As the seven-day ultimatum Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, issued herdsmen occupying Ondo state forests expires tomorrow, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo has declared that no power remove Fulani herdsmen from the stateโs forests.In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the Miyetti Allah leader stressed that their people have settled there for over 250 years and so they are not going to obey anybody to leave the place.
He claims the Fulani ethnic group owns all the land in Nigeria.
โAll the lands in this country belong to the Fulani, but we donโt have any business to do with land if it doesnโt have areas for grazing; if the land doesnโt have cow food, we wonโt have any business with it. We donโt sell land, we donโt farm. What we consider is the areas that have cow food. If the place is good for grazing, we donโt need anybodyโs permission to go thereโ, he stated.
Following allegations of kidnapping and robbery carried out by Fulani herdsmen, Ondo State government has given them seven-day ultimatum to leave the forests in the state, what is your reaction?
The Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu doesnโt have any right to give such ultimatum to our people. People, including Fulani voted for him to be the governor; so he should be the governor of everybody in the state.
Fulani have been in the forests he is talking about even before he was born; they have been there for over 250 years. No matter how dangerous a forest maybe, Fulani would go and settle there. After staying there for a long time and their cow dung turns the place fertile, people would begin to come there to farm and to settle and from then, they begin to make claims that our cattle were destroying their farms.We are suing the governor and seeking injunction restraining him and others from carrying out his threat. But even at that, nobody, no power can send the herdsmen out of Ondo State. (Sun)