TheNewsGuru

Tag: Fulani

  • Herdsmen killings: Buhari surrounded by bad advisers- Ortom

    Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday expressed pity for President Muhammadu Buhari while stressing that he is surrounded by a wrong set of people that could not give him useful advice that would see the nation out of the trouble of herdsmen killings .

    Ortom stated this while reacting to statement made by Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali, who linked recent massacre of innocent people by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the state to the promulgation of the anti-open grazing laws and blockade of grazing routes.

    The governor also maintained that the comment was a clear indication that the solution to the security crises confronting the country in not in sight, stressing that the position of the minister was tantamount to “dancing on the graves of those who were murdered in the state on January 1″.

    He said: “If that minister said that, I think I will just conclude that the people around Buhari, our President, are a wrong set of people who are not capable of giving him quality advice and also proffer solutions to the problems we have here.

    “These are people who are supposed to be supporting Mr. President and for their selfish interests, they are misinforming him, they are misdirecting him to do the wrong thing. Killings are going on in the state and you are talking about law, is there any law prohibiting cattle grazing in Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, Ekiti, Imo, Oyo and other states including Zamfara? Ortom described the statement as unfortunate, and noted that his administration did not commit any crime by enacting the law which he said would bring the perennial crisis between cattle herders and crop farmers to abrupt end.

    The governor stated that people of the state would continue to be law abiding in the face of unprovoked attacks until justice was done. He noted that despite continued attacks on his people by armed Fulani herdsmen which he said are known, security agencies had tagged them as foreign terrorists from Islamic State In West Africa (ISWA), regretting why immunity which is the prerogative of the President, the Vice President as well as governors and their deputies had been extended to cattle and Fulani herdsmen by the present administration.

    He added: “I have thought that immunity in this country belongs to the President, the Vice-President, governors and deputy governors, but by what I heard from the minister, if he said it, it means the federal government has provided immunity for Fulani herdsmen who killed, maimed and raped our women, they have also provided immunity for cattle in Nigeria which is very wrong.”

    Ortom who asked the minister to apologise to the government and people of the state for the statement which he said was an insult to the state, described the security challenge in Benue as an ugly monster that is capable of consuming the entire country if nothing is done to tackle it headlong. He advised the Federal Government to rise up to the challenge confronting states since it is its responsibility to provide security for the lives and property of the citizenry.

  • Sultan tongue-lashes those demanding Fulani herdsmen be labelled terrorist group

    The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, yesterday, condemned those calling for proscription of Fulani herdsmen group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria [MACBAN], despite the series of attacks launched against communities in different parts of the country.

    He also absolved MACBAN, of any culpability in the recent killings of farmers in some parts of the country by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

    Speaking at the General Assembly of Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, IDFP, in Abuja, Sultan Abubakar III, however, expressed shock that the federal government and security agencies had done nothing about herdsmen bearing arms in the country, despite the series of attacks they had launched against communities in different parts of the country.

    He asked: “How is it possible for Fulani to attack settlements or communities to carry out killings of innocent people, destroy property and disappear without trace? Sultan Abubakar said Miyetti Allah was formed over 32 years ago to cater for the welfare and advance the growth of Fulani business.

    He said that any Fulani man carrying arms and ammunition was not a member of the Miyetti Allah, explaining that the group which is now under his leadership as Grand Patron, was never a criminal group.

    Miyetti Allah not criminal group Sultan Abubakar, who berated those calling for proscription of the group, challenged them to as well call for proscription of other Socio-ethnic organisations such as Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Arewa Consultative Forum, among others.

    He said: “Miyetti Allah doesn’t control any Fulani man. Calling for proscription of Miyetti Allah is equivalent to calling for the proscription of other ethnic organisations like Afenifere, ACF, Ohanaeze and others. “It was formed 32 years ago and these crises were not there.

    I am the patron and we have never asked Fulani herdsman to kill anybody. “Any Fulani man caught killing is a criminal and should be treated as such. What are the security agencies doing? If they have failed, they should accept that they have failed. “What is going on is not an ethnic problem; it’s not a religious problem, it’s an economic problem.” On the way out, the Sultan, who advocated dialogue, said: “What we need is to sit down and dialogue.

    As religious leaders, we have to be very careful what we say, because it carries weight; our followers listen to us very seriously. “We must believe in one another, trust and love ourselves because that is what our two major religions advocate. We must continue to speak with one voice. We should not be labeling everybody a criminal because his brother is a criminal. “People are saying, label Miyetti Allah a terrorist group. No, we are not terrorists and can’t join terrorism.”

    On the situation in Benue State, he recalled: “This thing didn’t start today. In the past eight years, I have been to Benue many times to discuss this issue. “We had met for hours and reached agreements, yet nothing has been implemented. Why? The former governors of Benue are still alive and they know all these.

    “Even the present governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, had written to me to come again with my peace mission, but we had not had the opportunity before this round of crisis. “We must come to the bottom of this issue.

    Meanwhile, the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Dr. Samson Ayokunle, holds a contrary view to the Sultan.

    Ayokunle on his side accused some religious leaders of being insincere while commenting on the issue of killing of innocent people in the country.

    Ayokunle, who was represented by the Bishop of Yola, Bishop Stephen Manza, said: ‘’As religious leaders, we need to condemn evil in this country. We’re seated here today as religious leaders, but how sincere are we in what we say?

    “Christians at all levels believe in peace. This is time for us to speak with one voice. But my concern is whether we are sincere in what we are doing.

    “We religious leaders, we deceive people a lot. We say one thing when we have another thing in mind. Our tribal and religious affiliations have overshadowed our Nigerianness.

    “The problem is that we keep mute once a person is killed if he is not a member of our faith. Another thing is that we identify with people of our faith, even when the person is doing the wrong thing. We all know that President Muhammadu Buhari is not handling the security situation in the country well but certain persons are not talking, may be because he is a Muslim. And when Jonathan was there, some Christian leaders kept quiet because he’s a Christian.”

    On his part, the Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Dioceses, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, however, assured Nigerians that the problem of insecurity threatening the soul of the nation was surmountable if Nigerians build trust among themselves.

    He said: “Nothing happening in this country now that is beyond us, it is within our hands. But just like the Bishop of Yola has said, we need sincerity.

    “We shouldn’t be praying for peace, when in the real sense, we are the ones causing crises everywhere. Talking for peace will give peace if there is truth. So, we must learn to build trust, trusting one another. We must join hands to do what is right.”

  • Sanusi’s genocide claims against Fulani in Taraba false, misleading – CAN

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Taraba State on Tuesday described as baseless and misleading the recent claim by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that over 800 Fulani people were killed in Taraba in 2017.

    Recall that Sanusi had in an interview with journalists last week alleged that in one weekend, 800 Fulani people were killed on the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State.

    “I personally handed over to the federal government a dossier with the name and pictures of 800 Fulani people slaughtered in Taraba as well name of persons known to have participated in the act of ethnic cleansing but nothing has been done,” Sanusi alleged.

    However, the Association in a press statement issued in Jalingo on Tuesday and signed by the CAN Chairman in the state, Rev. Dr. Ben Ubeh, the association debunked the claim by the emir and urged him to stop fueling false propaganda and wooing sentiments for his kinsmen who are in actual sense, killing people on a daily basis in some parts of the country.

    “The records are there in most of the national dailies that reported the communal clash on the Mambilla last year. NGOs, UNCHR and other international organizations visited the Mambilla in the wake of that crisis, but in all of these the highest number of death recorded from both side was 18.

    “How is it possible to manipulate the figures and force all the different agencies to report 18 death figure. Obviously, the 800 Fulani people that were slaughtered according to Sanusi only existed in his imagination,” the statement said.

    While calling on the federal government to drop the idea of Cattle colonies, but assist herdsmen to build private Ranches, CAN urged the federal government to look into the plight of the over 10,000 internally displaced persons currently in camps as a result of herdsmen attacks in the state.

    The association called on all Nigerians to rise up and condemn the killings currently going on in the country, even as it urged people to be vigilant and pray fervently for peace in the land.

     

     

     

  • Fulani herdsmen are killers, not victims –Taraba govt

    Fulani herdsmen are killers, not victims –Taraba govt

    Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, has said any blackmail and propaganda employed by cattle breeders to turn themselves into victims will fail, saying the herdsmen are the killers and not victims.

    Ishaku statement is coming on the heels of the comment by his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, that the claim by the herdsmen that some state governments were arming militias to attack them was a lie.

    The apex body of Fulani cattle herders, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, in an earlier press conference on Sunday, had said the governments of Benue, Taraba states and others were sponsoring a hate campaign against herdsmen and also arming ethnic militias to kill them.

    The National Secretary of MACBAN, Usman Ngeljarma, spoke for the group in Abuja on Sunday.

    The MACBAN secretary said, “It is no longer hidden that some state governments are sponsoring ethnic militias against our people, recruiting and arming locals to kill our people and rustle their livestock as seen recently in Benue and Taraba states.”

    But the Taraba State governor, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Bala Abu, said the Miyetti Allah was trying desperately to turn the truth upside down.

    “The people who were given mass burial were not the Fulani. National television stations and newspapers published the story. No single Fulani man was killed; instead, they (Fulani) were the killers.

    “I challenge them to come out with evidence against the governor that he is training ethnic militia against the Fulani. They should also name the location where the training is taking place so security agencies can move in to effect arrest.

    “We are aware of their plot to stop the implementation of the Taraba State Open Grazing Prohibition Law which is due to commence soon, but the governor won’t be deterred in his quest to bring peace to the state,” he said.

  • Herdsmen demand compensation for members affected in crisis

    The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to pay compensation to herdsmen affected by all forms of crisis in the country.

    The National Secretary of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, made the appeal while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday on the position of the association to the crisis between farmers and herdsmen across the country.

    Ngelzarma said the decision was the position of members reached at the end of its National Council meeting.

    He said that no fewer than 1,000 of its members including women and children have been killed and 20,000 cattle rustled between June 2017 and January 2018 during crises in various states.

    The National Secretary called for the setting up of a Federal Judicial Commission of Inquiry to access the killings in order to unravel the truth and offenders.

    “We call on the government to pay compensation to victims of all crises to reduce their level of suffering.

    “If the government accepts that, it is left for them to establish a committee that will go and access the level of damage.

    “We have a document of members that were affected by the pastoralists in the North-East but what we discovered is that none of them were captured in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) programme because they are not sedentary.

    “Let the government compensate. That will help calm the situation very well,’’ he said.

    Ngelzarma, who said the association had over 20 million registered members and no fewer than 50 million cattle, regretted that they were the most neglected farmers in the country.

    He appealed to the Federal Government to set up a Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to attend to the multidimensional needs of the industry.

    Ngelzarma said the association welcomed the current resolve by the Federal Government to address the lingering crises, adding that dialogue was the solution to the tackling the menace.

    “We submit ourselves for any positive participation to restore mutual and harmonious relationship in the country.

    “We dissociate ourselves from any other group or individual that is out to foment trouble in the country.

    “We demand for immediate disarmament of all illegally armed militias across the country in the interest of peace, security and stability,’’ he said.

    TheNewsGuru reports that Ngelzarma was accompanied to the briefing by the National President, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa and other members of the association from different states.

     

  • Anambra church gun attack: Here is all you need to know

    There has been a distortion in the reports on the identity of the actual killer, [gunman] or killers [gunmen] of eight worshippers on Sunday at St. Philip Catholic Church, Ozubulu in Anambra state.

    When the first wave of news reports on incident hit the internet space, over four hours ago [12:00 pm], most news media at the time, erroneously reported that the attack was perpetrated by some unknown gunmen.

    However, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar on Sunday confirmed that it is only one gunman that carried out the killings.

    Also, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who reacted to the Anambra Church killings in a video shared by his supporters on Facebook led a whole lot of netizens confused about the ethnic background of the gunman, by blaming the Hausa, Fulani as being the mastermind of the incident.

    In the video, enraged Kanu said Igbos are tired of the so many killings which he blamed on the current structure of the country that placed ‘Biafra’ under the Nigerian government.

    Watch the video: ‘We are tired of being killed by Hausa,Fulani’ – Nnamdi Kanu

    On the contrary, Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, while quoting an intelligence report gathered by the state linked the shooting to an existing feud existing between some members of Umuezekwe Ofufe Amakwa community of Ozubulu living abroad.

    Accordingly, the report of the state’s commissioner of police, Garba corroborated with Governor Obiano’s account, which both debunks the Nnamdi Kanu speculation of a possible invasion.

    Garba said, “From our findings, it is very clear that the person who carried the attack must be an indigene of the area.“We gathered that worshippers for 6 o’clock Sunday mass at St. Philip Ozobulu were in the service when a gunman dressed in black attire covering his face with a cap entered the church and moved straight to a particular direction and opened fire.

    “The man after shooting at his targeted victims still went on a shooting spree, killing and wounding other worshippers,’’ he said.

    The commissioner said information available to police showed that the attacker was speaking undiluted Igbo Language at the time he was firing at worshippers.

    Parish priest, choir member speak

    The Parish Priest of St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Jude Onwuaso, said that the attack took place at about 6.30 a.m. during a Holy Mass celebration.

    According to the priest, an unidentified man came into the Church, shot at a man, Chief Akunwafor Ikegwuonwu, before shooting sporadically at other worshippers.

    An eyewitness, who simply identified herself as a choir member, said that the church was dark as there was no light.

    She said that the generating set suddenly developed fault; so, the mass proceeded with the congregation using candles.

    According to her, the gunman, after the shooting, immediately jumped into a waiting car with a driver.

    Why the shootings?

    There are strong speculations that the gun attack is motivated by drug deals gone wrong.

    Recall that the Obiano gave a hint, saying the killings were as a result of a feud existing between some members of Umuezekwe Ofufe Amakwa community of Ozubulu who are living abroad.

     

     

     

     

  • Hausa, Fulani behind most killings, kidnappings in Delta — Okowa

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said that Hausa/Fulanis resident in the state are responsible for most of the killings and kidnappings the state.

    Okowa revealed this on Wednesday during a Town Hall meeting in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.

    Represented by his Special Adviser on Rural Development and Peace building, Chief Edwin Uzor, Okowa said his administration has done a lot to reduce clashes between herdsmen and local indigenes to the barest minimum.

    He said, “There would have been much more killings but for our consultations. Most of the kidnappings in the state are perpetrated by the Hausa/Fulani in connivance with some of our people.”

    The town-hall meeting was put together by a non-governmental organization, LITE-Africa, to flag off the National Initiative for Sustainable Peace Building Architecture, NISPA, action in Delta State, funded by the European Union, EU, and Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.

  • 15-yr-old Fulani herdsman sentenced to death for murder

    15-year-old Fulani herdsman, Haruna Usman was convicted to death by a Kogi State High Court on Tuesday.

    Usman was said to have been guilty of stabbing one Happy David to death following an argument while trying to graze on the farm of the parents of the deceased.

    He was said to have committed the crime on July 28, 2015 at Emiworo Village in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area of Kogi State.

    To prove its case against the convict, the prosecution called six witnesses and tendered six exhibits.

    Usman, however gave evidence for himself, and called only two witnesses.

    Chief Judge of Kogi State, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, found him guilty.

    According to the prosecution, the deceased tried to stop Usman who was trying to graze his cows on his parents farm.

    Usman was said to have stabbed him in the back and ran away.

    Justice Ajana held the prosecution was able to prove its case that Usman killed David.

    “I am, therefore, also convinced that the prosecution has proved the third ingredient of the offence of culpable homicide beyond reasonable doubt. I, therefore, in the circumstance of this case, find the accused person guilty of the offence of culpable homicide punishable with death under Section 221 of the Penal Code.”

    The judge added, “I shall, therefore, in conformity with the provision of Section 272(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code be ordering the detention of the convict at the governor’s pleasure.

    “The convict shall be detained at Koton-Karfe Prison where he had been during his trial, to await the governor’s pleasure.”

  • ‘Own a sword, defend yourselves’, bishop tells Christians

    ‘Own a sword, defend yourselves’, bishop tells Christians

    Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Ughelli, Delta State, Bishop Diamond Emuobor, said Christians in the country should endeavor to own a sword and defend themselves against rampaging Fulani herdsmen.

    Emuobor gave the charge on Wednesday in Ughelli while reacting to recent killings in Southern Kaduna which had claimed lives and property.

    The General Overseer of Trinity Gospel Mission with its headquarters in Delta State said it was not unbiblical for a Christian to defend himself against external aggressors.

    He added, “Christians should defend themselves and he who has no sword, should sell his coat and buy one to defend himself. We are all human beings, nobody should catch you like a snail and slaughter because you believe in Jesus Christ.

    “We all would not die and those of us, who are alive, have the right to defend ourselves. Jesus says in the Book of Luke that those who have no sword should sell their coats and buy one for the defence of their lives.”

    Emuobor however called on President Muhammadu Buhari to double his efforts to end the alleged killing of Christians, especially in the northern part of the country.