Categories: News

“All Lands In Nigeria Belong To Fulani”, Miyetti Allah Tells Akeredolu

Bello Bodejo, the national president of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, says herdsmen have the right to settle anywhere in any part of the country and rear their cattle.

On Monday, Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo, ordered herders to leave the forest reserves over rising insecurity in the state.

Akeredolu had said “bad elements” have turned the forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.

Reacting to Akeredolu’s directive, Bodejo said the governor does not have the power to unilaterally give an order ousting the herdsmen from Ondo forest reserves.

In an interview with The Sun Newspaper, Bodejo said the herders will disregard Akeredolu’s directive as the Fulani also voted for him to be governor.

“The Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, doesn’t 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,” he said.

“Fulani have been in the forests he is talking about even before he was born; they have been there for over 250 years. 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”

Bodejo said Akeredolu will be sued and that Miyetti Allah will seek an injunction stopping the and others from effecting the quit notice. But even at that, nobody.

He vowed that the herdsmen will not move out of Ondo forest, that they won’t obey the governor, also noting that it’s only the constitution of Nigeria they will obey.

“All the lands in this country belong to the Fulani, but we don’t have any business to do with land if it doesn’t have areas for grazing. If the land doesn’t have cow food, we won’t have any business with it.

“What we consider are the areas that have cow food. If the place is good for grazing, we don’t need anybody’s permission to go there.

“Fulani can settle in any bush or forest they want the moment they have cows. Any person who thinks he owns any forest should be taken to psychiatric hospital. Nobody owns any forest; forests are for Nigerians.”

Bodejo said the governor just needed an excuse to drive out the Fulanis from the state since the criminals are not from the ethnic group.

He alleged that Akeredolu’s “ulterior motive” could be for his 2023 political ambition.

“People are using propaganda to spoil Fulani name, and desperate politicians are in the forefront,” he said.

“The Ondo state governor has a secret agenda for asking our people to leave his state, not the reasons he stated. It is possible that Akeredolu is fighting a political battle. It may be 2023 election, and that is why he is playing up this Fulani herdsmen issue.”