The Sultan of Sokoto, HRH Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III has faulted the criminalization of the Fulani ethnic group due to some attacks carried out by some people alleged to be from the tribe.
Speaking at a meeting of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN) in Abuja on Friday January 29, the Sultan who is the Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT) of MACBAN, said while there are some Fulanis who engage in criminality like other tribes and ethnic groups who also engage in different acts of criminalities, it is wrong to tag all Fulanis as criminals or using ‘Fulanis herdsmen criminal’ to explain developments.
Admitting that seven out of every 10 kidnappers arrested turn out to be Fulanis, the Sultan insisted that they carried out the attack with the help of people of other ethnic stock.
He said;
“I am a Fulani and I am not a bad man. I am also not a criminal. Those engaged in one forms of crimes or another are across the country. it is not proper to refer to any tribe to describe the crime perpetrated by individuals.
“For example when they collected N10m where and how do you spend this amount in the bush? The money is back in the city, I have told the Inspector General of police to check this, we are not saying Fulanis are not part of the kidnappings as mentioned by the Secretary of Miyetti Allah, seven to eight kidnappers arrested are Fulanis, but that doesn’t mean ever Fulani is a criminal, no they are not.
“We must put hands together to bring an end to this problem. We are going to approach the President to talk to our West African neighbours where we have Fulanis like Senegal, Niger Republic Guinea and Mali, to help us, because most of these bandit cross from neighbouring countries conducted their criminal act and run back.”
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