FORMER governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji (Dr) Sule Lamido, has said the attacks on and dislike for Fulani (herders) by Nigerians is due to the failure of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is believed to be the leader of the Fulani tribe.
Lamido, who is also a former foreign affairs minister during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, lamented that today, Nigerians are so blindfolded by hatred for the Fulani because of President Buhari’s bad governance, forgetting that not all Fulani even voted for and or like him.
Speaking to newsmen in Kano on Thursday, Lamido, who stated that the situation the country finds itself is pathetic and saddening, however, asked rhetorically where Nigeria is headed with people killing one another with no serious step being taken to arrest the situation.
He said: “Though a Fulani man, I did not vote for Buhari and our parties are completely different, but the Yoruba’s Tinubus, the Igbo’s Ngiges and the South-South’s Amaechis were the ones who firmly stood behind the president to win the election, not even the Fulani.
“Today, northerners and the Fulani race are not at peace. The insecurity created by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has affected everyone; so to bully them (Fulani) and see them as Nigeria’s problem is like adding salt to injury.”
Lamido emphasised that there is nowhere a Fulani man is safe because of President Buhari’s failure and that amounts to dangerous move against an entire race because of a single person, which should not be.
“Nigerians should know that Fulani herders are very peaceful and enterprising people who pasture nature and live by nature. They are not violent and it is not right to castigate all other Fulani because Buhari failed.”
Lamido said it is high time leaders and elite shun parochial tendencies, adding that unless the Igbo, the Hausa, the Yoruba and other minority tribes bury their differences and believe in each other, no matter how small they are, Nigeria will be a forgotten entity.
