- Governor Nasir El-Rufai says Fulani herdsmen involved in killing are not from Nigeria

- He said they were from neighboring African countries and were trapped due to the post-election crises in 2011

- The governor said he had to pay to pacify some of them

Governor Nasir El-Rufai has revealed that his government has paid money to Fulani Herdsmen to pacify them to stop killing in Southern Kaduna.

The region as well as some parts of the south has been affected by rampaging herdsmen who kill and sometimes destroy crops.


Vanguard reports that the governor of Kaduna spoke in his office where he revealed that the herdsmen where not from Nigeria but from neighbouring countries.

He said the herdsmen usually brought their cattle to Nigeria and then return t their country but the post-election violence in 2011 affected them as some of them were killed while cattle destroyed.

He blamed this as the genesis of the problem but that his administration has reached out to the herdsmen and even paid them money to stop their killing.

The governor said: “Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria. The moment the rains starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.

“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them.

“Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle.

“So many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge.

“So a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.


“We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.

“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me.”

https://www.naij.com/1071185-weve-paid-money-to-fulani-herdsmen-governor-el-rufai-reveals-why-they-attack.html