Somtochukwu

LAGOS – Dr. Junaid Mohammed, elder statesman and Second Republic lawmaker, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of creating Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore for po­litical purposes.

He made the accusation while reacting, in an interview with Daily Independent, to recent con­troversies sparked by the leader­ship of the organisation led by Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, the Na­tional President.

Junaid Mohammed said: “You can see that the whole thing is nothing but politics.

“Miyetti Allah was created by the likes of Buhari himself, late Shehu Yar’Adua, and others.

They wanted to use it for pol­itics and, today, it is being used of Sokoto and others for politics. The same thing goes for the former Emir of Kano who was sacked, Sanusi.” by the likes of the Sultan

While condemning the order by Governor Ak­eredolu, Junaid said while it was true that there were some bad elements who were perpetrating crimes, the governor should iden­tify them and charge them to court rather than issue a blanket statement asking all herdsmen on legal duty to leave.

“If anything happens, you hear people screaming, ‘it is Fulani herdsmen’.

The fact is a lot of this criminality is simply a lie. But if it is true, what you do is not to make noise about it and incite people and com­munities to be killing one another.

“If found culpable of committing criminal acts, take them to court. I don’t want to believe there is a Fulani man who is a magis­trate or High Court judge in Ogun, Ondo, or any South- West state.

“Once arrested, take the criminals to court. Making noise about it does not help anybody,” he said.

He described as irrespon­sible the statement credited to Bodejo, the Miyetti Allah leader, that the Fulanis own all the lands in Nigeria.

Recall that Governor Ak­eredolu of Ondo State had, last week, issued an ultima­tum to herdsmen to vacate forest reserves in the state due to the rising cases of insecurity.

But Bodejo, in an inter­view, said the governor had no power to ask herdsmen to leave Ondo forest re­serves, saying all the lands in Nigeria belonged to Fu­lanis.

“All the lands in this country belong to the Fu­lani, but we don’t have any business to do with land if it doesn’t have areas for grazing.

“If the land doesn’t have cow food, we won’t have any business with it,” he had said.

Junaid, who described the Miyetti Allah presi­dent as an illiterate making reckless and irresponsible statement, challenged him to tell Nigerians where he got the history that the Fu­lani owned the whole of Nigeria.

“He (Bodejo) is talking nonsense. In the first place, that Bodejo or whatever he calls himself is an illiterate.

“Even if he is the most educated person among the Fulani, and I am a Fu­lani man, he has no right to make that reckless and irresponsible statement.

“How can the whole of Nigeria belong to the Fu­lani? When we had the Uth­man Dan Fodio wars, they did not conquer the South West.

“They did not conquer Oyo, Ondo, or Ogun states. Yes, there are Muslims there but that does not make it a Fulani territory.

“How does he come about that all lands in Nigeria belong to Fulanis? Miyetti Allah my foot! How will Ni­gerians rely on an illiterate to teach them history? And how did he come about that knowledge? Who told him that?

“Where did he read that the whole of Nigeria be­longs to the Fulani? Which Fulani is he talking about, anyway?

“The Fulani are one of the most diverse groups in Africa. As I’m talking to you today, there are 53 African countries that are recognised by international laws.

“Out of that, the Fulani are in 34 countries. For years, they have spread, some in large communities, some in small communi­ties. But that does not mean that the whole of Africa be­longs to them.”

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