Stay Where You Are, Igbo In Kano Tell Herdsmen
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje alongside Igbo leaders in Kano have rejected call by some Northern political leaders that Fulani herdsmen in the Southern part of the country relocate to the North.
The leaders said at a dinner in Kano that the call was “divisive and retrogressive.’’
According to a statement issued by Ganduje’s Chief Press Secretary, Malam Abba Anwar on Sunday in Kano, the governor and Eze Ndi Igbo Kano, Igwe Boniface Igbokwe reacted at a dinner organised by the governor in honour of Igbokwe on his 10th Offalla anniversary. “Those who are calling on the Fulani to leave South, we don’t share the same feeling with them.
“People have a choice as far as Nigerian constitution is concerned, to live wherever they chose to.
“But they must respect laws and cultures of those they are living with,’’ Ganduje said.
Ganduje said that Nigeria is a heterogeneous society with different religions and nationalities, adding that this calls for mutual respect among the different people.
“As we are all creatures of Allah, it is duty bound on all of us to always respect Allah’s creatures. No two way about it.” he added. He insisted that the issue of Fulani moving from one place to another should be stopped.
“Herders should drop the cultural attachment to their rearing activities and make their rearing become economically beneficial. “It is with this singular reason that I called on the Federal Government to put a halt to the ever increasing movement of herders from one state to another.
“It is because we want to bring out economic benefit out of the whole exercise that we inaugurated a RUGA Settlement Committee in Kano.
“This is fundamentally to run away from the insecurity posed by the herders/farmers clashes everywhere,” he explained. The governor said that the major problem of herders was education because they were not settled in one place for them to get educated.
“That is why we said this issue of migrating from one society to another should be avoided and my government will find a way of educating Fulani herders,’’ he added.
Ganduje reiterated his commitment towards making sure that Ruga project takes off in Kano.
On the accommodative nature of the state he explained that although Kano is a commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria, the state is not an Island.
“We reach this position because we receive and accommodate other people from other places.
“Every individual you see has his or her comparative advantage,’’ he said, and commended security agencies for their efforts in making Kano a safer place.
The Eze Ndigbo Kano, who is also the President General and Igbo Traditional Leader in Diaspora decried the call on herders in South to return to the North.
“Just look at what is happening now, some people are calling on Fulani to come back to the North. “So if they come back what will happen to us here in the North. Our people will tell us to go back to South.
“Is that what our forefathers wished to see us doing; we are therefore rejecting such call coming from some quarters.
“It does not mean well for the corporate existence of our dear country,” Igbokwe lamented. Igbokwe called on Igbos to always be law abiding citizens saying that “we are very happy that we are safe in Kano.
