Fulani communities in Kwara have called on the government to investigate recent attacks on their settlements by irate youths, lamenting that they are also victims of kidnapping.
Alifa Dan-Fulani Modibbo, spokesman of the Fulani communities, said they had been victims of kidnapping in the area.
He alleged that property worth N300 million, including cars, 2,000 cows and cattle, 50 houses and a hotel among others were destroyed by the youths who attacked the Fulani communities recently.
He denied that Alhaji Ramoni whose hotel was recently razed was part of any kidnapping syndicate group.
“On April 27th, about 10 soldiers on patrol stormed Fulani community in Odo Owa looking for suspected kidnappers. They were informed that Fulanis have been living in the community for over 100 years as most of them were born in the camp.
“Later the military men left but came back again to search the settlement on suspicion that arms and ammunition were hidden there, but nothing was found.
“Before we knew it, large number of youth came from town to burn property and stole our money in the presence of the military men. They took Ramon with them, saying that it’s to protect him from possible attack. Ramon deals in cattle in Omu Aran and Odo Owa, he has hotel business in Omu Aran and has nothing to do with kidnapping.
“Seriki Fulani, who kept about N15m cash and another person with about N3m cash in his house for people’s Hajj were stolen. The youth who came to loot came with vehicles, Okada to pack goods before burning the houses,” he claimed.
While he called on the federal government to investigate the matter and bring perpetrators to book to prevent future occurrence, the spokesperson said that they had lost everything.
“Federal government should take proactive steps so that this does not escalate. Where do we start from? We’ve lost everything. We’re homeless. What do you expect children of the victims to do? People can’t just be allowed to take laws into their hands. All those involved in this attack should be brought to book. We’ve been telling our people to calm down and allow legal security procedure to take its course”, he submitted.
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