Any Fulani you see in any part of Biafra Land with AK47 Assault Kill him, He is a terrorist – Sultan of Sokoto

Don't link killing to Fulani herdsmen or Islam; they don't carry guns but sticks - Sultan warns again

The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Tuesday, said any herdsman caught in the act of killing innocent citizens should be treated “as a terrorist because Fulani herdsmen do not carry AK 47 rifles but go with sticks and cattle.”

According to the Sultan, linking any murderous act or killing to Fulani or Islam, will be “making matters worse because Fulani (people) have (also) been killed.”

He, however, condemned the activities of the herdsmen and called on the government to wake up to its responsibility and stem the tide of incessant killing of innocent people in its villages.
 
Abubakar, whose earlier statement that the herdsmen killing Nigerians were foreigners elicited criticisms, said this during the opening ceremony of a three-day national inter-faith dialogue meeting organised by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution and International Dialogue Centre, based in Vienna, Austria, in collaboration with the Interfaith Media Centre.

At the event, the Catholic Bishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said the use of military force by the Federal Government would not solve the problems posed by Boko Haram or Niger Delta Avengers.

To Onaiyekan, since using force to solve a problem had never worked in any part of the world, the government should dialogue with these groups to restore peace in the country.

The Sultan said, “The Fulani herdsmen, we all know since we were small children, are not the same ones we see carrying AK 47 (rifles) and killing people because people go around and kill innocent villagers in their houses and we don’t see cattle. The Fulani we see in our villages, markets and other places, we only see them with sticks and cattle; we don’t see them with AK 47.

“The herdsmen you see on the pages of newspapers and pictures on televisions are not Nigerians; they are placed there to depict a particular scene. The Fulani man that you see carrying AK 47 killing people, instead of carrying sticks and cattle, treat him as a terrorist and not as a herdsman.

“The government must wake up to its responsibility and stem this tide of incessant killing of innocent people in their villages. Fulani (people) have been killed, I know that. Reports have been made in the past couple of years but at the same time too, those who also take revenge do it disproportionately. Whether it is right or wrong, it does not matter.

 “It is wrong to take any single life unjustly. For us Muslims, we know that; therefore, we will never agree with the killings of innocent people. That innocent person can be anybody. It can be a Hausa man, a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, an Ibo man, whatever that person is. That is why we should all come together, identify the criminals amongst us and fish them out. That is the only way we can all have peace.”

 “But if you only subscribe any murder and any killing to Fulani or Islam, you are not making matters any better. You are making matters worse, we will always preach that. We do not subscribe to killing innocent people, we will never agree with the killing of innocent people, whatever tribe the person might be.

“There are so many criminals amongst us, whether they are Fulani or other tribes, we must fish those people out. That is the only way we can have peace, but if you only subscribe any killing to Fulani or Islam, you are not making matters any better, you are only making matters worse.”

Onaiyekan urged the government to stop seeing anyone with a link with the sect as terrorist.

Such people, he said, should be encouraged to talk to members of Boko Haram or Avengers to bring peace to the country.

He said, “We have been hearing about Boko Haram, we have been hearing about the Niger Delta Avengers and other places and it probably seems to be taken for granted that all we need are better arms, better trained soldiers and we shall solve the problem.

“I am afraid; it has never worked that way, anywhere in the world. At some point, after the soldiers have finished their job, human beings must sit around the table and talk. There is nobody that you cannot talk with because everybody is a human being.”