Kwankwaso to Yoruba: Shut up, you can’t sack Fulani herdsmen

• Says Nigeria is home to all

Former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has told Yoruba leaders, threatening to sack Fulani herdsmen from the South-West geo-political zone to ‘shut up’, saying such utterances could thwart efforts to achieve a peaceful Nigeria reports.

Daily Sun reports that he disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at the official opening of a N40 million prefabricated structure, comprising two-bedroom and three-bedroom flats donated by Vitafoam Nigeria Plc to the Government College, Ibadan, to mark the jubilee celebration of 1965 to 1971 set.

Prominent Yoruba leaders had two weeks ago risen from an emergency summit in Ibadan, and handed a red card to Fulani herdsmen in the South-West.

In the communiqué issued at the end of the summit, they sought for an end to Fulani herdsmen grazing in Yorubaland and directed all nomadic herdsmen to wind up their activities. The summit was held against the backdrop of the recent kidnapping of Chief Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation by Fulani herdsmen.

But Kwankwaso, a Fulani from Kano State, said crises between farmers and Fulani herdsmen are not peculiar to the South-West, adding that  that the same issues recur in northern Nigeria, Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroun are not an exception.

Kwankwaso said sacking Fulani herdsmen from the South-West is not the solution, but all and sundry must understand the situation.

His words: “It  is not only peculiar to the South-West. We just have to have a lot of understanding of the situation. Some of the issues being raised by the people, especially politicians, do not help anybody. If you sack the Fulani from here or you fight them, maybe it is because you are here. If you are a Yoruba man based in Kano, I don’t think you can contemplate sacking the Fulani. I am from Kano, but right now, I am in Ibadan. Where you are is your home. Today, Ibadan is my home. God forbid, if something bad happens here, it will affect me. If it happens in my village, I am not there; they won’t see me.

“I want people to go round Nigeria to know that everybody has got land. It is good for people to go round, at least, this country or beyond to realise that Nigerians are Nigerians; everybody comes from somewhere. But it is good for us to go round to see other places, to understand them, interact with them so that we can have a very peaceful Nigeria. This is what we are working for. So, when you see those people making the threats in the South-West, advise them to shut up.”

On the solution to the incessant crises between local farmers and Fulani herdsmen, Kwankwaso, called for their education. “I am Fulani. My parents settled many years ago. My father went to school and I have been to school. My children have gone to school. Now, I don’t think I will get cattle and go into a forest; that is education for you.”