Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement on herdsmen killings during his visit to the White house.
Buhari had told Trump that herdsmen do not carry guns but only wielded sticks and occasionally machetes. He also blamed the death of Gaddafi for herdsmen crisis in Nigeria.
He was quoted saying “The problem of herders in Nigeria is a very long historical thing. The Nigerian herders don’t carry anything more than a stick and occasionally a matchet to cut down foliage and give it to their animals, these ones are carrying AK-47.
“So, people should not underrate what happened in Libya. 43 years of Ghaddaffi, people were recruited from Sahel and trained to shoot and kill. With the demise of Ghaddaffi they moved to other countries and region and carried the experience with them.”
Reacting, Afenifere in a statement by its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin said the President disappointed Nigerians by absolving Fulani herdsmen of involvement in the killings, stressing that he spoke as “the patron of Miyetti Allah, not as the President of Nigeria.”
“Buhari should not have gone to the international stage and say Fulani herdsmen don’t carry AK 47; that destroyed everything for the President.
“This is why Afenifere said he should make a choice between the Presidency and being the patron of Miyetti Allah. He spoke in America in defence of Fulani herdsmen as their patron, not as the President of Nigeria and that is conflict of interest,” Odumakin said.
Odumakin further faulted the US president’s statement on the killings of Christians in Nigeria.
He described Trump’s advice to Buhari as good admonition, noting however that it was not only Christians that were being killed.
Speaking on Buhari’s approval for recruitment of 6,000 policemen, Afenifere dismissed the president’s announcement, stating that it would not make much difference to the security situation in the country.
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