Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Slam FG Over Radio Station For Herdsmen

Less than two days after the Federal Government disclosed that it has acquired an Amplitude Modulation, AM radio broadcast licence to reach herdsmen across the country, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has attacked the government over the decision.

In a statement jointly signed by Yinka Odumakin, Prof Chigozie Ogbu, Senator Bassey Henshaw and Dr. Isuwa Dogo, the forum noted that the move was ill-advised.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu who had confirmed the acquisition of the licence during an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, disclosed that the radio service will operate on frequency of 720KHz, and will be strictly in Fulani language.

He further disclosed that the decision of the government was a measure to enhance nomadic education, adding that it was to end the perennial farmers-herders crises across the country.

However, the Forum described the move as an indictment on the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The statement reads in part, “The announcement came at a time the Federal Government has been acting as the information arm of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen by dissing the correct interpretation of the groups’ activities as attempts to Fulanise Nigeria.

“We totally reject this insensitive decision of the government.”

The Forum said the setting up of the radio station smacks of hypocrisy and deception for a government that has, in the last four years, denied responsibility on behalf of the Fulani herdsmen for crimes the herdsmen even owned up to.

The group noted that Section 55 of the 1999 Constitution recognises English,Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo as languages in which the official business of the National Assembly can be conducted.

“There was no mention of Fulani, which is not a language most northerners even understand.

“Why its sudden promotion to a language the Federal Government will set up a radio to promote?

“Will it also set up radio stations for the officially recognised languages and the over 250 languages spoken in different parts of Nigeria?” the group asked.

The Forum said it feared that the proposed radio would become a weapon of spreading hate propaganda against other nationalities in Nigeria, given the way with which the Buhari administration has handled the killings of thousands of Nigerians in the last four years.

It added, “We recall the genocide-aiding role radio played in inciting ordinary citizens to take part in the massacre of Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the Rwandan Genocide.

“From 1993 to late 1994, RTLM was used by Hutu leaders to broadcast an extremist Hutu message and anti-Tusti disinformation by identifying specific targets and areas where they could be found and encouraging progress of the genocide.

“In 1994, Rwanda Radio began to advance the same message by issuing directives on where to kill Tutsis and congratulating those who had already taken part.”