fulani had lived in peace with the Benue people.
“Governor Ortom is an open enemy of Fulani people to the extent that he went to a state that is not even his own and killed innocent Nigerians out of hatred for their tribe.” He will pay for all of these because we will use all means available under the law to achieve that since he failed to remember that there is always life after government. “But let the federal government and the military do their own parts first,” he said.
