Northern Senators Forum in the 8th National Assembly on Wednesday, urged community leaders to eschew inflammatory comments over herdsmen and farmers clashes, saying such could heat up the polity.Briefing newsmen in Abuja, Leader of the group, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC- Nasarawa West) advised state governors to also refrain inciting utterances, adding that the governors should also caution their people.
Adamu said that the group would ensure that existing laws were amended and new ones enacted “to promote the interest of Northern Nigeria in particular and the country at large’’.
He said that the categorisation of all herdsmen as Fulanis was wrong, adding that he had seen herdsmen that were Yorubas and Igbos.
“I have a farm, I rear cows. I am not Fulani by birth; if you go through Northern states you will see a lot of them.
“In fact, if you go to the East, you will see young men who have assimilated with the Fulanis in their various communities and they are involved in cattle rearing.
“It creates the wrong impression that everybody you see with a cow is a Fulani man and therefore becomes a common target for the present problem we are addressing as a government,” he said.
He recalled that when the Chief Olu Falae was abducted, the Fulanis were accused but that when the police apprehended the suspects, they were not Fulanis.
On threats by a section of the country asking all Fulani herdsmen to leave, the senator appealed for calm, saying “if we now say that everybody should rise and say herdsmen should leave, we will not have a country.”
The lawmaker said efforts were on by the senators to come up with legislation on how to coordinate the activities of herdsmen to avoid frequent clashes.
He further disclosed that the forum had resolved to sustain its support for President Muhammadu Buhari in order to bring about development in Nigeria.
