The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has declared that the Fulani ethnic stock is ready to break away from Nigeria if the country comes to that eventual decision.
The national secretary of the association, Alhassan Saleh, made the declaration on Friday while reacting to the decision of the 17 southern governors to ban open grazing after they held a meeting on Tuesday in Asaba, Delta State.
Saleh said: “If the south feels because they have oil, they can show this open hatred to the Fulani, I bet you, they are late.
“You cannot expel an ethnic group that has a population of 17 million people from an entity. So, if the agitators want to divide the country today, or this minute, we will help. We are ready to go. We are more prepared than any other tribe.
“Nowhere is this type of ban done. You can only control it. But the Fulani, by nature, move about with their animals. They are not only in Nigeria, they are all over Africa.”
In an interview with Saturday Tribune, Saleh stated that the issue of Fulani herders was resolved by governors 25 years ago but no government had deemed it fit to implement the decisions, saying, “We are just moving forward and backward.”
According to him, herders are not the problem facing the country but the ethnic profiling of the Fulani in the country, particularly in the south, is mind-boggling.
“They (southerners) want to force us to react but we don’t react that way. Compared to what we went through in Guinea and Sudan and we survived, this is even a child’s play.
“We understand that 2023 is also part of the game plan. They want to get power on a platter of gold. Nobody will give them power like that. They must seek our support. People who want power don’t behave in this matter,” the Miyetti Allah scribe stated.
He added: “Herders are insignificant when it comes to problems of this country. Are they the ones looting the treasury? What damages are they causing to this country?
“Compare them with the criminal activities of ‘Yahoo’ boys (Internet fraudsters), kidnappers, political looters, bandits in power, and vagabonds in power like Governor (Samuel) Ortom. Do you think if there is no oil money, all these things will be happening?
“Today, we are ready, let them divide the country. Let them not wait till tomorrow. We are better prepared than any other ethnic nationality. So, we are ready, let them divide the country. Let us die, we that don’t have the oil.”