The Fulani herdsmen are ranked as the fourth deadliest armed group.
The Sultan told the mainly Igbo gathering at a grand reception in honour of Nigerian Professional Football League Champions, Rangers International of Enugu, at the Michael Okparaa Square in Enugu, that it was wrong to attribute all herdsmen-related attacks to the Fulani.
“It is not only the Fulani that are herdsmen, there are herdsmen from other ethnic groups in the country,” he said
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“Those who commit crimes in the guise of cattle rearing should be described as criminals, and not as Fulani herdsmen.
“If anybody commits any crime, he should be given his real name, which is a criminal, whether he is Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo or Ibibio.
“Fulanis (sic) have been living in peace with the people in communities where they rear their cattles, (sic) will they wake up one day and start attacking and killing these people? It is not possible. Something must be wrong somewhere.
“We (Fulanis) will never support killing, we will not support killing. I want to tell you that the Fulani people cannot do that.
“Until we give these killers there reals name, which is criminals, we will not overcome the security challenges we have,” Sultan Abubakar said.
According to a report earlier this year by The 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and the Stefanus Foundation, based in the United States, noted that in 2013, the Fulani killed around 80 people in total – but by 2014 the group had killed 1,229.
In Nigeria, the group has sacked villages in Benue, Kaduna, Enugu, Zamfara with pocket of killings in Delta, Ekiti and Niger state.