The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says innocent Fulani people are being demonised in other parts of Nigeria especially in the South-West for the sins of a few.
Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the forum, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed disclosed this while appearing on Channels Television programme ‘Politics Today’.
He stated that it was high time the Fulani herdsmen returned to the north if their security could no longer be guaranteed in other regions.
According to Baba-Ahmed, the advice was necessitated by the incessant harassment of innocent herdsmen by state and non-state actors in the other regions.
The NEF spokesman lamented the constant vilification of Fulani people, noting that there were millions of their kind living peacefully across the nation.
Everyone in Nigeria knows that in the last few days, Fulani people are being harassed, threatened and attacked, initially in the western part of the country and now the eastern part.
“Some individuals and communities have taken law into their hand that they don’t want to see the Fulani in anywhere in Nigeria, Nigerians living lawfully, pursuing a living like every other Nigerians but sadly demonized and criminalized and everybody is saying we don’t want to see Fulani, Fulani must go.
“We confirmed that there are millions of Fulani living lawfully, legally, they are not bandits, they are not kidnappers, they are not breaking any law, so there is no reason why anybody should demonize them.
“We observed that innocent people are being attacked just for being Fulani, that’s unacceptable, we also established that a lot of them in Oyo, Ondo and in some part of the east in the last two days have been threatened and attacked, a lot of cattle have been killed, so we advised the Fulani to seek protection and leave,” Baba-Ahmed said.