The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed worries over the Federal Government’s eagerness to pander to the demands and interests of Fulani herdsmen across the country.
Pastor Bayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the CAN President (pictured), made the Christian group’s position known while reacting to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claims that Boko Haram and herdsmen were plotting to “Fulanise” West Africa and “Islamise Africa”.
The cleric said that while the Federal Government has always denied unduly favouring herdsmen, it actions attested to the opposite.
He said that the Federal Government’s decision to fund a radio station for Fulani herdsmen smirked of favouritism and supported Obasanjo’s claims of “Fulanisation”.
“If the government is not aware or is not interested in the Fulanisation agenda, the way and manner they have been relating with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association puts a question mark on that claim,” he told Sunday Punch.
“Whenever people raised the alarm when killings were rampant in Benue and Plateau states, the Federal Government was the one giving reasons for the action. They would either tell us that the grazing paths that their forefathers had been using since 1914 had been blocked or that there was desertification of the land; the herdsmen are looking for water. They also say those herdsmen that are killing are not Nigerians, that they came from Libya and they were the ragtag remnant fighters of Gaddafi. These are the excuses that have been coming from the Federal Government.
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“You can’t be treating criminals with kids’ gloves and expect them to change. That is why when these killers realised that nothing would happen to them, they now increased the tempo and started attacking with impunity.
“So, will you say Fulanisation is not real? Why is it that the herdsmen are running after Christian communities? Why are they not targeting other communities? Why is it that it is only the Christian communities that are suffering these attacks and the government is doing nothing about it? Ordinarily, the Federal Government should have come out clean but unfortunately, they have been meeting with the Miyetti Allah. What about the farmers? Don’t they have their own leaders?
“Just when they were still abusing Obasanjo and calling him all sorts of names, the government announced its plan to have a radio station for the herdsmen. Everyone in the country knows that an average northerner has, at least, a radio set.
“But our government wants to have a radio station and to be using Fulani language to reach them. Where is the radio for the farmers? Where is the radio station for the Niger Delta militants and for the Indigenous People of Biafra?
“If that is not Fulanisation, then what is it?”
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