Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us

A Fulani youth organisation operating under the banner of the Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau has explained why it believes the prolonged insecurity and violence in Plateau State may continue.

The group stated that lasting peace and meaningful reconciliation between host communities and the Fulani population would remain elusive unless local armed groups, particularly the “Berom Militias,” stop attacking and killing innocent herders as well as their cattle, which they described as their primary source of livelihood.

The position was made known after the group held a meeting in Jos on Tuesday.

The organisation said that although Fulani communities are committed to peaceful coexistence with their host communities, they would not remain passive while their people are allegedly being killed and their livestock stolen by local armed groups.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by its convener, Saleh Umaru, the group maintained that many of the attacks blamed on Fulani herdsmen were acts of retaliation carried out either to avenge the killing of their members or to recover cattle allegedly stolen from them.

“After a wide range consultations with different Fulani groups, communities and individual herders across Plateau State, the Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau, have come to the unanimous conclusion that a major cause of the lingering violence between herdsmen and local communities especially in Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas which are predominantly Berom lands are as a result of attacks and killings of Fulani people by Berom Militia gangs,” Umaru said.

“While we are not completely exonerating the herdsmen as there are some who have taken criminality as a way of life, our wide consultations revealed that most of the violence is reprisal attacks.

“The Fulani people are generally peace-loving, who go about their business of rearing their cattle in peace, but no one would relax when their brothers are being killed, their wives and daughters raped and their settlements destroyed. They will definitely react to protect themselves and stop further attacks.

“It is on record that many Fulani settlements have been invaded and sacked by the Berom Militia gangs in local communities while hundreds of herders have been killed and thousands of livestock have been stolen. In such situations, there will naturally be reprisal reactions.

“What we want the Plateau State government under the able leadership of His Excellency, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang to do is to come up with a law that criminalizes the ethnic militia gangs. Security agencies should also clamp down on them to deter others. If these measures are not taken, we believe that the much-needed peace on the Plateau will not be achieved,” Umaru concluded.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.