The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has explained the reasons behind the upsurge in cases of kidnapping and armed robbery by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
He also denied reports that the the Federal Government offered the herders N100 billion to help maintain peace.
Shehu, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily yesterday, said some of the herders admitted that they were going into crime because they had been dispossessed of their cattle by rustlers.
He said this fact was revealed during the much-criticised meeting between the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association.
He appealed to Nigerians not to politicise the meeting as all stakeholders had a role to play in ensuring that the nation remained safe.
He said the government needed the cooperation of Miyetti Allah to help in tackling weapons proliferation as the security situation in the country worsened.
Shehu also said the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria should not be criminalised because the Fulani group was in the same league with Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The President’s aide argued that “it is a mistake to say the Nigerian government is talking to bandits. The Miyetti Allah group is like the Ohanaeze and Afenifere. It is a socio-cultural group. There are criminals within the Yoruba race and you cannot say because of that Afenifere is a group of criminals.
“The Nigerian government is speaking with the leadership of the Fulani herders association, Miyetti Allah.”
When asked if it was true that the herders were offered N100 billion to help maintain peace, Shehu said: “That is 100 per cent untrue. I have confirmed that in all the meetings held, money was never discussed.
“All of the issues were about the involvement of the leadership of Miyetti Allah and getting them to prevail upon its members and they are many. We asked them to help assist the administration to recover weapons which were owned by a lot of these elements.”
Shehu said it did not directly translate to amnesty, adding that “it is a win-win situation for all because they also have their issues which they brought to the government and the more discussions take place, the more interesting it becomes.”
He further stated that state governments would be involved in the talks.
He added: “These things are being addressed and they are moving to the next stage. In states like Kogi, Benue, Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina and Niger, they will be talking to the governors so that you can use them. They are available so that you can help the government to caution and control some of these things unfolding.”
