Ango Abdullahi says labelling Fulani herdsmen as killers is nothing but southern bias against the north

FORMER Ahmadu Bello University vice chancellor and Northern Elders Forum (Nef) spokesman Professor Ango Abdullahi has defended the spate of killings by Fulani cattle herdsmen across the claiming they are doing it in self defence.

Over recent years, herdsmen have been on the rampage across Nigeria, killing thousands in bloody orgies as they attack farming villages. Heavily-armed with AK47s, the herdsmen attack villages after farmers complain about their livestock destroying their crops and ravaging their farms.

Of late, the matter has come to a head following a particularly brutal attack in Benue State that left nearly 100 dead. Across Nigeria's Middle Belt region in particular, the herdsmen have been very brutal, devastating large swathes of Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa and Adamawa states.

However, dismissing claims linking the herdsmen to killings in the Middle Belt as a political agenda to split the monolithic north, Professor Abdullahi inferred that the pastoralists are innocent.  He deplores what he points to as injustice meted out to the herdsmen, accusing the southern part of Nigeria of bias against them.

Professor Abdullahi said: "Something will happen and before you know it, it has been given tribal or ethnic connotation. There are lots of religious and tribal sentiments in Nigeria as religious sentiments are creeping into everything except the laws that govern the country, which is why we have failure in detecting crimes and failure in punishing crimes.

"You have already taken a position as a journalist that it is herdsmen that are attacking communities and I am sure you have a reason for taking sides which could be religious or ethnic. The media in Nigeria is promoting a lot of ethnic and tribal sentiments as every newspaper has it editorial policy and you as a journalist work in accordance with it or you could lose your job."

According to Professor Abdullahi, the herdsmen issue is being given religious and tribal connotations, with the media calling them Fulani herdsmen. He added that this is very well encouraged by the media which has not given a balanced narrative of what is happening.

"I tell you, what is happening today is that politicians are dividing this country on the basis of political interests and people are paid to protect the affairs of these politicians. Journalists are also falling into the same trap of tribalism and all sorts of divisive measures because Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba have no problems with one another.

Go the markets, check out personal relationships among ethnic groups but everything is being tribalised because of politics. Everybody is one but politicians who want to win elections are the problems," Professor Abdullahi said.

He added that these politicians operate at different levels from ward to local government, state and federal, where they poison the people’s minds and interpret everything with ethnic and religious bias. According to him they take advantage of the ignorance of the people and brainwash them.