Ban Foreign Fulani Herdsmen From Nigeria – Ganduje

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has called for a ban on foreign Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.
Ganduje who spoke to Radio France International pointed out that most of the criminality are perpetrated by the foreign herdsmen.

He also spoke on the lack of synergy among Northern governors in the fight against insecurity in their region.
He said, “The issue of lack of synergy does not arise in this context because security agencies have advised us to come and meet with Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi states to see how the activities of bandits in Falgore forest could be contained.

“I intimated both governors of Kaduna and Bauchi. Both had sent their delegations. There was the issue of the fund. Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi had all donated their funds and the exercise was eventually successful.

”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.”

“Therefore, any security issue in a state depends on the efforts of the state government, the federal government, the security agencies and the people of the state.

”For instance, in Kano, we have a harmonious working relationship with security agencies. We have state-of-the-art security gadgets. In Dansoshiya forest, we are building houses to accommodate Fulani herders in a bid to stop them from grazing in the southern parts of the country.

“In Falgore forest, there is an ongoing project of a military training camp. In the project, there is a provision for areas where Fulani herders would be accommodated.

“We have enough places to accommodate Fulani herders in Dansoshiya and Falgore forests. To restrict them into those places in order to prevent them from grazing in the southern part of the country is the only panacea to the lingering crises.

“There are three categories of Fulani. There are Fulani, there are herders and their foreign Fulani herders who commit crimes.

“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 Nigeria and committed a crime, he would be considered as Nigerian Fulani. Therefore, it is high time we banned them from entering Nigeria.

“Secondly, those herders traveling 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 said.