The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ ad Abubakar III, has expressed concern that some Fulani people are involved in banditry and kidnapping, causing insecurity in parts of the country.
He observed that banditry and kidnapping had brought a serious setback to the economic activities and the general well-being of Nigerians, leading to the present hardship in the country.
The Sultan, who is also President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), spoke weekend at the inauguration and swearing-in of new Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria executives at the National Mosque Abuja, enjoined the leadership of the group to support efforts of government and stakeholders in ensuring peace in the country.
According to the Sultan, the threat to divide the country resulted from certain things Nigerians were not doing right; hence some Nigerians do not feel a sense of belonging in the country’s affairs.
According to him, “People do not want to know the history of this great country. If we had known the history of the Fulani movement in various parts of the world definitely, we would not have gotten to the situation we are in now.”
He further explained that Fulani moves from one point to the other, they move everywhere, and they inter-marry and are peace-loving, lamenting how some Fulani children are involved in banditry and kidnapping.
He assured that when the executives of the Fulanis meet, they will discuss how to tackle the issue, saying Nigerians cannot sit down and look at this country and go into fractions just because of certain things “we are not doing right.”
According to the monarch, in over 48 years of the existence of MACBAN, there is the need to have some new inputs and new ideas into the constitution; they need funds to sustain their activities.
The NSCIA President-General called on MACBAN executive members to reposition the association against emerging contemporary challenges confronting the Fulbe within and outside Nigeria.
He said that MACBAN, by its existence across the entire country and the Sahel, should aspire to balance the instability in Nigeria and across the Sahel for the development of humanity.
He believed MACBAN could do that in articulating a Fulbe perspective in response to the present level of violence as a natural reaction to deprivation, marginalization and balkanization of the Fulbe into different nation-states in West Africa.
