Coalition of Northern Groups, on Tuesday, asked the Federal Government to urgently repatriate all herdsmen currently living in the South back to the North.
CNG said this had become imperative in view of the unfolding scenario set by the ratification of a regime of laws that potentially seek to limit the free movement of herders in the 17 Southern Nigerian states.
The coalition’s spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement in Kaduna, on Tuesday, said a study had shown that only 10 per cent of Fulani herdsmen currently live and conduct business in the entire Southern Nigeria.
CNG’s statement read, “With the incessant show of animosity against the pastoral communities by the people of the South and their leaders, it has become a matter of urgent necessity for the Federal Government of Nigeria to take steps to evacuate the remaining ten percent of herders currently in the South back home.
“With the onset of the fresh systematic vilification of the herdsmen at an official level, it is important to evacuate them peacefully since apparently their security could not be guaranteed in their host communities in the southern part of the country.
“A study has shown that with all the overhyped hatred for the pastoral communities by the South and their leaders, only ten percent of herders live in the entire South which can conveniently be accommodated in the North.”
CNG, however, enjoined northern states’ governors to commence preparation to receive the returning Fulani communities and their livestock by identifying suitable grazing lands for them and making sufficient allowance for farmers at the same time.
The coalition warned that Nigeria would be treading a dangerous path if it continued to tolerate the demonisation of entire group of people over particular types of crimes, which the Asaba Declaration by the 17 Southern governors seek to do.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors to act now to protect laws abiding members of Fulani communities from the falling trap set by the aggressive policy of the southern governors who apparently believe that Fulani has no rights in Nigeria,” CNG added.
