Fulani association denies responsibility for attacks on Benue, others

The national chairman of a Fulani socio-cultural association, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo has exonerated members of the association from recent killings in Benue communities and other part of the country, saying any herder carrying AK47 rifle is not a Fulani man.

He made the claim yesterday in Kano while briefing the media on the crisis shortly after he returned from Mecca.

He urged the authorities to intensify efforts to fish out the perpetrators of the attack so as to vindicate the fate of the Fulani herdsmen in relations to the killings.

While condemning the killings he said some criminal elements are always being mistaken for Fulani herdsmen and thus being allowed to be perpetrating attacks on innocent lives in the country.

‘’First and foremost I am condemning the killings, we Fulani socio cultural association we are not part of any killing, we are not supporting any killing not only in Benue, we are not supporting any killing in Nigeria as a whole. If you see anybody carrying AK47 may be that person is an armed robber from another group or bandit or whatever you can call it wearing Fulani cloth’’ he claimed.

He said the Fulani have no cause to react violently to the anti-open grazing law enacted by the Benue state government since it is already challenging the law in court.

He therefore appealed to the federal government to wade into the matter in order to convince Governor Samuel ortom of Benue state to withdraw the law to enable nomadic Fulani herders enjoy their rights as citizens of Nigeria.