BEVERLY HILLS, February 14, (THEWILL) – Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Mr Yinka Odumakin and Professor Junaid Mohammed on Friday came down hard on Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state for saying that criminal cow herders carry AK-47 in self- defence.
The governor who made the statement as a guest of the Bauchi state chapter of Nigeria Union of Journalists’ 2021 Press Week, said the herders were confronted with threats to their lives while engaging in their business of cattle rearing across borders and so had to protect themselves against any form of attack. He condemned his counterparts in Benue state, Samuel Ortom and those in the Southwest and Southeast, whom he accused of giving quit notices to herders from their enclave.
Speaking on the topic, “The Role of the Media in Promoting Peace in Nigeria”, Mohammed said, among other things.
“On the herders-farmers clashes, you have seen what our colleagues in the South-West are doing and some of them in South-East. Some of us told them with all modesty and humility – you are wrong.
“But the person that is most wrong is the Governor of Benue State, my brother and my colleague, Governor (Samuel) Ortom; he started all these. If you don’t accommodate other tribes we are also accommodating your people in Bauchi and other places.
“We have so many Tiv people working and farming in Alkaleri, farming in Tafawa Balewa, farming in Bogoro Local Government Area of Bauchi; has anyone asked them to go? We have not, because it is their constitutional rights to be there.
“We have Yoruba people in Bauchi for over 150 years, even before the birth of Nigeria. Nobody has told them to go; some of them have risen to become permanent secretaries in Bauchi, Gombe and Borno.
“And now, the Fulani man is practicing the tradition of trans-human, pastoralism, he has been exposed to the dangers of the forests, the animals, and now, the cattle rustlers, who carry guns, kill him and take away his commonwealth, his cows, he had no option than to carry Ak-47 and defend himself because the society and the government are not protecting him.
“It is not his fault, it is the fault of the government and the people; you don’t criminalise all of them because in every tribe there are criminals. You should be very sensitive.”
In his response, Professor Junaid said the governor was “unserious for making such a foolhardy statement.”
He said: “I honestly do not believe that anybody in his right sense would wield an AK47 rifle and claim to be doing so in self-defense. And for somebody in a governor’s position, somebody who is responsible for security in his state, would make such a statement shows you why Nigeria is badly governed”.
When asked for his suggestion for the menacing farmer/herder conflict, he said; “Those who are responsible for the problem know how to solve it. Look you journalists should not be giving space to people like that.”
For Odumakin, the statement credited to the governor “is a tragedy.”
“These are the kind of people we deal with in Nigeria. For a governor in the country to make that kind of statement shows that resolving the Nigerian crisis is getting out of hand. His statement that governor gave quit notices to Fulanis in the southwest is incorrect. What Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Ondo state did in his seven-day ultimatum was to ask herdsmen to vacate the forest reserves of the state. Is it human beings that leave in the forests.”
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