A Fulani youth group, under the umbrella of ‘Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau’ has given reasons the lingering violence and crisis in the state will not end soon.
According to the group, true peace and genuine reconciliation among host communities and Fulani people cannot be achieved if local gangs, especially the “Berom Militias,” do not stop attacking and killing innocent herdsmen and their livestock, which is their only means of livelihood.
The group, after a meeting in Jos on Tuesday, said as much as the Fulani people desire a peaceful coexistence with their hosts, they would also not sit back and watch their people being killed and their livestock stolen by local gangs.
In a communique issued at the end of the meeting signed by its convener, Saleh Umaru, the Fulani group insisted that most of the attacks attributed to Fulani herdsmen have been more of reprisal attacks to either avenge the killings of their people or to recover their stolen cows.
“After a wide range consultations with different Fulani groups, communities and individual herders across Plateau State, the Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau, have come to the unanimous conclusion that a major cause of the lingering violence between herdsmen and local communities especially in Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas which are predominantly Berom lands are as a result of attacks and killings of Fulani people by Berom Militia gangs,” Umaru said.
“While we are not completely exonerating the herdsmen as there are some who have taken criminality as a way of life, our wide consultations revealed that most of the violence is reprisal attacks.
“The Fulani people are generally peace-loving, who go about their business of rearing their cattle in peace, but no one would relax when their brothers are being killed, their wives and daughters raped and their settlements destroyed. They will definitely react to protect themselves and stop further attacks.
“It is on record that many Fulani settlements have been invaded and sacked by the Berom Militia gangs in local communities while hundreds of herders have been killed and thousands of livestock have been stolen. In such situations, there will naturally be reprisal reactions.
“What we want the Plateau State government under the able leadership of His Excellency, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang to do is to come up with a law that criminalizes the ethnic militia gangs. Security agencies should also clamp down on them to deter others. If these measures are not taken, we believe that the much-needed peace on the Plateau will not be achieved,” Umaru concluded.
‘There will be no peace until Berom Militias stop killing our herders, cows’ – Fulani group