Faith Awa Maji, Lafia
At the wake of frequent kidnapping and cattle rustlers in Nasarawa State which most of the suspects are allegedly from the Fulani tribe, leaders of the the Fulani group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, (MACBAN) have converged on Lafia to prefer solution to the ugly menace.
Alhaji Mohammed Hussaini who is the Chairman of the MACBAN, acknowledged that most of the crime perpetrated in Nasarawa State especially kidnapping, theft and cattle rustling were orchestrated by Fulani visitors who came from the far north such as Zamfara, Bauchi, Sokoto, Katsina states their children in the state.
‘Most of the kidnappers in the state were from Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Bauchi and Kasina states among others who have caused security problems in their respective states.
‘There are few of our people in the state who are also criminals, and were giving the entire Fulani people a bad name, as we were now being branded kidnappers and armed robbers’.
He called on every Fulani family to expose criminals among them to show the world that they were good and peaceful people.
‘Majority of the kidnapped victims are Fulani people because our people are living in the bush and are vulnerable to the activities of criminals
MACBAN Chairman said Nasarawa State belong to them, hence the need for all leaders of the social cultural group to restrategise and fetch out bad elements among them for prosecution to enable government to thrives.
‘How can we allow few strangers from other state to tarnish our integrity? Look at what happened in Udege – Loko road where these strangers, our children together with some indegenious tribe of the area, whisk away 30 people to an unknown destination’.
‘Let’s us restrategize, if your son, brother or anyone you know that is among these bad eggs, bring them out or the law will take its course on you the leaders’.
He attributed illiteracy and hard drugs as the major factor hence the need for relevant security agents to rise up to its responsibility to reduce crime to the barrest minimum.
Also speaking, Lawal Dono, Chairman of Ardos in the state said as leaders, they would not harbour criminal elements, noting that, they would direct their people to provide the security agencies with relevant information about criminal elements since they are the once in the bush.
Different speakers at the event have agreed to fish out bad eggs among them and called on the law enforcement agencies to enact a law to live imprisonment to kidnappers.
While some leaders of some of the local government said some arrest was based on their efforts at the local level, challenging other tribes in the state to also accord same as measure to complement the effort of security agents in the fight against criminalitues.
They pledged to collaborate fully with the state government and security agencies to end all forms of criminal activities in the state.
Elder and Youth leaders across the 13 local government areas of the state were in attendance.