FULANI LEADERS THREATEN MORE ATTACKS

Citing the continuous theft of their cattle and upsurge in attacks on their defenceless members, Fulani leaders, under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association, have threatened to retaliate future attacks on them.

The leaders said that they have been pushed to the wall and were left with no option than to fight back.

The group dropped the bombshell through its leader, Senator Jageri Alkali, when he led a delegation to visit the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Senator Alkali said that Boko Haram terrorists had killed their members and collected their cattle, “which are our only means of livelihood.”

The forum, which was at the instance of the CDS, was convened as a part of the efforts to engage stakeholders in the search for a permanent solution to the growing menace of herders’ violence across the country.

Alkali maintained that there is a correlation between food security and national security as it is difficult to control a hungry person.

The Miyetti leader called on governments at all levels to embrace food security as a panacea to youths’ restiveness and other communal clashes in the country.

Alkali also appealed to the military to be professional in their operations so as not to ar-rest and punish the wrong persons in their ongoing effort to apprehend the perpetrators of communal violence.

In a swift reaction, the CDS, who was represented by the Director of Administration at the DHQ, Maj.-Gen. Fatai Ali, warned that the military would not allow them to take the laws into their hands.

The CDS warned that perpetrators of violence under any guise would be decisively dealt with in accordance with the rules of engagement.

Gen. Olonisakin further said that the military had been directed to crush any person or group of persons under any guise who are involved in the recent attacks on defenceless communities irrespective of their political or ethnic affiliations.

He declared that there was no excuse for anyone to take the laws into their own hands, insisting that those who “take delight in destabilising the country will be made to face the full wrath of the law no matter how highly placed they are.”

Meanwhile, the Northern Senators’ Forum on Wednesday in Abuja expressed its support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s marching order on the security chiefs to rid the country of armed herdsmen who have been terrorising and killing innocent Nigerians and destroying their property.

The group said it would support the President to bring about even development to all sections of Nigeria, adding that, “We support his effort in that direction and we will support any effort whatsoever to stand by him, to ensure that the mandate that he came with is smoothly implemented.”

The Senators, who are led by the former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, arose from their meeting on the state of the nation and cautioned community leaders in the affected states to desist from making statements capable of jeopardising the unity of this country.