*Says Fulani were not behind assassination attempt on the
governor
*Says Fulanis have spent N87m fine in the last 3 months for open
grazing
![image](/2021/04/banner-law.jpg")
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural organization,
has said that Fulanis were never behind the alleged assassination
attempt on the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.
![image](/2021/01/payne-alex.jpg")
The President of the group, Alhaji Bello Bodejo, in an interview
with the SUN newspaper admitted that they had a meeting at Adamawa
as said by the governor Ortom but that the meeting was not to
assassinate the governor or destabilize Benue State but rather, to
sensitize its members
“Yes! We held meeting in Adamawa few days before that incident,
but the meeting focused on how to change the bad image and
perception of Fulani people in Nigeria. At the meeting, we
encouraged them to do good to people so that our image across
Nigeria can be redeemed. As leaders of the association, we
seriously sensitized our people on the need to be law abiding
irrespective of the provocations. We want to make other tribes and
ethnic groups to know our importance and know that we are not
troublemakers, even though some bad ones among us are being
corrected.
“…The meeting had impressive representation from government,
security agencies, traditional institutions and other stakeholders.
After our meeting in Yola, Adamawa State, we set an agenda for our
people on how to strengthen peace among themselves and other
people. But we were surprised that shortly after our meeting on
peace building in Adamawa, Benue governor, Ortom, who is presiding
over a state with different tribes and ethnic groups alleged that
our Adamawa meeting was to discuss how to destabilize his state and
possibly assassinate him. That’s untrue and should be disregarded.
He’s used to speaking against us, inciting his people against us,
so we are surprised.” Badejo said
He explained that governor Ortom has been inciting his people
against Fulani simply because the Fulanis took him to court over
the anti-open grazing law which he signed in Benue State some years
ago. He said the court case is still on and are hopeful that the
case will end in their (Fulanis) favour.
He accused the governor of using his executive powers to oppress
the Fulanis and has always displayed open hatred towards them.
According to him, Fulanis have been chased out of Benue State
and in the last three months the Fulanis have spent about N87
million as fine for open grazing
“Ortom is obviously using his executive powers to oppress,
harass and intimidate us. He has repeatedly displayed open hatred
for our people and he has vowed not to allow us have peace and do
our trade. We should be the ones accusing Ortom of trying to take
us off the surface of the earth through his executive actions. He
has chased us out of Benue State through the anti-open grazing law.
His taskforce officials sieze our cattle arbitrarily, in the name
of ban on open grazing. In the last three months, our people have
spent N87 million as fine for open grazing and we have the
receipts; N5, 000 fine is placed on each cattle arrested for open
grazing. Our people are forced to sell cattles to bail the arrested
ones. We are custodians of Fulani tradition. Not only that, we are
to ensure that our people are living peacefully with their host
communities. Our reason for going to court was to demand reversal
of the anti-open grazing law in the state.” he said
He further condemned the profiling of Fulani as criminals.
According to him, the Fulanis are the most peace loving people in
Nigeria
He said, “Since the coming of technological revolution that
heralded the emergence of social media, Fulani has been verbally
and physically attacked more than any other tribe in Nigeria. But
anyone with good historical knowledge will know that Fulani people
are the most peaceful people in Nigeria. It’s unfair to say that
all Fulani people are criminals. This is not true. There are
criminals in all ethnic groups in Nigeria, and that does not mean
that all the people of the ethnic group are criminals. The best
thing to do is to fish out the bad eggs in the society and punish
them in accordance with the law instead of vilifying the entire
ethnic group. We need government to do this because they have all
it takes to do that.”
*Says Fulani were not behind assassination attempt on the
governor
*Says Fulanis have spent N87m fine in the last 3 months for open
grazing
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural organization,
has said that Fulanis were never behind the alleged assassination
attempt on the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.
The President of the group, Alhaji Bello Bodejo, in an interview
with the SUN newspaper admitted that they had a meeting at Adamawa
as said by the governor Ortom but that the meeting was not to
assassinate the governor or destabilize Benue State but rather, to
sensitize its members
“Yes! We held meeting in Adamawa few days before that incident,
but the meeting focused on how to change the bad image and
perception of Fulani people in Nigeria. At the meeting, we
encouraged them to do good to people so that our image across
Nigeria can be redeemed. As leaders of the association, we
seriously sensitized our people on the need to be law abiding
irrespective of the provocations. We want to make other tribes and
ethnic groups to know our importance and know that we are not
troublemakers, even though some bad ones among us are being
corrected.
“…The meeting had impressive representation from government,
security agencies, traditional institutions and other stakeholders.
After our meeting in Yola, Adamawa State, we set an agenda for our
people on how to strengthen peace among themselves and other
people. But we were surprised that shortly after our meeting on
peace building in Adamawa, Benue governor, Ortom, who is presiding
over a state with different tribes and ethnic groups alleged that
our Adamawa meeting was to discuss how to destabilize his state and
possibly assassinate him. That’s untrue and should be disregarded.
He’s used to speaking against us, inciting his people against us,
so we are surprised.” Badejo said
He explained that governor Ortom has been inciting his people
against Fulani simply because the Fulanis took him to court over
the anti-open grazing law which he signed in Benue State some years
ago. He said the court case is still on and are hopeful that the
case will end in their (Fulanis) favour.
He accused the governor of using his executive powers to oppress
the Fulanis and has always displayed open hatred towards them.
According to him, Fulanis have been chased out of Benue State
and in the last three months the Fulanis have spent about N87
million as fine for open grazing
“Ortom is obviously using his executive powers to oppress,
harass and intimidate us. He has repeatedly displayed open hatred
for our people and he has vowed not to allow us have peace and do
our trade. We should be the ones accusing Ortom of trying to take
us off the surface of the earth through his executive actions. He
has chased us out of Benue State through the anti-open grazing law.
His taskforce officials sieze our cattle arbitrarily, in the name
of ban on open grazing. In the last three months, our people have
spent N87 million as fine for open grazing and we have the
receipts; N5, 000 fine is placed on each cattle arrested for open
grazing. Our people are forced to sell cattles to bail the arrested
ones. We are custodians of Fulani tradition. Not only that, we are
to ensure that our people are living peacefully with their host
communities. Our reason for going to court was to demand reversal
of the anti-open grazing law in the state.” he said
He further condemned the profiling of Fulani as criminals.
According to him, the Fulanis are the most peace loving people in
Nigeria
He said, “Since the coming of technological revolution that
heralded the emergence of social media, Fulani has been verbally
and physically attacked more than any other tribe in Nigeria. But
anyone with good historical knowledge will know that Fulani people
are the most peaceful people in Nigeria. It’s unfair to say that
all Fulani people are criminals. This is not true. There are
criminals in all ethnic groups in Nigeria, and that does not mean
that all the people of the ethnic group are criminals. The best
thing to do is to fish out the bad eggs in the society and punish
them in accordance with the law instead of vilifying the entire
ethnic group. We need government to do this because they have all
it takes to do that.”