By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin City
The need for government, Stakeholders and all the Security agents in the state to come together and find urgent solution to the recent Fulani rampage in the state have been emphasizd.
The leader of the Hausa Community in Edo, Alhaji Badamasi Salleh stated this while speaking with journalists in Benin City about the current crisis between the Fulani Herdsmen and the local communities in the be State.
Alhaji Badamasi said the idea of saying all Fulanis should leave the state was wrong as those clamouring for that have no constitutional right to say so.
He said, what is required is a Stakeholders meeting between all parties involved.
” The government should look inward and find out where the Ak47 are coming from.it is not the Fulanis in the forest, it comes from town, so there is every need to investigate the source of the weapons.
” We have to work hard to make sure we fish out these people that supply them with the weapons, there is the need to come together as brothers and cooperate with the security agents to fish these people out.
According to him,” Fulanis in the bush are hundreds kilometers away from the main road with their cow, and wearing rubber slippers with one side of it tied with rope.how could such person afford Ak47 rifle.? people supply these weapons to them to work for them.
Badamasi said,” there are three sects of Fulanis in the country, the first sect are the indegene Fulanis, they are those that have been leaving with the different communities in the different forest for years as brothers and sisters, even if their cow eat any of the community’s crop they will settle themselves.
“The second sect are those that move down south during the raining season, they move mostly in the night between 1am and 3am .so in the process, their cow eat up every crop along their route with out the indegene Fulanis and the community people knowing.
“The third Fulanis are those that will go and retaliate for their blood brothers (Fulanis), that are attacked some where without the indegene Fulanis knowing about their operations.They just carry out the attacks without informing those involved,but because they are blood brothers
” Government should call all involved and discuss the way to come out of the crisis by meeting with the Fulanis, the different communities and all the security agents.” He concluded.