Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje says “foreign Fulani” herders are responsible for the ill-feeling Nigerians have towards Fulani herders nationwide.
Speaking on Radio France International on Thursday, Ganduje said the foreigners ought to be banned to bring the situation to check.
“There are three categories of Fulani. There are Fulani, there are herders and their foreign Fulani herders who commit crimes,” he said.
“It is often forgotten that there are foreigners among those Fulani herders but nobody is talking about them. The moment a foreign Fulani herder infiltrated into Nigeria and committed a crime, he would be considered as Nigerian Fulani. Therefore, it is high time to ban them from entering Nigeria.
“Secondly, those herders travelling from the north to south should be banned from doing so. Those that are saying they should not be banned from trekking to the southern part of the country for grazing should use their children to do so.
“This is a national issue. A robust bill by National Assembly is the only answer to the issue of farmer/herder conflict.”
Ganduje also faulted comments made by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai that lack of synergy among governors of the north-west was hampering security efforts in the region.
“The way I see it, the Governor did not understand security issues well because the security situation depends on the nature of a state. For instance, no matter how we strongly collaborate as governors, how should we check ethnic clashes in Kaduna? How should we check religious differences in Kaduna? You see, this is a problem that can only be checked by the Kaduna State government itself,” he said.
