Miyetti Allah Admits Aggrieved Herders Among Bandits Terrorising Nigeria

A Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has admitted that some of the bandits terrorising the country are aggrieved herdsmen whose cows had been rustled by other criminals.

The spokesperson of the group, Saleh Alhassan, said some of the herders had resorted to banditry after being displaced due to activities of Boko Haram and other bandits.

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Alhassan, who spoke to The Punch in an interview on Wednesday, said it was appalling to see herders being victimized, profiled and then stripped off their livelihood by criminals.

“Herdsmen in this country are facing challenges for so many reasons. You have pressures from Boko Haram that have displaced them. You have activities of bandits that have displaced them, they are moving towards the hinterlands and the Southern part of the country.

“In the recent past, they mounted pressure on some of the herders, they lost their cattle, so now they join bandits, the bandits we are talking about,” Alhassan said.

He described the alleged victimization of Fulanis in the country as, “organised terrorism against an economic group”.

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Alhassan said, “All those herders they are raiding in villages, in communities are just victims and it is sad and you expect people that are supposed to lead the way in terms of justice and fairness will just watch these things happening. It doesn’t add up.

“Herdsmen in this country are facing challenges for so many reasons. You have pressures from Boko Haram that have displaced them. You have activities of bandits that have displaced them, they are moving towards the hinterlands and the Southern part of the country. You also have the issues of climate change and other environmental factors and at the same time, you have total neglect; the northern governors have not done what they are supposed to do. If they had maintained those grazing reserves that we had in the north, build dam, make sure they sensitise the herders, they won’t be in those places they find themselves of recent.

“When you destroy pastoralism, when you destroy grazing, you are going to create another problem because these are Nigerians, they are not going anywhere and if you don’t give them alternatives, you will have a rank of unemployed youths in the country.

“If they had maintained those grazing reserves that we had in the north, build dam, make sure they sensitise the herders, they won’t be in those places they find themselves of recent,” he said.

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