Fulani own all the lands in Nigeria, no power can remove us from Ondo forests – Miyetti Allah leader


As the seven-day ultimatum Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, issued herdsmen occupying Ondo state forests expires tomorrow, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo has declared that no power remove Fulani herdsmen from the state’s forests.

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the Miyetti Allah leader stressed that their people have settled there for over 250 years and so they are not going to obey anybody to leave the place.

He claims the Fulani ethnic group owns all the land in Nigeria. “All the lands in this country belong to the Fulani, but we don’t have any business to do with the 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. We don’t sell land, we don’t farm. What we consider are the areas that have cow food. If the place is good for grazing, we don’t need anybody’s permission to go there”, he stated.

Following allegations of kidnapping and robbery carried out by Fulani herdsmen, the Ondo State government has given them a seven-day ultimatum to leave the forests in the state, what is your reaction?

The Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu doesn’t have any right to give such ultimatum to our people. People, including Fulani voted for him to be the governor; so he should be the governor of everybody in the state.

Fulani have been in the forests he is talking about even before he was born; they have been there for over 250 years. No matter how dangerous a forest may be, Fulani would go and settle there. After staying there for a long time and their cow dung turns the place fertile, people would begin to come there to farm and to settle and from then, they begin to make claims that our cattle were destroying their farms.

We are suing the governor and seeking injunction restraining him and others from carrying out his threat. But even at that, nobody, no power can send the herdsmen out of Ondo State.

When are you going to court as the ultimatum will soon expire?

We are making consultations with our legal team. But before then, the governor and his people should stop embarrassing our people in the forests and all their businesses.


No any herdsman will obey the governor; the herdsmen will not step an inch out of Ondo forests; they are going nowhere. We won’t obey the governor; it is only the constitution of Nigeria that we obey. We have been in that area before he was born, how can he just grow up and ask us to leave; no Fulani will leave that place. What are his reasons for the quit notice?
He alleged that it is the herdsmen that are kidnapping and robbing people and they operate from the forests


We are not in support of any form of criminality- armed robbery, kidnapping, gun running etc. These crimes are the reasons we have the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Army, DSS, even Civil Defence to nab perpetrators and there are courts everywhere to try them and if found guilty, appropriate punishment meted out to them. The governor is the chief security officer of the state, there is no reason he should single out one ethnic group for the crimes committed in the state. He is supposed to accommodate more Fulani in the state and not to drive them out. Driving them out is not the solution.


I have just concluded a meeting with my fellow Fulani and we have found out that some people will adorn Fulani attire to carry out various crimes. How can Fulani man living in the forest kidnap and ask people to pay ransom ranging from N5 million to N10 million. What would he be doing with that kind of money inside forest; if you pay herdsmen N20 million, N10 million, N5 million in the forest, where would he carry the money to and what will he be doing with such money?


If it becomes so hot and your people decide to go, where would you be headed?

The first thing is that nothing will make us take such decision. If you apply force and out of hundred Fulani, you kill 95 of them, the remaining five will go back there and continue with their grazing. They have been there for up to 250 years. They have been there before the state was even created.

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. We don’t sell land, we don’t farm. What we consider is the areas that have cow food. If the place is good for grazing, we don’t need anybody’s permission to go there

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/no-power-can-remove-us-from-ondo-forests-bodejo-miyetti-allah-leader/

"It would be better for those that were oppose to cattle ranching to provide lands than to die in the herdsmen’s attacks.What would the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?...."
http://saharareporters.com/2020/04/23/deacon-femi-adesina-shameless-sanballat-bayo-oluwasanmi

mcbreeze:
This is inciting